KGM Torres Review 2024

After 30 years of selling SUVs SsangYong had a problem — hardly anyone had heard of it. In 2024 it gave way to KGM, albeit selling the same models — until now. How good is the company’s first non-SsangYong? Read our comprehensive KGM Torres review to find out.

Still built in Korea, the new name is in deference to its latest owners, a multi-industry giant called the KG Group. SsangYong as a company was renamed KG Mobility, hence the KGM contraction. Perhaps strangely, the old logo has continued, despite having even less brand recognition than SsangYong as a name.

Both the petrol-engined version and all-electric KGM Torres EVX sibling face plenty of stiff competition as family-sized SUV buyers are spoiled for choice.

Size-wise, the petrol version is up against the Ford Kuga, the omnipresent Nissan Qashqai and the rugged-yet-efficient Toyota RAV4.

Despite some very hefty price cuts towards the end of 2024, the Torres is more expensive than those alternatives which immediately poses it an issue.

In fact, the money KGM asks for it is closer to the likes of the Nissan X-Trail, the dashing Peugeot 5008 and the latest iteration of the popular Skoda Kodiaq. Key difference is that they benefit from a third row of seats but the Torres isn’t available as a seven-seater SUV. 

The all-electric KGM Torres EVX, meanwhile, must do battle with the likes of the Ford Explorer and Skoda Enyaq. Again, KGM’s pricing appears to pitch it as an upmarket choice, which once inside, you soon realise is not the case.

KGM’s new design philosophy may be ‘Powered by Toughness’ but it might just as well be ‘Designed with the Boys’ Own Book of Family SUVs’. A quick stroll round the Torres reveals styling cues from all walks of Sport Utility life.

There’s most noticeably some Jeep at the front and some sort of generic old-school 4x4 at the rear where the faux spare wheel cover and door handle placement suggest a side-hung door. Deceptively, it’s actually a bog-standard top-hinged tailgate. Save for less radiator grillage, the all-electric KGM Torres EVX is identical.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t so readily apply to the interior. Its wrap-around digital dashboard panel looks quite classy but elsewhere the veneer of aspirant posh is perceptibly thin.

Scratchy plastics hither and thither, somewhat firm and unforgiving seats and the unpleasant to look at and touch steering wheel dash any lingering notions that the Torres is upmarket.

On the plus side, there’s stacks of space in the back seats and the loadspace is positively cavernous, dwarfing anything rivals have to offer. It’s a shame KGM’s elected not to add some flexible, practical touches to make the most of the available space — a real oversight.

Two trim levels are available, K30 and K40, and standard equipment levels are respectably high. They’re paired with a couple of power choices — the Torres has a 163PS petrol engine, the Torres EVX a 207PS electric motor. 

Front-wheel drive is standard on all versions, barring the standalone petrol KGM Torres K40 AWD which sends drive to all four.

There’s no hybrid KGM Torres choice on sale until 2025 — given the unimpressive fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions of the current petrol engine, don’t be surprised if the hybrid replaces it rather than being sold alongside.

The KGM Torres’s ride and handling is some way behind the competition. Riding on 20-inch wheels, the range-topping K40 petrol version thumps, shudders and jars over every rough spot on the road surface, making town driving really quite wearing. 

Worse, it fails to settle down at speed and on even a relatively smooth motorway keeps its occupants somewhat over-informed as to the presence of every expansion joint, ripple and surface change encountered. 

The all-electric KGM Torres EVX’s suspension feels softer than that of its petrol counterpart. This makes it a touch less wearing around town but means it makes a poor fist of keeping the body under control on undulating country roads, often bouncing about enough to disrupt efforts at smooth cornering.

It would be all too easy to blame the KGM Torres’s poor ride quality on its old-fashioned body-on-frame construction. While most new SUVs have the underpinnings and bodywork combined as a single unit, this car adopts the traditional approach of a separate chassis and body on top. That old ladder frame construction can work wonders when it comes to soaking up rough surfaces — it’s just a pity that doesn’t apply here.

