Mercedes-Benz E400 vs KGM Musso

What's the difference?

It is hard to immediately think of a country more suited to the convertible life than Australia. Even our coldest states (you know who you are…) are blessed with more warming sun than almost anywhere else on the civilised parts of the planet, so you’d think we’d be swanning about in dropped-top bliss almost year round.

But it’s actually in the UK (despite being cold, grey and almost always underwater) that convertibles really fly out of dealerships, with sun-starved Brits buying more than anyone else in the world. Weird, right?

Still, here they remain something of an oddity, sold in small numbers to drop-top diehards. At least partly because the convertibles of old were almost always slightly worse than their hardtop equivalents. 

But Mercedes - which makes more convertibles than most - claims to have mastered the soft-top formula with the E400 4Matic, a car it says offers all the perks of open-air motoring without any of the dynamic or practical downsides. 

KGM (formerly SsangYong) has revised its Musso range for 2026 with some new features and revised styling throughout the Australian line-up, as well as a name-change for this grade: the Advance which used to be the Adventure.

The updated Musso is a dual-cab 4WD ute with high and low-range gearing, an auto-locking rear differential and 3.5-tonne towing capacity, and all for under $50,000.

And with the optional XLV (extra long vehicle/version) pack, which our test vehicle has, it gets a longer wheelbase (110mm extra), a 300mm longer tub and 90kg of extra payload over the standard Musso (880kg rather than 790kg).

So, is the Musso an affordable alternative to the likes of Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger?