Isuzu MU-X 2020 review: LS-T 4WD

The MU-X definitely looks like it means business, and that it can handle almost anything. That’s what the exterior is telling you.

There’s nothing refined or sophisticated about the MU-X, with a large, bullish front end and square-ish back end. Could they have done better? Most certainly, but it’s not a car you’re buying for looks. This car is about functionality and doing a job. Looks don’t come into the equation. 

The MU-X definitely looks like it means business.

The inside is a little more stylish, but you still feel as though the car is built with the purpose of going off-road, with the intent to power through whatever mud you can sling at it.

Hence the plastic-y finishes around the dash and doors, the leather-ish seats that will wipe clean, and the functional centre console area with a satisfyingly large dial for changing the air temperature. All this is quite well put together, so you feel good sitting in it. 

There are three modes on the Isuzu MU-X LS-T: 2H (front-wheel drive high-range), 4H (all-wheel drive high range), and 4L (four-wheel drive low-range).

It’s stacked with a 3.0-litre, four-cylinder engine and you’re very high off the ground. The whole drive is quite bouncy but still solid - it gives you the feeling that it can handle most things you’d throw at it.

Featuring a 3.0-litre, four-cylinder engine.

I think the car shines on the highways, it’s such an effortless, pleasant car to drive over long distances and on big roads. I didn’t get the chance to take it off road though. 

The steering is quite heavy and the turning circle is wide. Because it’s large, squeezing into parking spaces is tricky but there is a decent reverse parking camera to help out.

It handles okay, but it’s meant to be out there in the wild. As a city car you’d make it work, but it’s really calling to be let loose on the open road. 

It’s high off the ground so there is a step to get up into the car which I used, and if you have a child who is s-l-o-w to get in and out of cars, be prepared to have your patience tested because it took my little one a while, every time. 

Because it’s high, the boot is an excellent height off the ground, you can literally just place things in there, no need to bend which worked fantastically with loading things in and out. 

It’s high off the ground so there is a step to get up into the car.

There are six cupholders - two in each row - and a decent centre storage bin plus a bottle holder in each door. There’s also a very small bit of storage near the gearshift you can fit keys in, nowhere really for your phone, though there's always the reach to the glove box, and there is an extra storage box on top of the dash. 

The air con works really well which I was grateful for in a very hot Aussie January. Air vents continued throughout the car, with roof placement in the second and third rows so that rear passengers got enough air, too. And if I heard any word of complaint from the children it was that they were too cold - a good thing! 

The MU-X relies on Isuzu's multimedia system so you won’t find Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. You will still be able to connect your device via Bluetooth and the sat nav is actually clear to follow and not clunky at all, so that’s a plus.

The MU-X relies on Isuzu's multimedia system.

The Isuzu MU-X LS-T costs $54,990 drive-away. Fuel consumption is a claimed 7.9L/100km and the best we've been able to manage is 9.5L/100km. 

It’s covered by a six year/150,000km warranty, roadside assist for the same period with seven years of capped-price servicing.

Servicing is recommended every 12 months or 15,000km. 

The Isuzu MU-X LS-T costs $54,990 drive-away.