Isuzu’s new-look D-Max pickup gets a heavy-duty week-long test by Al Suttie.
Isuzu D-Max V-Cross Auto
List price: £36,624 CO2: 241g/km Economy: 30.7mpg Test efficiency: 29.2mpg
Monday
A light refresh in 2023 saw the Isuzu D-Max fitted with a new grille, wheels and improved front seats. Not usually a reason to try out a car for me, but I hadn’t driven the D-Max since its launch in 2021 and that was mostly on farm roads and off-road. The week ahead promises to provide much more of what a typical D-Max user will experience.
Tuesday
As is usual on a Tuesday, I have a couple of errands and drives that involve gnarly back lanes. Now that I’m at the wheel of a D-Max, it’s amazing how many I spot coming towards me – four in an eight-mile stretch into the countryside. On these roads, the bouncy ride is less important than being able to pull over and use the verge to make space for other vehicles, and the Isuzu has no qualms about this.
Wednesday
Popping over to Fife to see my dad, I usually avoid the shorter route as the road looks like it’s been dug up and left due to the number of potholes. The D-Max happily picks its way over and through them and also gives me a great view over hedgerows that are otherwise a block to seeing what’s going on. You forget just high you sit in a pickup compared to even most larger SUVs.
Thursday
A neighbour who is a farm contractor and runs an older D-Max is very keen to look over this one. He immediately spots the seats and says they look more comfortable than ones in his truck. He also praises the leather of this V-Cross version for being easier to wipe clean of the muck that becomes ingrained in his pickup’s cloth interior. However, he’s not convinced by the infotainment – more on this later.
Friday
Keyless entry is a great idea in pickups where you can find your hands full of kit or you’re wearing chunky gloves. However, one small irritation with the D-Max is every time I walk round the back of the truck, it locks itself. This was doubly annoying today as I was collecting some parts for my hillclimb car and had to make three trips while also stashing some smaller parts in the cabin.
Saturday
I’ve given it the best part of a week to convince me, but the D-Max’s infotainment is just too dated and fiddly to use. Even my 13-year-old son, who has an innate understanding of such gizmos, declares it too much effort to bother with. Even when I’ve found Radio 4 on DAB it seems to disappear at random. The screen is also slow to respond and suffers from reflections.
Sunday
As a working vehicle, the D-Max is hard to fault thanks to its superb offroad ability, 3.5-tonne towing capacity, and generous pickup bed. In double-cab form, though, it doesn’t convince as a pickup that can double as a family car. The 1.9-litre turbo diesel is too noisy and the ride too bouncy unless there’s some serious heft in the load bed. Still, the new seats are very comfortable.
