KGM Torres EVX review

With Harry and Meghan's rebranding as the Sussexes, and Beyoncé's repositioning as a country music star, 2024 is looking like the year of the rebrand, and now Ssangyong is joining in – with a new car and a new name. Say hello to the KGM Torres EVX.

Under fresh ownership from the South Korean KG Group, the Torres EVX electric SUV is the first model to reflect the brand’s new design philosophy: "Powered by Toughness”. It's being launched alongside a petrol KGM Torres (which we're reviewing separately).

And the EVX certainly looks, well, rather striking. There are hints of Jeep Wagoneer in the front grille, Hyundai Kona in the wheelarches, Ford Explorer in the rear lights and Land Rover Defender in the rear door. It’s a rolling mood board of contemporary SUV design – we’ll leave it to you to decide if it’s successful.

Named after the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, the EVX is near the top of KGM’s line-up. At 4,700mm long, it’s an equivalent size to larger rivals such as the Genesis Electrified GV70, Kia EV6, Nissan Ariya, Skoda Enyaq and VW ID 4. 

So, the KGM Torres EVX sounds intriguing, but can it match the blend of comfort, versatility and efficiency of the best electric SUVs? Read on to find out...

Many new electric cars offer eye-popping acceleration that thrills in a straight line, but the KGM Torres EVX is not one of them.

Its 0-62mph time of 8.1 seconds is enough for most needs and comparable with a Skoda Enyaq 60 or VW ID 4 Pure Performance, but you wouldn’t want to go up against a Genesis Electrified GV70 or Kia EV6 in a traffic lights grand prix. Those rivals are considerably quicker and also do a better job of putting their power to the ground. Even in Comfort driving mode, it's alarmingly easy to spin up the EVX's front wheels.

Instead, you’re better off driving in a more relaxed manner, where you'll find it builds pace smoothly and gets up to speed with little fuss. The only issue is that once you’re up to speed, it’s not particularly quiet, with wind and road noise dominating proceedings. 

That makes the EVX quite tiring to drive for long distances, but it does at least ride better than the petrol version. Where the regular KGM Torres tends to jostle you around, the electric model feels more settled and does a better job of dealing with crumbling roads. 

The downside to soft suspension is that it doesn’t do a great job of keeping the body under control on undulating country roads, and the result is a bouncing motion that can make it tricky to keep a steady course through corners.

When you turn in to a bend quickly, it leans noticeably and it doesn’t take much speed before you’ve reached the limits of grip. The steering is pretty vague too, which makes it a challenge to place the car accurately.

Still, how often do you drive an electric SUV quickly? More important is the electric range, especially in a car of this size.

The EVX has a BYD-sourced 73.4kWh (usable capacity) battery, which delivers a respectable if not groundbreaking official range of 287 miles. That puts it somewhere between an MG ZS EV Long Range (273 miles), Nissan Ariya 63kWh (250 miles), Enyaq 60 (249 miles) and ID 4 Pure (222 miles), and the big-battery versions of some of those cars, the Ariya 87kWh (330 miles), Enyaq 85 (348 miles) and ID 4 Pro (325 miles). 

Driving overview

Strengths Greater range than a small battery Enyaq 

Weaknesses Smaller range than a big-battery Skoda Enyaq; slower than most rivals; unsettled ride; vague handling

You sit reasonably high up in the KGM Torres EVX, with a more commanding view of the road than you would find in a Skoda Kamiq or VW ID 4. The seat (heated and cooled as standard) has eight-way electric adjustment with lumbar support and height control, but we do wish the steering wheel adjusted a little more for reach. 

With such a high driving position and relatively tall side windows, the EVX is easy to see out of at junctions, but wide rear pillars hamper your over-the-shoulder view somewhat. At least front and rear parking sensors are standard across the range, as is a rearview camera. If you step up to K40 trim, you get a camera with 360-degree functionality. 

Compared with Ssangyongs of old, the EVX gets a thoroughly modern-looking dashboard with a trendy twin-screen setup – a 12.3in screen for the digital dials and another 12.3in screen for the infotainment system.

The system itself isn’t great to use, with relatively laggy responsive times, an unintuitive menu layout and a muddy resolution. It’s also a shame that the shortcut icons have been designed for left-hand-drive cars as they sit on the left-hand side of the screen, making them hard to reach.

