KGM Torres Review

You’ll need to look hard to find any mention of KGM on its new SUV. Maybe the Korean brand is relying on people seeing it on the road and reverse image-searching it – but that relies on a number of customers buying it in the first place.

Named after a Patagonian national park, not a Spanish footballer, the Torres looks kind of familiar, with styling cues seemingly borrowed from Jeep and Land Rover. We think it looks interesting and smart, and it doesn’t matter too much that the rugged appearance is only skin deep. The handles on the bonnet don’t seem to be functional, while the swollen tailgate is meant to look like a 4x4’s spare wheel holder.

Matching the modern styling is an interior that looks up to date, with large twin screens that come as standard. The copper accents are likely to divide opinion although, for what it’s worth, we liked the colours and textures – it feels like KGM has paid the interior some attention.

There’s loads of storage space throughout, and the Torres’ big bodywork frees up a lot of passenger space.

Petrol or electric versions of the Torres are available, with the Torres EVX getting exclusive front-end styling changes. We’ve tested the standard petrol engine, which is good in some respects but not up to the class best in others.

As a new car, the Torres is too expensive to be competitive, but used models level the playing field a little. Until, that is, you realise you can get the class-leading Hyundai Tucson with the same age and mileage for the same money.

The interior of the Torres is rugged-looking and modern, so it matches the exterior styling well.

In our opinion the copper accents are welcoming and stop the cabin feeling too drab, although we can see if you think they’re a bit much. The shelf on the dashboard does give you somewhere to rest your hand when using the touchscreen, though.

And you’ll need to touch the screen a lot, because the Torres doesn’t have any physical buttons for the climate control and driving functions. Luckily, the touchscreen is fairly easy to use, with shortcut icons to quickly get to climate, navigation, media and app functions. We’d like it if KGM had moved the shortcut icons to the right-hand side of the screen for right-hand-drive cars, though.

Another usability quirk is that you have to swipe down from the top of the screen to access the volume adjustment. Meanwhile, it’s bizarre that one screen has white writing and the other has black writing, given that the backgrounds are the same. The info on the dials, in black, can be hard to read. At least the dials offer some configurability, and responses to your inputs are pretty quick.

Material quality is more MG than Mercedes. It all looks nice but there’s a lot of hard plastics around, and the fake TPU leather on K30 cars has the grip of a freshly sheened ice rink.

K30 is the cheaper of the two trim levels, but it doesn’t feel like it with the amount of standard equipment you get. Highlights include LED headlights, privacy glass, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, two-zone climate control, two 12.3-inch screens, a reversing camera, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The more expensive K40 trim adds bigger wheels, an electrically operated bootlid, powered and cooled seats, adaptive cruise control and upholstery that’s actually seen a cow. It’s a little strange that the K40 also gets an additional airbag, for a total of eight.

Looks aren’t deceiving – the Torres is a big car. It’s 20cm longer than the Hyundai Tucson. That translates to a vast amount of rear-seat space that’s almost certainly better than any of its main rivals. There’s a good amount of adjustment in the front seats, and even with the front seats pushed far back there’s still enough room for tall adults to get comfy in the back.

Headroom is good, too, while there’s enough room to sit three adults across the rear bench without many complaints. A nearly flat floor helps here. When only the outer seats are filled, a pair of cupholders and an armrest fold down from the middle seat. There are also USB sockets, storage pockets and air vents.

KGM gives a boot space measurement of 703 litres with the seats up, although this is measured to the roof, rather than to the load cover as most manufacturers quote. Even so, it promises to be a useful space, thanks to a wide, tall boot opening and a long, flat space. There’s room for at least two or three large suitcases, or a large dog crate – but without any hooks or tiedowns in the boot, you’ll have to drive sedately to stop everything crashing around.

With the seats dropped, the extended boot floor is near-enough flat. It’s long enough to carry an adult mountain bike with the wheels still on, or a surfboard. Standard-fit roof rails with a 75kg max capacity add extra versatility.

Further forward, there’s a lot of useful storage – a big glovebox and door bins, large cupholders, phone trays and what looks like a dedicated place to keep the keys, in front of an extra cubby under the armrest.

All versions – petrol or electric – can tow 1.5 tonnes.

We’ve only tried the petrol Torres so far, and the 1.5-litre engine isn’t much to write home about. We expect the electric EVX will be smoother and feel quicker.

It’s quicker on paper. The petrol’s 163hp has a tough job against such a large car, and if you rev it out you’ll just get hard-edged and loud engine noise. In fairness, the midrange grunt is decent, and performance across the board is acceptable; 0-62mph takes 10.8 seconds.

The 207hp EVX knocks that down to a much more brisk 8.1 seconds.

In terms of running costs, both have their downsides. The EV should be a lot cheaper to refuel, especially if you can charge at home. It’s not a high bar to clear, mind – the petrol car’s 33mpg fuel economy is disappointing.

KGM says you’ll get 287 miles from a full charge of the BYD-supplied 73.4kWh battery, which points to a competitive 3.9 miles per kWh. At average UK electricity prices, a full charge costs under £20 – probably a third or a quarter of a tank of petrol. But the cost saving is reduced by expensive insurance costs for the EVX – its group 48 rating is what you’d expect from a Porsche or Tesla.

Both petrol and electric versions can be optioned to over £40,000, at which point you'll have to pay the luxury car tax until your Torres is six years old.

If you’re used to old-school 4x4s that offer off-road chops at the expense of on-road refinement, you’ll probably think the Torres drives very well. While the top-spec model does get the option of all-wheel drive, the Torres isn’t a proper 4x4.

So it’s more road-focused than it might look, and that’s where you’d compare it against the likes of the Hyundai Tucson and Vauxhall Grandland. Here, the Torres doesn’t score too highly – although it’s by no means hopeless to drive.

The six-speed Aisin automatic gearbox – the only ‘box available – is usually beavering away in the background without you noticing what it’s doing. Ask for full power and it reacts just about quickly enough not to be a nuisance.

We’d like the ride to be a bit more settled – it feels busy over British road surfaces. Refinement is also dashed by the level of ambient noise, such as from the wind and tyres.

There’s plenty of safety tech, with auto emergency braking, lane-keep assist, speed limit recognition and more; K40 adds blind-spot warning and a system that monitors if it’s safe to open the door. As in a number of rivals, we found the lane-keep assist to be quite sensitive, so it’s handy that there’s a button on the steering wheel to toggle it on and off.