Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by diesel engines and utilizing the 5-door suv body style within the same 'SUV' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (rear for the SSangYong and front in the case of the Hyundai). The first one has a SSangYong-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 141hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 140hp engine designed by Hyundai.

The fact that the Hyundai got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, offers a slight advantage, as the 4-star rating is better than none. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the suv segment, which is generally a very good thing safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, Actyon offers a considerable difference of 11% more metal.

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that Hyundai as a brand displays somewhat better results, at least on all of the models level. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of SSangYong with an average rating of 4.3, and models under the Hyundai badge with 4.5 out of 5. Independent research findings rank Actyon as average reliability-wise, and Tucson is more or less at the same level.That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as Actyon rank it on average as 4.3, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.7 out of 5.

Hyundai is way more agile, reaching 100km/h in 3 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 179 kilometers per hour, 16km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be Tucson, averaging around 7 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (40 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 11% difference compared to Actyon.

Hyundai appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, Tucson offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. It all continues in the same direction, with Hyundai outracing its opponent in any situation possible, making it better choice for boy racers. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but Hyundai. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. Also, you could use the oportunity to find out which car, everything taken into account, would be the perfect choice for you in the eyes of the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.