2015 Isuzu D-Max Review: LS-U 4X4 Crew Cab Ute – Go On, Try And Bust It…
What’s Hot: Strong understressed diesel, wide torque band, proven robustness, value buying
What’s Not: Interior now outclassed, lacks trailer sway control and a few mod-cons
X-FACTOR: Isuzu’s D-Max is as tough as nails and as reliable as sunrise, and the market knows it.
Vehicle style: 4X4 Dual-cab Utility
Price: $48,300 (plus on-roads)
Engine/transmission: 3.0 litre turbo-diesel DOHC/ five-speed auto with sequential shift
Power: 130kW@3600rpm | Torque: 380Nm@1800rpm-2800rpm (auto)
Fuel consumption (claimed): 8.1 l/100km; (tested): 9.3 l/100km
OVERVIEW
This “pick-up” nonsense drives me nuts. If there is a buckety-looking tub-thing on the back, it’s a ute - that’s what it has always been, and what it should stay.
And just because our septic mates think it’s a pick-up, doesn’t mean we should adopt it.
So poncy marketers, advertising tools, faddists, fashionistas, rappers and other wannabe-dudes take note: a car that looks like this one – Isuzu’s tough as nails D-Max Ute – is a friggin’ ute.
(And a “pick-up”, as far as I’m concerned, is what happens on a good night out.)
You can ask Lew Bandt, if you can get him to answer the phone. After all, he invented it down there in Geelong 80-odd years ago.
Which brings us to Isuzu’s D-Max Ute.
For starters, Isuzu knows what it is; ‘UTE’ is in its company name here, Isuzu UTE.
And they don’t build ‘em much tougher, reliable, or ‘utey’ than Isuzu. Its D-Max Ute does the heavy lifting for this quiet-achieving small company with the hard-grafting commercial vehicle heart.