Ssangyong Tivoli Review (2015-present)

What is the Ssangyong Tivoli?

If you haven’t heard of Ssangyong, you aren’t alone. The Korean manufacturer (which changed its name to KGM in 2023) is still one of the smallest in the UK, with a range of SUVs that major on value and off-road chutzpah. But with next to no brand image to speak of, relatively few people want one, or even know they’re out there.

Ssangyong is trying to change that, and one of the ways it’s doing so is with the Tivoli, its smallest and most cost-effective new car. It’s a high-riding SUV with compact, town-friendly dimensions in the vein of so many of today’s small cars; a crossover, in other words. And as such, it can count among its rivals the Renault Captur, Nissan Juke, Kia Stonic, Hyundai Kona, Ford Puma and Suzuki Vitara, though it feels more at home when compared with cheaper competitors like the Dacia Duster.

How practical is it?

The Tivoli is the sort of car you buy with your head, rather than your heart. On paper, it makes an awful lot of sense. After all, when you look at the equipment you get as standard even with the entry-level EX version – not to mention the price it’s on sale for – it seems like the bargain of the century.

Inside the Tivoli, some of the plastics feel rather cheap, though you can arguably excuse that given the car’s low price. Okay, you're never going to mistake the interior for something from Audi, Mercedes or BMW, but at this money, you really wouldn't expect to.

Where the Tivoli does score, though, is on space. Its boot is huge at 427 litres, bettering almost all of its rivals. The downside is that you don’t get clever sliding seats like those you’ll find in the Renault Captur, but given the boot’s larger than the Captur’s even with the seats fixed in position, that doesn’t really matter too much. However – and this is unusual – you only get the full 427 litres if you buy a Tivoli with a manual gearbox. Go for an automatic, and you get a substantially smaller 311-litre boot.

Passenger space is great, too, with lots of leg-, head- and elbow room in both the front and the rear seats. There's also an even bigger version of the car known as the Ssangyong Tivoli XLV that's even more practical, but we'll deal with that in a separate review.

What's it like to drive?

Out on the road, though, the Tivoli’s limitations start to become clear. It’s not that it’s a bad car, it just feels distinctly average in almost every area.

Out on the road the Tivoli’s engines are noisy, the six-speed manual gearbox is notchy and the six-speed automatic is slow to react.

The ride comfort is so-so, the Tivoli reacting to larger bumps reasonably well but clattering its way over scruffier surfaces. It doesn’t handle as neatly as some of its rivals, either, because there isn’t much feel from the steering, and nor is there very much grip.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

There are four grades of Tivoli available; the EX, Ventura, Ultimate and Ultimate Nav. EX seems fairly well equipped for the price, with alloy wheels, heated front seats, cruise control, six airbags and air-conditioning all coming as standard, but it does miss out on some bits you’d normally expect to see as standard: there’s no luggage cover, for example, while the steering wheel’s only adjustable for height, not reach, and you don’t get height adjustment on the driver’s seat.

Ventura adds these features, as well as keyless entry, rear parking sensors, and a touchscreen infotainment system with Bluetooth connectivity, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and a reversing camera. Ultimate then comes with leather seats, extra safety kit, and dual-zone climate control, and as its name suggests, top-spec Ultimate Nav then adds satnav, too.

Ssangyong Tivoli running costs

Compare the Tivoli’s fuel consumption with that of rivals and you’ll notice it almost universally lags behind. The 1.6-litre diesel is the most efficient of the bunch, and should see about 45 mpg on average. For comparison, a diesel Dacia Duster will be returning around 50 mpg in the same conditions.

The petrol engines get closer to their rivals, but even the 1.2-litre petrol won’t see much more than 35 mpg on average in daily use, where you’ll be seeing at least 2-3 mpg more than that from a Dacia Duster or Skoda Kamiq.

The 1.5-litre is barely any thirstier, in fact (unless you choose the automatic gearbox, that is) so it makes a lot of sense. Or rather, it would, if it wasn’t available exclusively with the pricier Ultimate trim, which has a considerably heftier price tag than lesser models. That starts to push the Tivoli into competition with much newer, smarter rivals, at which point it just doesn’t stack up.

Keep the specification modest, though, and the Tivoli looks like decent value. It’s cheaper than its newer, more sophisticated rivals, and for the prices Ssangyong is asking, it does pack in a lot of equipment.

That said, that sub-standard fuel economy, combined with fairly heavy depreciation and reasonably steep maintenance and repair costs all contribute to a high projected ownership cost for the Tivoli.

What’s more, like-for-like the Duster will cost you considerably less to buy, run and sell on than these cheaper models, so if you really do need an SUV with lots of space on a tight budget, that might be a better option.

In fact, the Tivoli’s whole-life costs are so high that if you were to pay more up front for a pricier alternative, like the Kamiq, you’d actually save money in the long run thanks to its more parsimonious fuel consumption and better resale values.

Ssangyong Tivoli reliability

As we’ve mentioned, the Tivoli isn’t exactly a big-selling car here in the UK, and as a result of that, there aren’t enough examples around for them to feature heavily in reliability surveys. In fact, the same can be said for Ssangyong’s model range as a whole, so we have very little data on the company’s reliability record, which makes it hard to predict exactly how dependable – or otherwise – the Tivoli will be.

On the plus side, Ssangyong’s warranty is pretty generous. New Tivolis benefit from an impressive seven-year, 150,000-mile guarantee, though you’ll want to check the small print, as certain parts of the car are covered for less than that.

If you’re buying used, one thing to bear in mind is that before 1 October 2018, Tivolis came with a five-year warranty, albeit one that wasn’t limited by mileage. Still, something to be aware of, in case you want to buy an older Tivoli and end up with a shorter warranty than you were expecting

One common fault some owners have reported is a problem with the manual gearbox, which can grow sticky and notchy with time. It’s a problem dealers have put down to the gear selectors coming out of alignment, and can be quite costly to sort, so steer clear of any manual Tivoli with a stiff gear change.