Isuzu D-Max 2021 review: SX 4x4 Space Cab off-road test

The Isuzu D-Max SX space cab chassis 4x4 auto has a manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) of $45,700. SX is the entry-level spec for the D-Max line-up.

Standard features include 17-inch steel wheels.

Standard features include 7.0-inch multimedia display (with Apple CarPlay (wireless) and Android Auto (USB) and voice recognition), halogen headlights, auto headlights and auto high-beam lights, auto wipers, tilt and reach adjustable steering, rear wing space cab doors, as well as 17-inch steel wheels, vinyl flooring, cloth seat trim, a reversing camera, and air-conditioning.

Safety gear is plentiful and includes eight airbags, AEB (with pedestrian and cyclist detection), lane keeping assistance, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, front turn assist, driver attention assist. 

There's a 7.0-inch multimedia display with Apple CarPlay (wireless) and Android Auto (USB).

The D-max has a maximum five-star ANCAP crash-test safety rating.

Our test vehicle costs more than a standard example because it has the heavy-duty alloy tray ($2567, including fitting), towbar with seven-pin-plug ($1199, including fitting), and an electric brake controller ($820, including fitting). Isuzu calculates on-road costs (registration, CTP, stamp duty, delivery etc) to be $4309. So, the actual price as tested for this vehicle is $52,576, drive away.

Paint choices include Mineral White, Cobalt Blue mica, Basalt Black mica, Mercury Silver metallic, and Obsidian Grey mica. Any metallic paint option costs $500.
 

This D-Max has the range’s new tweaked 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine, which produces 140kW at 3600 rpm and 450Nm at 1600-2600rpm.

It has a six-speed automatic transmission and a dual-range transfer case with high- and low-range gearing. It also has a recalibrated off-road traction control system and – sound the trumpets! – a rear differential lock.
This D-Max has the range’s new tweaked 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine.

The SX cabin is a space well suited to work. It’s basic but without being spartan; it’s comfortable without being plush.

The flooring is vinyl, the seat trim is cloth, and there’s an abundance of hard plastics. All of that’s fine with me, but you may have a problem with the paucity of modern comforts and conveniences.

The 7.0-inch display is quite a bit smaller than the 9.0-inch unit that’s in some more expensive variants. It looks a bit odd, with such a thick border of ‘screen nothing’ around it, and it’s also fiddly to operate on the move.

The flooring is vinyl, the seat trim is cloth, and there’s an abundance of hard plastics.

Controls elsewhere are easy enough to use – temperature, fan direction and speed are all big dials – but there are a few dummy buttons around, just to rub in the fact that you’re not driving a higher-spec D-Max, as if you care.

In terms of storage there is a shallow tray in front of the shifter, cupholders between driver and front-seat passenger, a centre console, and pop-out cupholders under the outboard air vents.

There is a USB port and a 12V socket.

The rear wing doors allow for easy enough access – to throw in gear etc – and the rear bench has shallow storage spaces underneath.

It’s actually pretty decent for an extra cab/space cab ute. Traditionally, these utes, in which the tray size is the priority over cabin space, have offered very average overall ride and handling, because they’ve simply not been set up to exhibit those characteristics. In the past, these utes have been engineered to handle large payloads comfortably, not to actually be comfortable.

If you expect stable, composed ride and handling in an unladen ute that’s mostly a tray, then you ought to take a long hard look at yourself.

Well, that’s changed quite dramatically with this latest revised D-Max line-up. The new dual-cab variants offer quite car-like on-road manners, and while the space cab has certainly improved over previous iterations, it’s not quite at car-like levels of driving assurance yet. But that’s the nature of the load-focussed beast, because it is on load-carrying leaf springs at the rear afterall.

There’s a fair bit of in-cabin noise, mostly diesel engine clatter, and the unladen space-cab D-Max yields a jittery ride, skipping around merrily as this ute traverses surfaces with even slight imperfections. 

But, as always, if you expect stable, composed ride and handling in an unladen ute that’s mostly a tray, then you ought to take a long hard look at yourself.

In most other aspects, this D-Max is right up there with the best in this realm, and you certainly can’t fault it in terms of what it offers in pure drivability, functionality and safety tech.

It has a claimed fuel consumption of 8.0L/100km. The dash-indicated figure was 8.9L/100km, but I recorded an actual fuel consumption on test of 9.2L/100km.

The D-Max has a 76-litre fuel tank.

A six-year/150,000km warranty applies to this D-Max. Servicing intervals are set at 15,000km/12 month intervals. Capped priced servicing costs are $389, $409, $609, $509, $299, $749 and $409, costing a total of $3373 over the period.

A new D-Max owner also gets no-cost, seven-year roadside-assistance cover.