I got the most comments from women this week: “How’s your truck going?”, “What are you driving?”, “How is it to drive?”
So there was a tiny bit of interest but mostly it was, “what are you doing in a ute?” And that’s probably thanks to the fact my husband is not a tradie, and also that the car looks like a small truck.
But the Mazda BT-50 still doesn’t look as truck-like as other utes. There is the same Mazda grille as on all Mazdas and it basically looks like a blown-up, oversized Mazda. Which essentially, it is.
This is the middle of the range and there aren't as many fancy features as you’ll get with the top-of-the-range interior. To me, it looks a bit the way some vans are designed. With little fanfare, it’s not about style, it’s about what the car can do.
So, there’s less focus on design and more about how high the seats are off the road, which feels fantastic when you’re in the car. You really do feel like you can drive anywhere and there’s something completely confidence building about that.
There are fabric seats that feel fine and a leather steering wheel. The dash in front of the steering wheel looks a bit dated and the multimedia screen feels like that, too, but compared with some other utes this is quite classy. It’s not as flash as an SUV, though.
If you’re looking for a bit more luxury you’ll have to go to the top grade GT model which is a few grand more and adds brown leather seats and front seat heating.