Great spots 6 - Ssangyong Rodius

A couple of years ago there was a survey, I think carried out by an insurance company, that found the Ssangyong Rodius to be the ugliest car on sale in the UK. I spotted this one in my local Tesco car park, and I'd have to admit it's not a great looker, but on the other hand I don't think it's much worse than, say, the Mercedes R-class or the forthcoming Peugeot 308.


When we had the Rodius on the Verdict back in 2005, one of the readers who tried it rather memorably said that it looked as though someone had stuck a dormer window on the back, and this second shot shows precisely what he meant.


I'm one of the few people who's ever said anything remotely nice about the Rodius in print. It does have a fairly agreeable Mercedes-derived diesel engine and automatic gearbox, after all - and it's utterly enormous inside. I can imagine the Rodius being rather fun as a holiday vehicle for a big family carrying a lot of stuff. Our Verdict test car, like the Rodius shown here, had black paintwork and heavily tinted glass, a combination that tended to minimise the impact of the bodywork's awkward creases.