Underdog cars part two: After ntv.de was able to put the MG5 and Suzuki Swift to the test, it’s now about the cheap Mitsubishi Space Star and the rare practitioner SsangYong Tivoli Grand. It is important to find out what they can and cannot do.
One should start small – and in this case that is to be taken literally. The Mitsubishi Space Star can’t really have that much space with an exterior length of just 3.85 meters. So this Mitsubishi is a classic city car, although the brand’s products are more likely to be bought in the country. And that’s not bad at all. From January to October of this year alone, almost 14,000 copies were registered in Germany – as a small importer you have to do that first. Incidentally, Space Star was the name of a compact van offered by Mitsubishi since 1998 – at the time one of the pioneers in the segment. But the modern Space Star can do more than you think. More on that later.
You also have to manage to offer a vehicle as cheaply as Mitsubishi does with its entry-level model. The Japanese costs just 10,380 euros and is one of the cheapest new cars in Germany. It’s still cheaper with the Dacia Sandero, which even undercuts the 10,000 euro threshold – but the Space Star comes right after that.
And as soon as you get in, you realize that the Space Star actually doesn’t seem as narrow as you’d feared. Nevertheless, he is of course down to earth, but that was to be expected. True to the motto, where there is little, little can break, you will find wonderfully nostalgic things such as crank windows. They are actually completely okay – it only becomes impractical if you are traveling alone and want to open the window on the passenger side. Luckily, the Space Star isn’t too wide, so you can bend over without further ado.
The Space Star is wonderfully analogue, of course it also has a corresponding instrument cluster with mechanical displays. Under the hood of the front-wheel drive is now only a single variant of the three-cylinder – now with 1.2 liters. The city flea has 71 hp, which is enough for the primary goal: namely to be on the road in the city. If you shift diligently (manual five-speed gearbox), you can also get by on the motorway and get overtaken by any truck on the mountain. But then the Space Star also gets a bit louder, which is of course okay given the vehicle class. Of course, he is not a dynamic miracle, after all, it’s about down-to-earth automotive fare.
If you are planning a new car but don’t have a lot of budget for it, you can live well with the Space Star, after all it gets just as everywhere as a luxury car. And of course the sophisticated Space Star, which has been in production since 2012, can also be launched with technical delicacies such as LED front lighting and a navigation system with a large screen if desired. There are even features such as autonomous emergency braking, seat heating, smartphone integration and cruise control – but then Mitsubishi also calculates 17,000 euros and more.
Finally thrown a look at the trunk volume: almost 1000 liters fit into the luggage compartment if you fold down the rear seat backs. No, small cars can’t be useful.
The much more exotic SsangYong Tivoli Grand, on the other hand, is explicitly subscribed to practicality and comfort and is also a real underdog. SsangYong is actually an exciting brand – founded in the early 1950s, built Jeep models under license, had a technology partnership with Mercedes and most recently under the wing of Indian Mahindra
In Germany, SsangYong is not particularly visible – from January to October of this year, the underdog brand was only able to register 1576 registrations. The Koreans have interesting models at hot prices in their quiver. The crossover of van and SUV discussed here called Tivoli Grand is offered really fair with a base price of 20,490 euros.
After all, we are talking about a truly mature car with an exterior length of 4.48 meters and a wheelbase of 2.60 meters. A similarly mounted Volkswagen Tiguan with only 130 instead of 163 hp under the hood costs over 10,000 euros more. Of course, the Wolfsburg team has made everything a bit finer and more accurate, especially on the inside – but is it worth such a hefty surcharge?
Because the Tivoli is by no means bad, it still offers decent workmanship and also the necessary electronic tools to be able to collect points from the younger generation these days. The seats are even extremely good, while the center console and screen looks a bit old-fashioned. However, you have to give it a certain functionality, and the instrument cluster consists of a display area, as is usual in 2022, at least with the top equipment line.
The space in front and behind is also really good, which together with the comfort-oriented chairs lead to the rating “suitable for long distances”. And while the bare basic model still has many safety features, including autonomous emergency braking plus on-board computer and cruise control as technical add-ons, the customer is still recommended at least the slightly more expensive “Amber” equipment line (24,490 euros). It offers Bluetooth hands-free system, parking beeper, reversing camera and smartphone integration – that’s all you need.
Maybe a decent engine under the hood? The 1.5 liter four-cylinder petrol engine with 163 horses is set and can be considered a factual matter. In the test car, a classic six-speed automatic converter was responsible for power transmission. There are no shift jerks, but there are spontaneous translation changes with this machine, which, in contrast to the hypermodern multi-speed, does not have to open and close any clutches so often, which in practice results in the pleasing absence of interruptions in traction.
And even if the direct injection engine gets a bit rougher with the corresponding speed, it remains an authentically likeable guy who drives the 1.4-tonner diligently, but of course not rapidly. Anything at the end? With a trunk volume of 1440 liters, the Tivoli Grand not only has plenty of space for its human cargo. It’s a shame that you see him so seldom in this country. But maybe the time of Tivoli will come. He deserved it.