Oh, and should you want to change the climate control while running Android Auto or Apple CarPlay (standard on all models), you can’t. Clicking the climate control icon takes you away from your preferred form of smartphone mirroring. 

Design-wise, the interior of the EVX isn’t as rugged as the exterior. Instead, KGM has opted for a minimalist look reminiscent of what you would find in a modern Kia or Hyundai – a good thing in our book. And while most of the materials are hard plastic, they’re finished nicely and everything feels well screwed together. So, while it can’t match the plushness of a Nissan Ariya or Skoda Enyaq, it stands toe to toe with an MG ZS EV. 

Interior overview

Strengths Decent forward visibility; electrically adjustable seats as standard 

Weaknesses Slow infotainment system; climate controls buried in home screen; most rivals use plusher materials

Up front in the KGM Torres EVX, you get a generous storage area under the front armrest, big door pockets, a tray for odds and ends in front of the gear lever, two USB-C outputs below the air vents and a wireless phone charging pad on the centre console.

Head and leg room is very good, and there’s loads of width, so you won’t be clanging elbows with your neighbour.

In the back, six-footers will find plenty of head and leg room and the interior is wide enough that three adults can sit side by side in relative comfort. Tall side windows help provide a feeling of airiness despite the car not coming with the option of a panoramic roof. Tech-obsessed children will be pleased to have two USB-C outputs located on the back of the front centre console.

However, the back seats don’t slide, recline or do anything else clever. They simply split in a conventional 60/40 arrangement and you can’t option a ski hatch. Combined with a lack of remote levers in the boot, dropping the seats to load in longer items can be a bit of a faff, but at least the seats lie almost flat when folded down.

It’s also worth mentioning that despite the Land Rover Defender-esque styling of the tailgate, it is not side-mounted, but simply opens in a conventional manner (a powered tailgate is standard on K40 models).

The boot itself is massive. At 703 litres it dwarfs that of the Nissan Ariya (466 litres), Skoda Enyaq (585 litres) and VW ID 4 (542 litres), and is a useful square shape.

There’s a small storage area under the boot floor that’s just about big enough for two charging cables, but no storage area under the bonnet, unlike in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Tesla Model Y. There’s also a surprising lack of lashing points considering the boot's size. 

Practicality overview

Strengths Plenty of USB-C ports; lots of storage space; big boot; lots of head and leg room in rear

Weaknesses Rear seats don’t do anything clever; lack of lashing points in boot

Gone are the days of the "cheap and cheerful" Ssangyong – the starting price for the KGM Torres EVX is higher than that of a base-model Nissan Ariya, Skoda Enyaq or VW ID 4 and well in excess of budget-friendly electric SUVs such as the MG ZS EV. It's been priced almost head to head with big-battery versions of its European and Japanese rivals.

That’s a rather brave pricing strategy, especially when those rivals are predicted to depreciate at a slower rate. 

However, one area where KGM has been aggressive is on standard equipment. Entry-level K30 models come with 18in alloy wheels, keyless entry and start, adaptive cruise control, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel and touchscreen infotainment. 

Indeed, the K30 is so well equipped, we’d struggle to recommend stepping up to K40 trim. It nets you small luxuries such as leather upholstery (in place of faux leather), an electric tailgate, a 360-degree parking camera and some extra safety kit. 

The EVX has a maximum charging speed of up to 145kW for a 10-80% top-up in around half an hour. That’s not particularly quick by today’s standards – an Enyaq 85X can charge at up to 175kW and a Kia EV6 RWD at up to 238kW.

The Torres EVX is too new to have been crash-tested by Euro NCAP but it does come with plenty of kit to stop you from getting into an accident in the first place. We’re talking about automatic emergency braking (AEB), a lane-departure warning system, adaptive cruise control and a system that lets you know when the car in front of you has moved off.

If you want blind-spot detection, rear cross-traffic alert and a system that will stop you from opening your door on to unseen vehicles, you'll need to step up to K40 trim. 

Costs overview

Strengths Well equipped as standard

Weaknesses There are better cars for similar money; fast predicted depreciation

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