Isuzu D-Max vs Volkswagen Amarok

What's the difference?

The new D-Max hasn’t been majorly overhauled and instead bundles together a whole bunch of small but important changes, all of which have been designed to keep it fresh in the face of its competition, like the Triton, Ranger and HiLux.

Has it done enough? Only time will tell. But there’s little doubt that these updates only improve the D-Max formula.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The Life might one of the more budget-friendly offerings in the Amarok range, but for mine, it's also among the smartest buys in the family.

So ask yourself, do you really need that V6?

There are some big-ish changes for this new-look D-Max, but how many of them you get depends on which of the six trim levels you’re shopping for.

Spring for one near the top of the family tree, and you’ll get all of the updates, which include new-look headlights that are LED with LED DRLs (but halogens on the SX), and a new-look front-end and grille. At the rear, there are new LED rear light clusters.

It doesn’t look a million miles away from the current D-Max, to be honest, but it does look a little newer, and a little fresher, which is important in the battle of the inches that is the new-ute market.

Inside, the brand describes the cabin as a mix of utility and comfort, and that’s feels pretty accurate from the driver’s seat.

The tech is new, with the 8.0- or 9.0-inch central screen joined by USB connection points, and there’s a new Digital Driver Display screen in the mix, along with new seat materials and trims, too.

But back to that that mix of utility and comfort. I’m not sure Isuzu has gotten the mix exactly right. There are plenty of soft-touch materials in the higher-trim levels, just not always where I want them to be.

I don’t know about you, but I like to have my elbow up when driving, and that plastic is still scratchy and hard, as is the place where my knee touches the centre console.

That said, it’s largely comfortable, definitely functional, and it serves up pretty much exactly what you might expect.

It feels a little weird to describe any kind of dual-cab ute as "elegant", I know. We're used to these trucks looking big and bulky, with tough usually being the singular design brief.

But you know what, I'm going to. Because the Amarok does look somehow elegant – mature, even – both in its Core and Life guises.

It's partly the colours available – the Bright Beige Metallic especially is lovely — but it's also the design philosophy overall. VW talks about it, and when they do it can sound like marketing guff, but the Amarok does genuinely look like it has European sensibilities.

Climb inside the Core and you're met with the rough-and-tumble cabin of an entry-level workhorse. The steering wheel feels low end, the flooring is vinyl, and there's a manual parking brake, cloth seats and hard cabin materials.

That said, it's all nicely laid out, and it all works visually, especially when you consider the purpose of the Core.

The Life improves matters, with comfy - still fabric - seats, a leather steering wheel and a cooler, leather-wrapped shifter, and a nice smattering of colours through the cabin, though the hard plastics remain.

Isuzu has taken to calling the D-Max one of Australia’s most capable utes out of the box.

That includes up to 240mm in ground clearance, 800mm in wading depth, and a towing maximum of 3.5 tonnes for the bigger diesel engine, dropping to three tonnes with the 1.9-litre powerplant fitted. Payload is up to 1405kg, too, but to get you need the SX with Cab Chassis. It’s more like 1045kg for most dual-cab ute trims.

Also new for this update is the addition of Rough Terrain Mode — a technology borrowed from the MU-X, then improved to pair with the D-Max’s mechanical off-road features.

In short, the tech taps into the traction-control systems to detect wheel slip, and can then brake individual wheels and send torque to where it is needed to smooth your progress. In the D-Max, it works with the rear diff-lock, too.

The back seat of the D-Max shows why vehicles in this category are now doubling as family vehicles. Behind my own 175cm driving position there was enough knee and headroom to get comfortable, and I’m confident you could fit three across the back row pretty easily, too.

There are some creature comforts, including a USB-C charging point (trim dependent) as well as air vents, but no temp controls, and even a little coat hook as well, but it’s not swimming with niceties.

They’re all pretty damn practical, these Amaroks, and that’s true of both the Life and Core models, too.

While it’s slightly narrower than the model it replaces, this Ford Ranger-based Amarok is slightly longer, with a longer wheelbase, which the brand says delivers more backseat space, while still being able to carry a pallet in its tray.

It will also tow 3.5 tonnes braked, deliver a 988kg payload - slightly down on the Core’s 1042kg - and the roof is rated to 350kg.

There are plenty of off-road goodies, too. The 4Motion system delivers high-range and low-range 4WD, and both variants offer 235mm of ground clearance, and 800mm of wading depth.

And I can tell you from experience that there’s more than enough off-road capability on offer here to take you about as far as you want to go on the weekend.

The Core opens Amarok proceedings, listing at $52,990. And, unfortunately, it does very much feel like an entry-level model, with a key you need to insert and turn, a manual handbrake, vinyl flooring and the least-powerful engine available.

Happily, it doesn't so much look like one. In fact, externally, the big differences between the Core and the Life is the latter's body-coloured mirrors, and the former's external fixing rail that runs alongside the tray.

It gets 17-inch alloys, a standard tow bar, LED headlights and DRLs (the former so powerful that a colleague riding ahead of me asked me to turn my high-beams off) and some impressive in-cabin tech, including an 8.0-inch digital cockpit, and a 10.0-inch central screen that loads up your Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The Life is one rung above the entry-level Core model, and it lists at $56,990, which is not chump change. But it does deliver one of the best engines on offer - which the Core does not - and you get plenty of niceties, as well as all the ute non-negotiables.

Outside, there’s LED lighting - headlights, DRLs and fog-lights - as well as 17-inch alloys. The tow bar is still standard fit, too.

Inside, there's the same infotainment tech, along with a leather steering wheel and gearshifter, eight-way driver and passenger seat adjustment, and an electric park brake.

The D-Max’s powertrains for 2024 remain unchanged, with the choice of a 1.9-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine good for 110kW and 350Nm, or a 3.0-litre unit producing 140kW and 450Nm. They are paired with either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic, and two- or four-wheel drive, depending on the model.

The Core gets the entry-level diesel, with its single-turbo, 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine producing 125kW and 405Nm. It pairs with a six-speed auto, and delivers decent but not life-changing grunt.

The Life, though, steps it up. It gets a familiar (from the last-gen Ranger Raptor) bi-turbo-diesel engine, with the outputs dialled up to 154kW and 500Nm. It pairs with a 10-speed auto, and is an engaging, entertaining drive.

Isuzu reckons you’ll see around 8.0L/100km on the combined cycle with the bigger engine, with fuel use dropping to 6.9L/100km with the 1.9-litre unit fitted.

The 76-litre tank is the same for both engines, meaning a theoretical range of 950km or 1100km.

The Amarok is fitted with an 80-litre tank, and VW reckons you can expect 7.2L/100km on the combined cycle in the Life, and 8.0L in the Core.

We found the real-world fuel use was closer to 10L/100km in both models, but that included some off-roading, too.

Remember, it’s evolution over revolution for the 2024 Isuzu D-Max, so don’t expect the drive experience to be dramatically different. 

Instead, the brand says it has focused on fixing some of the complaints surrounding the outgoing model, something Isuzu is pretty open about.

It says they’ve taken feedback from the media, from their customers, and from their big fleet users, and they’ve fed it up their Japanese HQ. And the result of all that is this 2024 update.

Apparently one of the biggest complaints focused on the infotainment screen having no physical buttons, but the new one changes that with its wireless Apple CarPlay and twin USB connection points joined by a physical volume dial. I know that feels a little like you’ve taken a step backwards through time, but when something works, it works.

The’ve also made some key, and worthy, changes to the safety systems, but we will get to those in a moment.

The reality is — and I don’t mean this in an insulting way — that the new D-Max largely drives much like you might expect a top-selling diesel dual-cab to drive.

The torque on offer from both engines, but especially the bigger one, is plentiful, even if the noise of the diesel is an ever-present passenger when you put your foot down, and there is that inescapable truck-like feeling from behind the wheel.

There are some elements that set it apart, though. The steering is smooth and responsive, as is the quick-witted automatic gearbox, and despite us tipping into corners a little faster than we would on our daily commute, there wasn’t much in the way of side-to-side body roll, and no complaints from the rubber.

That might sound like I’m damning the D-Max with faint praise, but that’s not the intention. It’s a comfortable, capable, practical workhorse, and that’s ticking plenty of ute boxes, right?

The bigger-engined D-Max remains a towing powerhouse, too. We pulled some serious weight, and 3.0-litre turbo-diesel made pretty light work of it, with ample torque on offer to keep things moving.

It wouldn’t be the launch of an updated diesel dual-cab without a tour across a tailored off-road course, and Isuzu delivered, specifically to plug the merits of its new Rough Terrain Mode.

Tested back-to-back with the system switched on and off, there does seem to be less slip from the wheels when traversing bumpy, tyre-torturing articulations, with the D-Max just gripping and going. It’s another off-road tick for a ute already very good in the rough stuff.

The question that really needs to be asked here, I think, is do you really - really - need a V6 engine? Because if that answer is no, and it would be for me, then I think the Life might be the pick of the Amarok range, both from a price and power perspective.

Don't get me wrong, the Core's engine isn't massively underwhelming. But it's the entry-level powertrain, and it feels like it's working harder than the Life's diesel donk.

If you're even vaguely interested in dual-cab utes, you'll know the bi-turbo engine on offer in the Life as the driving force behind that other dinosaur-themed off-roader, and it's no less enjoyable in this new application.

Lightning fast it is not, but the power on offer is really more than enough here, and not once was I longing for a V6, whether we were on the road or off it.

There's also something to be said for the refinement on offer from the modern dual-cab ute, with the Amarok genuinely filling that family car that can go anywhere brief, without sacrificing on the ute essentials.

Part of that is down to the ride, which VW says has been tuned firm on purpose. It can be a little jarring when you hit a rough patch or bump, especially when off-roading, but the trade-off is a ute that doesn't sway or float too much when cornering, helping the Amarok feel more SUV-like than an old-school dual cab.

Downsides? The 10-speed auto fitted to the Life shifts smoothly enough, but it's pretty busy, shifting up or down when you don't really expect it to, and with only the lightest accelerator input. That, and the diesel thrum is a pretty constant companion, delivering background noise in the cabin whenever you're accelerating.

The Amarok range carries a five-star ANCAP safety rating, and nine airbags, and every model, including the Core, is fitted with a host of high-tech safety kit, too.

AEB with pedestrian and cyclist monitoring is standard fit, as are front and rear parking sensors, with Lane Keep Assist, Lane Departure Warning and adaptive cruise control taking the stress out of freeway cruises.

The Life then adds blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, but Volkswagen suggests the two technologies will be added range wide in the future.

The D-Max is covered by Isuzu’s six-year, 150,000km warranty, and we like the years, but less so the kilometre limits.

There’s five years of capped-price servicing, too. You’ll be visiting the service centre every 12 months or 15,000kms, and each visit will cost you $449 for the first five years, or $2245 in total.

The Amarok gets a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, and you get 12 months of roadside assistance thrown in, too. You can also bulk-buy your services for the first five years, too, for $1800.

Service intervals are 12 months and 15,000km.