SsangYong Musso 2022: The problem with towing 3500kg

Carmaker vs the truth: Towing three and a half tons with a new SsangYong Musso dual-cab ute. Spoiler alert: it's an unacceptably bad idea. Here's why...

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If it weren’t for LDV, Jaguar Land Rover, Jeep, Fiat Chrysler (Stellantis), Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Audi/Volkswagen, Ford and Nissan, SsangYong would win Worst Carmaker of the Year 2022.

Only these brands stand between SsangYong and that anti-prize - luckily for them the Aussie market is so damn competitive.

I honestly do wonder who buys SsangYongs. If you're thinking about buying one, sitting there, tossing the coin, metaphorically, here's what you need to know:

QUICK SSANGYONG HISTORY

What we know today is SsangYong actually kicked off as two separate companies in South Korea, established in the 1950s and 1960s, the Dong-hwan Motor Workshop and the Dong Bang Motor Company.

Imagine being the CEO or human resources director at Dong Bang.

They became, ultimately, the absurdly spelled SsangYong, and they've been taken over by everyone: GM Korea nee Daewoo, Shanghai Auto Investment, Mahindra & Mahindra, and they've had five or six different cracks at Australia, too. All of which, except this current one which is in the pending tray, have ended in tears.

SsangYong is South Korea's fourth largest car maker, incredibly enough, but they've been repeatedly poor at managing their business and thus they have always teetered on the brink.

They actually filed for bankruptcy in December of 2020, because the South Korean government could simply not afford the flack which would flow from SsangYong collapsing financially, again. So the government bailed it out. Much like the way the American government gave GM and Chrysler such a tender bailout when they went bankrupt following the GFC.

And now Ssangyong is slated to be sold to some pathetic EV startup called Edison Motors. I would’ve gone with DongHung.

In other words, it took the South Korean government about 10 months to find a corporation stupid enough to buy Ssangyong, even at pennies on the dollar. I’d be pleasantly surprised if Edison can fix them. And now you’re all caught up, but perhaps, still thinking this is a plausible idea.

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The problem when marketing doesn’t acknowledge facts

Throughout this tumultuous time, Ssangyong Australia’s official position has been, words to the effect of, ‘well, that’s over there; it’s business as usual here’. And if you believe that, it probably explains why you wanna buy a SsangYong, to be honest.

It’s important that you know this about Ssangyong as a company because, if you’ve got $50,000 to spend on a tow platform, this is healthy risk management advice. 

If you think a bankrupt carmaker, which has failed here multiple times previously; if you think a company like this has excess cash to splash on warranty, parts and customer support - think again.

The new Musso, which has a big, cliched chrome grille almost as cheesy as an American pick-up, has two redeeming features. These features are spruiked nauseatingly and endlessly by Ssangyong’s official marketing propaganda:

Oh dear.

“...and it’s good to tow up to three-and-a-half tonnes, every day of the week.”

-SsangYong Musso marketing

Really?

I’m not accusing them of lying about this. The vehicle can tow up to 3.5 tonnes. Although, I don’t see the relevance of “days of the week”, except in the context of advertising masturbation.

I’m accusing them of being unprincipled, disingenuous bullshitters about the towing capacity, as referenced by professor Frankfurt’s definition of bullshit. Such a relevant book for our world.

Ssangyong is obsessed with this 3.5-tonne tow capacity, on and on about it:

Yes, it is. But I’m pretty sure there is even more pulling power in the marketing department (no reference to individuals is made), because here’s what happens when you hook your new $50,000 Musso to your new $100,000, 3.5-tonne acoustically transparent aluminium caravan.

Bear in mind that I already consider this towing assignment an utter danger. You could stay in expensive luxury accommodation for years for the same cost.

Now, I had a careful look on Ssangyong Australia’s website, and I could not find detailed specifications on Musso. In my view, this is a comprehensive failure by them, because this data is essential to make sure the 3.5-tonne towing business suits your application. Chances are it doesn’t. Looks even more sketchy when you can’t find the specifications easily.

I found that data on Redbook, which is informing this report. My understanding is that Redbook sources its data from the manufacturers, so it appears to be correct data for the top-spec ‘Ultimate Luxury’ Musso with auto transmission - not the stretched XLV one.

What’s missing? Gross Vehicle Mass - the important data for towing 3.5 tonnes.

And the first thing I did here was a GVM analysis. I got the gross vehicle mass, 2880 kilos, and I subtracted the kerb weight of 2256 (which is the vehicle empty, but with a full tank of fuel, and no accessories and no people on board). 

And then I subtracted the towball download, which I’m estimating at the maximum of 350kg, which is 10 per cent of the aggregate trailer mass limit, which is where you want to be for dynamic stability.