Both petrol and electric versions lean quite aggressively into bends when you’re pressing on with pace and grip levels aren’t great. The steering’s pretty vague to boot and corning can all too often feels like you’re making your way round the edge of a giant 50p piece rather than a smooth curve.

Both petrol and electric variants suffer from quite strong wind and road noise intrusion at cruising speeds which can become wearing over a long haul journey. 

Just two powerplants are available, one ICE and one all-electric. The petrol engine is a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder with a turbocharger producing 163PS and 281Nm of torque, delivering either front- or all-wheel drive via a six-speed automatic gearbox.

In front-wheel drive guise, this unit can summon 62mph from a standstill in 10.8 seconds. It makes a fair old racket doing so, not helped by a woefully unpredictable automatic gearbox which, on the one hand holds the engine at high revs for too long before changing up and, on the other, is incredibly slow to change down when you floor the accelerator.

A petrol-electric hybrid is expected during 2025 and we suspect it may replace this unenthralling powertrain, which lacks both refinement and efficiency, entirely.

The all-electric KGM Torres EVX hosts a 73.4kWh battery feeding a 207PS electric motor which powers the front wheels. As is the norm with most EVs, the gearbox has a single speed, so is operated much like an automatic.

Dispatching the 0-62mph dash in 8.1 seconds the Torres EVX is not only quicker off the mark but also far kinder on the senses. However, once you hit a respectable cruising speed it’s not particularly quiet either, with wind and road noise dominating proceedings.

The KGM Torres has yet to be crash-tested by Euro NCAP but even the entry-level K30 version is respectably equipped with active safety features such as Autonomous Emergency Braking, Safety Distance Alert, Lane Departure Warning.

Front Vehicle Start Alert (a system which lets you know when the car in front has moved off, in case your eyes don’t work), Forward Collision Warning, Lane Keeping Assist and a Speed Limit Warning also feature.

The plusher K40 trim level adds features such as Rear Cross Traffic Assist, Blind Spot Assist and Safety Exit Warning.

Both petrol and EVX electric versions of the KGM Torres have a 1500kg braked towing capacity.

The KGM Torres is 4715mm long, 1890mm wide and 1720mm tall, which is very much par for the course in the SUV segment. Happily, despite quality and infotainment shortcomings, the interior design majors on space — not just for occupants but for luggage to boot.

You sit pretty high in the front of the car, with an acceptable driving position. K30 models feature manual seat adjustment, which upgrades to eight-way electric adjustment including lumbar support in K40 variants. The steering wheel adjusts for both rake and reach, but not quite enough in the latter department. Pity the seat bases are so flat and over-firm.

The driver has a good view out forwards, but the wide rear pillars do obstruct your over-the-shoulder view. Mercifully, a rear-view camera and front and rear parking sensors are standard across the range and the K40 trim level adds a 360-degree camera system.

In the back, even the tall will find plenty of head and legroom — the cabin is just wide enough for three adults to sit abreast without too much shoulder shuffling. Decent sized side windows compensate for the absence of an optional panoramic sunroof.

That’s about it though: the 60:40 split/folding seats don’t slide or recline, there’s no ski hatch option and there are no remote folding levers in the loadspace, so to drop the seats (almost flat) you need to access them directly from the back doors.

Accessed by what looks like a side-hung door but is actually a conventional, top-hinged tailgate — electrically operated on powered on K40 models — the usefully square shaped loadspace is massive.

At 703 litres it kicks sand in the face of the Dacia Duster’s 472 litres, the Ford Kuga’s 482 litres and even the impressive 585 litres of the Nissan X-Trail. Rear seats folded, loadspace volume increases to a cavernous 1662 litres.

There is a small storage area under the floor just about big enough for muddy boots or the Torres EVX’s charging cables but there’s no cargo netting, lashing points or sidewall-mounted hooks for the prevention of take-away curry slop.

Clutter is well catered for in the front seats, with a large storage area under the flying centre console, a bin under the armrest, a small tray in front of the gear lever, a decent sized glove box and big door pockets.

There are two USB-C outputs below the air vents and a wireless phone charging pad in K40 versions. The rear seats also boast generous door pockets and there are two USB-C ports on the back of the front centre console.

