After a few months commuting through Jozi’s urban jungle in our long-term Isuzu D-Max LSE 4x4, it was time to take the SA-built double cab for its first road trip adventure in the pulchritudinous setting of Kosi Bay.
The Kosi River Mouth, located in KwaZulu-Natal just south of the Mozambique border, is snorkelling heaven. It’s known as “the aquarium” because of the clarity of the water and the abundance of fish species.
The load bay was packed to the hilt with camping and snorkelling gear as we made an early start for the eight-hour journey on the mostly single-lane roads we knew would be more challenging than the easy, a multi-lane freeway cruise to Durban.
And so it was. The early part of the trip along the N17 was smooth going — albeit expensive in terms of toll fees — but the roads deteriorated as we got closer to northern KwaZulu-Natal and were at times chock-a-block with slow-moving trucks.
It was on these scarred and bumpy roads that the D-Max’s good ride quality and big tyres came to the fore. With the chunky high-profile rubber we were able to cruise over most potholes instead of having to zigzag through them, which is a distinctly less hair-raising way to travel. As for the ride quality, the Isuzu covers rough roads with respectable smoothness, especially with a full load box.
It is a heavy but easy-steering bakkie that doesn’t feel ponderous or leave the driver feeling fatigued after an eight-hour trip. The armrest between the front seats is set too far back, however, leaving your elbow resting uncomfortably on the edge if you want to steer as well — an irksome thing on a long journey.
While the chuggy turbo diesel engine isn’t the quietest in the game, it’s not lacking in pace, even with the bakkie heavily laden like a packhorse. Outputs of 140kW and 450Nm are a significant gain over its predecessor’s 130kW and 380Nm, and gave the D-Max plenty of voomah to briskly overtake the many trucks along the route.
For its size the Isuzu’s agreeably economical, too. On the open road the big bakkie returned a frugal 8.6l/100km and its combined town/freeway average is 9.5l.
That the new D-Max has become more of a lifestyle bakkie than its predecessors is evident in its larger and more sophisticated interior. The cabin has grown into a space that comfortably takes a quartet of adults, and it comes with plenty of mod cons for happy long-distance journeys, including front and rear aircon vents, an infotainment system and USB charging ports front and rear. There are plenty of storage nooks and hidey-holes, as well as pop-out cupholders at the front air vents to keep drinks chilled. Of such things are contented family trips made.
Priced at R771,799, the LSE 4x4 model is second in the Isuzu D-Max hierarchy and comes with a decent bounty of comforts including a rear parking camera, cruise control and leather seats. For extra items such as electrically adjustable seats, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist and gun metallic finishes, the range-topping D-Max V-Cross 4x4 is available for R814,700.
Isuzu’s double cab has a sizeable 995kg payload and easily swallowed all our camping gear. The tonneau cover prevented the luggage from getting dusty (this isn’t always the case) and is fairly easy to fit — no broken fingernails have been reported so far. Curiously, however, the tailgate isn’t integrated with the central locking system; it has to be manually locked with a key, which seems like an unnecessary schlep.
The painted steel load area became scratched during the expedition, and getting it rubberised sounds like a good idea.
The Kosi Bay area is largely wild and unspoilt, and the Isuzu’s off-roading skills were put to the test in some of the surrounding hills and picturesque pastures. The high ground clearance kept the vehicle’s belly from getting beached, and with four-wheel drive and the rear diff lock selected, the bakkie had little trouble getting through hilly turf in soft sand. We didn’t require the low-range gear or to deflate the tyres; those options were there to bail us out of trouble if necessary.
The D-Max 4x4 takes to adventure trails like a state capture politician to a bribe, and it’s easy to tap into its off-road capability with a simple dial that lets you switch between 2WD and 4WD on the move, without having to lose momentum.
The locally built D-Max’s sales momentum is doing well, too. In July it sold 1,602 units and was SA’s fourth best-selling new vehicle overall.
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