The towball download goes into a GVM analysis because the vehicle is carrying the download. It’s part of the GVM.

And when you do that, you are left with just 274 kilos of remaining payload. Now, if this is mum, dad and two kids going on some grand caravanning adventure, you are already overloaded with just the people and some light gear on board the vehicle. 

That’s before you fit a bullbar or a roofrack, or a hard tonneau cover, or lights, or recovery gear, tools - because you must fit accessories, right? But you have to fit a towbar, and that’s gotta be 40 kilos out of the 274. It’s not like the vehicle comes with a towbar standard - it’s depicted on their website as a cleanskin in all the marketing propaganda. The towbar is therefore an accessory, so it’s not part of the kerb weight.

So that’s quite limiting.

But this situation gets even worse when you do the other critical tow analysis: The gross combination mass. The GCM. This is the maximum allowable mass of the combined fully loaded vehicle and fully loaded van.

So, according to Redbook, the GCM limit on Musso is 5880 kilos. If you get the van at 3500 kilos and the kerb weight of the Musso at 2256 and you take this away from the 5880 limit, you are left with just 124 kilos of payload to play with. 

(Pro tip: you don’t treat towball download separately in a GCM analysis. It’s internal. No need to count it twice.)

I’ve seen some people towing some enormous caravans; they can only dream of getting back down to 124 kilos.

Now, if you don’t mind, I’m just going to highlight the spectacular absurdity of Ssangyong’s claim that quote:

Let’s be terribly generous and make it 30kg for the towbar. 124 minus 30 is 94 kilos of remaining payload when you fit a towbar and couple up your 3.5-tonne, six-figure septic tank on wheels. That’s no other accessories, and before anyone climbs aboard, including you, and certainly not your lovely wife. Not to exceed 94 kilos in total.

According to the ABS, the average Australian male weighs 86 kilos. You’ve got just eight kilos of whatever you want to add to the vehicle, before you are overloaded by virtue of breaching the GCM limit.

That’s absurdly, intelligence-insultingly ridiculous. 

What are you going to do, hook up the van and leave your family behind while you head off on the big lap, solo, towing a 3.5-tonne caravan? 

In my estimation, the hidden specifications - the fact I had to go outside Ssangyong, and I just know where to look, to acquire the data - plus the absurdly compromised payload when you actually tow 3.5 tonnes, together with the endless marketing ‘pro voiceover’ push on this absurd tow capacity claim, combined, these things lay the foundation for an entirely false expectation in the mind of a consumer like you.

You see the ad and you go to the website and you see and hear “every day of the week” and “making light work of hauling a large caravan” and “serious pulling power”. Now, I could see you legitimately forming the view that towing three-and-a-half tonnes with a Musso is trivial, mundane, effortless, practical, do-able undertaking.

I could also see you legitimately forming the good faith view that you might reasonably do this with the family, a bullbar mounted up front, some gear in the tray. 

Towing with people and normal stuff seems reasonable, as a proposition.

Nowhere does it state the GVM, nor advise against towing the full 3.5t and throwing in all your stuff.

If that’s what you want to do - if that’s what you end up attempting - then 3.5 tonnes plus family, plus accessories, plus personal effects equals dangerous and illegal. 

You are overloaded. 

You’re putting everyone at risk - the family and all other nearby road users. 

And this is therefore a $50,000 mistake. And I can see how you got here, based on what you inferred from claims made endlessly in Ssangyong’s marketing bullshit, made worse by the selective inaccessibility of the critical specifications.

It’s pretty clear to me that corporate lawyers are slimy vermin, generally. And I’m pretty sure they can defend these claims in court, because you can tow 3.5 tonnes with a Musso, and it really doesn’t matter what day of the week you do it.

What matters, at least to me, is the absurd operational compromise that goes hand-in-hand with towing 3.5 tonnes using this vehicle.

Now, I’m no lawyer, thankfully, and I don’t therefore know what the legal definition of ‘misleading and deceptive’ conduct is - nor what the standard of legal proof is, for that. 

But laying this out to an ordinary consumer, do you think ordinary people would consider the claims made by Ssangyong about towing with a Musso to be generally misleading and deceptive?

I think they probably would. 

Do you think ordinary people would expect the ACCC to wake up and do something about this consistent problem in the car industry? I think they probably would. 

Do you suppose the ACCC will actually wake up? Not sure on that one. They are getting better at it, but still, based on their spectacular track record of being asleep at the wheel, you’d probably move them on.

And shame on you, Ssangyong, for your epic bullshit claims and implicit misrepresentations about towing with the Musso. The reality is: 3.5 tonnes is do-able, but it’s completely impractical. The fact that they are even allowed to make such claims is disgraceful.

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