When I was studying in Australia, there was a noticeable trend amongst many young drivers - they loved purchasing, maintaining and preening what looked like mini pickup trucks.

"Why would anyone want to purchase, modify or maintain a pickup?" I asked my Australian buddy, to which I received an exceedingly sour toned retort:

"Mate, if ya don't know what a UTE is, then someone oughta set ya straight."

Fast forward to March 2008.

Ssangyong offered us a chance to test drive their Actyon Sports 'Sport Utility Truck' or SUT. Now, if one can recall the Musso, it was a vehicle which broke the conventions of what a commercial twin cab goods carrier should be like.

And of course, the fact that G-plated goods-passenger vehicles (GPV) didn't need a business license to register made it all the more accessible to the common man.

The Actyon Sports vehicle brings back memories of the all-American Ford pickup trucks of the 40s and 50s. Muscular wheel arches, aggressive Hammerhead Shark like grille, and a bulky solid frame are trademarks of this monster.

Rarely does one see such an unorthodox design for a utility vehicle, as compared to the straightforward design of the Toyota Hilux IMV4 and the Mitsubishi L200 Triton. The steel deck comes standard with a resin deck trim cover, and all you need to clean it would be a powerful hose and lots of water.

Our allocated unit came without the bells and whistles, such as a custom made Ssangyong Hard Canopy and 18 inch alloy rims, both of which are available for an
additional $3K plus as pictured.

Sit-in

Once on the inside, you'll find that the driving position offers a wide and unhindered view of the road ahead, very typical of off-roaders that we've all come to love. The standard fabric seats were snug and comfortable - the splashes of red on the cloth add a little colour to the rather monotonously coloured inside.

Dashboard and steering plastics were rather rigid, but the vehicle's ergonomics worked rather well. Take for example, that the gear knob was within easy reach regardless of seating position. The audio controls were not present on this automatic version, where instead we found buttons on the edges of the wheel and the gearknob that were used to shift the gears in self-help mode.

There were quite a number of buttons to be found all over the vehicle. Electric door mirrors, air conditioning, hazard light buttons were not spared from our itchy fingers.

The futuristic looking handbrake though, was on the front passenger's side, and disengaging it would also mean brushing his or her rear end.

Then again, isn't this supposed to be an off road pickup?

Rear legroom was a little on the cramped side, although impressive shoulder and head room meant there was very little to complain about.
The "driving test"

Ice-cold air-conditioning. Perfect. Plenty of that once you crank the ignition. Blast yourself into submission after a long, hard day's work in the sweltering heat. Not bad at all.

Like so many modern Euro-4 complaint diesels, this engine does not in any way, sound like your typical, rattling pickup truck. This truck's noise insulation characteristics were nothing short of noteworthy. Noise from Malaysian motorcyclists and construction sites simply disappeared as we wound our windows up, and then down and up again in disbelief.

The century dash was accomplished in a little under 11 seconds with most "typical" traffic light starts - not too bad coming from a European sourced, 2-litre turbodiesel that puts out 140hp at 4000rpm, and an astounding 310Nm from 1800-2700rpm. Despite our wishes that the torque band be made wider in competition with most European diesels, in-gear acceleration from 50-80km/h could still be dispatched faster than one takes to say "Kimchi!"

Power and efficiency-optimized diesels have come a long way since those pesky Toyota Crowns, so one shouldn't be surprised, especially with advanced common rail injectior technology in ths Actyon Sports XVT engine. It utilizes high pressure injectors to control the amount of fuel sprayed into to the mix to burn with compressed air.

Our mechanical steed wasn't really lacking off-road either. The unpaved dirt tracks of industrial Singapore proved to be a no-brainer for the double wishbone fronts and multi-linked rear - 5 to be exact. A moot point might be a little vertical pitching, but on the whole, major irregularities in the road were simply annihilated in a very car-like manner.

Consider that Hiluxes, like Cadillacs dating back to the 1930s, have leaf springs for suspension, and you'll understand why this is significant. A question mark however, might be this vehicle's load-bearing capacities.

No complaints from the 6 speed semi-automatic transmission either. The gear changes were smooth and shouldn't judder the most clueless of tai-tais in any way.

Why would you buy this?

As of March 28, 2008 the basic model of the Actyon Sports is priced at $82,888. It's closest rival, the Mitsubishi L200 Triton goes for $88,988.

Admittedly, this is not a vehicle for everyone because of it's unusual styling and the stigma associated with pickups. However, with the price of petrol on the rise, and rise, and the fact that this turbo-diesel monster looks and works great in the city or in rough terrain, this just might be something worth considering, especially with recent reductions in terms of road tax and new-generation diesel engines that qualify.

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