The eye-catching copper-effect trim panels smoothed hither and thither inside the KGM Torres flatter to deceive, because, elsewhere, quality of finish is harder to come by. Build quality seems up to scratch but then scratchy is the best way to describe the somewhat thin plastics that abound, particularly at lower levels.

The steering wheel is neither nice to hold or behold: It still wears the old SsangYong badge as that didn’t change as part of the rebrand, while the thin rim and shiny faux leather finish reflect that. The upholstery’s perfectly well fiyyed but the seats themselves — flat and firm — are not built for long haul comfort. 

Moreover, the only physical switchgear on display — on the steering wheel — is neither a pleasure to touch or use. It’s a great advertisement for a car of this price, particularly the KGM Torres EVX electric variant.

Two 12.3-inch screens is pretty much par for the course in family SUVs these days but unfortunately for KGM Torres owners, the infotainment system thereby accessed is nothing to write home about. 

Graphically it just about looks the part and the menus are arranged reasonably intuitively — more of a rarity that you’d think.

Unfortunately, response times are occasional rather laggy. Indeed, given that it needs to be accessed for several key functions such as heating and ventilation, the whole system takes far too long to boot up. You’ll find yourself waiting for what feels like an eternity just to switch on the windscreen demister.

The shortcut icons on the screen are positioned for left-hand drive cars and you have to physically prise yourself from the seatback to reach them. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are fitted as standard to allow you to run your own music and sat nav apps through the screen but not through a wireless connection.

Should you want to change the climate control settings whilst running either system, the screen switches away from your preferred form of smartphone mirroring while you do so.

The petrol-engined KGM Torres range is priced at between £31,995 and £36,995, which puts it squarely in Nissan Qashqai and Skoda Kodiaq territory — both are much better cars.

Indeed, there’s an extensive list of petrol and hybrid rivals the entry level versions of which undercut the Torres starting price. the Qashqai starts at £30,135, the Mazda CX-5 is priced from £31,060, the MG HS from £31,495 and the Ford Kuga from £32,095. 

Entering the realms of price parity, the Nissan X-Trail costs from £35,715, the Skoda Kodiaq from £36,645 and the Toyota RAV4 from £39,885. We mustn’t forget that a Dacia Duster can be yours from just a whiff over 20 grand.

The all-electric KGM Torres EVX costs between £39,995 and £41,995 and, frankly, the same rules apply: there are better, bigger battery cars for similar, or less, money.

The Skoda Enyaq starts from £36,970, the Nissan Ariya from £39,645 and the Volkswagen ID.4 from £42,640.

You’ll have to relish shouty styling and a huge loadspace to justify even considering a Torres in this company. 

The petrol engine KGM Torres suits in a relatively high Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax band for company car drivers and with a quoted average fuel consumption of 33.2mpg — the reality being consistently under 30 — can hardly be considered economical in the context of its many rivals.

The same must be said for CO2 emissions of 194g/km. The all-wheel drive version is likely to be even more uneconomical but a hybrid version, due in 2025, should offer better fuel economy and tax efficiency.

The electric KGM Torres EVX has a respectable quoted range of 287 miles and a maximum charging speed of up to 145kW for a 10-80% top-up in about half an hour. That’s not particularly quick by today’s standards: an Enyaq can charge at up to 175kW, and a Kia EV6 RWD at up to 238kW

The KGM Torres is available in a choice of two trim levels, K30 and K40, whether you opt for the petrol or electric EVX version.

KGM Torres K30 grade standard features include full LED head, fog and tail lights, 19-inch diamond cut alloy wheels, remote keyless entry, artificial leather upholstery, heated front seats, heated steering wheel, dual-zone air-conditioning, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen with rear-view camera and Bluetooth connectivity, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, front USB and AUX ports, front and rear parking sensors and electronic cruise control.

If that’s insufficient for you, the KGM Torres K40 builds on those standard features with 20-inch diamond cut alloys, premium leather upholstery, power adjustable front seats, heated and ventilated front and rear seats, an in-built navigation and smart audio system, interior mood lighting, wireless phone charging, intelligent adaptive cruise control and a powered tailgate.