ONE of the best value SUVs on the market has been given a major makeover with styling changes both inside and out.

The 2014 SsangYong Korando has an all-new front-end treatment with a slimmed down, black mesh radiator grille, more contemporary headlights and a wider, low level air intake.  The new headlight units now comprise projection lamps and LED daytime running lights surrounded by a stylish black and aluminium bezel.  Further illumination is provided on the ELX4 model with round fog lamps set within the lower bumper.

At the rear, the design changes are focused on enhanced style with detail improvements such as the rear light cluster, which now includes LED lights.

There are new designs for both the 16-inch and 17-inch wheels and three new exterior colours - Sunrise red, Cosmic blue and Carbonic grey as well as Space black, Grand white and Silent silver.

The interior of the car has also been given a significant facelift with a completely redesigned dashboard featuring soft-touch materials, natural matt woodgrain insets and abundant storage space that includes enlarged cup holders, a mobile phone tray and flip-down sunglasses tray.

Three of the four models in the latest Korando line-up come with a two-litre, 149bhp Euro 5 diesel engine mated to a six speed manual gearbox, but the same engine is boosted to 175bhp in the top of the range ELX4 model, which has a six speed auto transmission.   

SsangYong claims to have made great advances in reducing NVH (noise, vibration & harshness), with particular attention focused on the car's engine mountings.  Stronger, reinforced mounting brackets are used which effectively reduce engine noise levels by up to 9.3 per cent.  New rubber bushes have been fitted to the Korando's reinforced sub frames, further helping to minimise intrusive vibration and noise from the road surface and engine.

Three of the four new models come with intelligent four wheel drive. The torque-on-demand system senses the road surface and driving conditions and distributes the power to the wheels that need it most.

The new models arrive at dealers before the end of the year and are available to order now at prices starting from £14,995 for the two wheel drive Korando 2.0SE. Four wheel drive versions start at £16,495 while the range-topping 2.0ELX4 auto is priced at £21,495 and all come with a five year, limitless mileage warranty.