Isuzu D-Max Adventure V-Cross
For £46,116 (base price inc VAT) you can buy a brand-new pickup from Isuzu. You can buy three others in the D-Max range for less. But these won’t come as well equipped. That said, if you only have around £22k to spend, the base model will no doubt suit your needs.
What I have here is the D-Max V-cross 4×4 Double Cab. And it’s comprehensively equipped to meet your motoring needs, which I haven’t seen in a truck for a long time. Along with the usual niceties, the top model has an auto dim-dip rearview mirror, 8-speaker stereo system, 10 cup holders and my favourite thing, adaptive cruise.
Climbing in isn’t really for the short. It’s quite high up. The floor-to-door sill is just over half a meter. On top of this is the high driving position that gives you 2 things: a fantastic view over even the tallest of the SUVs and annoys those who bought them because they thought they would be the ones looking down. So high, you are pretty much in line with bus drivers.
Sadly I missed the opportunity to take this off-road. I couldn’t make the Isuzu playdate due to distance logistics, so the press team sent me one to play with at home.
I have to say, off-roading is fun but I don’t ever really need to venture more than over the pavement to access my driveway. Driving a big truck as a daily is what I like the idea of. But that makes me ask the question, can you?
Firstly, if you do truck-like things for work or play, then you’ll have no problem justifying this to yourself. As a workhorse, it is impressive. A 1-ton load capacity and a 3.5-ton tow weight maximum are impressive figures.
As a plaything, the 30.1mpg average that I achieved without much trying was also impressive. Load it up and that does take a bit of a tumble. We hitched the fold-out caravan to this and lost 0.5mpg over a 160-mile round trip. I took out the Isuzu D-Max Base Camp model and that showed a drop of 4mpg. That is quite loaded. It comes with a roof tent, awning and full kitchen. It is also fitted with wider than standard tyres.
The reason I took this one out for a test at the recent SMMT regional day was to experience the rear drivetrain. The problem you find with an unloaded pickup is hop and wheel spin. The Base Camp didn’t suffer from this and to be honest, with its off-road tyres, I would expect it to be worse. Both models behaved in a way that I hadn’t experienced in a pickup for a long time.
Isuzu have done a lot to try and eradicate the hop and they have achieved this. Even on mildly moist roads, it was hard to light up the rear wheels unless you wanted to try.
On the road, as a road vehicle, it behaves well. Just as long as you don’t hustle it too hard. Then it’s all noise and no go. The ESC kicks in and it feels like it takes an extraordinary amount of time to resume power to the wheels.
The trouble is, there is a lot of power on one hand but not on the other. 164hp at 3800rpm and 360Nm between 2000-2500rpm is very adequate. However, it gets there fairly quickly. 13seconds to 60 with the auto. But once it has, there is nothing left. Power drop-off from the 1898cc turbo diesel takes some getting used to. It just stops.
So you learn that this isn’t a vehicle built for speed. It’s a proper workhorse. Then again, it’s not that agricultural that it leaves you cold. The V-cross has all the luxury appointments that you could wish for in your hatchback or SUV. There isn’t anything you are missing. Except maybe for an inbuilt sat-nav. You need to connect your smartphone to access Waze or other map systems.
And that’s once you get it connected. My phone needed to be opened to access the system and only then could I shut it down and access it via the large touch screen. A touch screen that isn’t home to heater controls. Thankfully, these are still analogue and all the better for it.
Things I’ve not touched on are the accommodation for 5. There isn’t much to add here. It’ll seat 5 of the biggest people you know in leather comfort. Likewise, the load bed will take a lot of luggage except for the weekly shopping. This is where the empty load bed falls flat on its arse. To use the D-Max as a daily, you really need to consider a compartmentalised bed liner that isn’t available. So you’ll need to be creative.
And once you have mastered that, I can’t see why you couldn’t use one as a daily vehicle. I know I can. Having had it for 10 days, not once did I wish for something smaller, faster or easier to park. All I would say is, despite the black trim that I don’t get because I like brightwork, push for dealer discounts for the V-Cross. It’s only an extra £1800 over the DL40 but you get a larger info system and a CD player.
Price as tested with options £52,600
Options fitted:
- Aeroklas Leisure E-Tronic Canopy – £2,320.00
- Under-Rail Liner – £365.00
- Roof Rails – £580.65
- Lazer 36-Elite – £768.00
- Wireless Charger – £117.50
- Tow Bar + 13-pin Electrics – £587.50
- Valencia Orange Paint Finish – £600.00