Isuzu D-Max vs Mazda BT-50

What's the difference?

There’s a fairly big change hiding under the metal of one of Australia’s favourite utes. The Isuzu D-Max has a new 2.2-litre engine, replacing the 1.9-litre unit, and it brings a couple of other things with it.

A bigger engine designed to be more powerful and more efficient can only be a good thing, surely, especially with Isuzu looking down the barrel of stringent emissions laws with only two models in the line-up, both diesel powered.

But is this new 2.2-litre engine any good? Isuzu’s gone to the trouble of a new gearbox and some new tech to go with it, so we check it out to see if it stacks up against the increasingly strong competition.

Traditionally, offering a smaller engine in a particular make or model has been a manufacturer’s way of stripping a few dollars out of the price-tag. In the case of the ute market, that’s more often than not an attempt to rope price-sensitive fleet customers into the family. Not to mention responding to the cut-throat pricing of some of the Chinese newcomers.

A handful of years ago, we saw Mazda do just that with a 1.9-litre turbo-diesel variant for its BT-50 range to give us the XS, entry-level trim specification. But it seems Mazda has had a bit of a rethink about that strategy (in line with Isuzu’s plans, given the BT-50 and D-Max share their major structures and drivelines) and has now upgraded the small-engine variant of the BT-50 with a new engine and the return of the 4X4 option (which was dropped after about 12 months in the previous XS model due to lack of demand).

But perhaps most importantly, the engine in this base-spec BT-50 has now grown from the original 1.9 litres to 2.2 litres. As a result, there’s more torque, more power and an extra couple of gears in the transmission. And with the option of four-wheel drive again, the new XS BT-50 might just get a look in where the previous XS didn’t.

In the end, of course, the XS closes the gap to the other BT-50s in the line-up, perhaps muddying further the question of whether you need to stump up for the full 3.0 litres in the other BT-50s, or take an enough-is-enough stance and save some coin.