Isuzu NPR vs Isuzu NLR

What's the difference?

Driving a truck of this size has never been easier than it is with these new Isuzus. Once you’ve worked out how to judge gaps in traffic and have acclimatised to the bulk of a light truck, it’s all pretty straight-forward.

The greater levels of connectivity and safety in this generation of trucks is a big leap on the OH and S front, and there’s no trade-off in terms of the traditional practicalities trucks like these offer.

Our advice would be to option up the suspension driver’s seat and, where possible, look into the independent front suspension, too, as this gives the vehicle a more car-like feel in terms of both steering and ride quality.

Meantime, the option of the ready-to-work packages makes the whole idea of getting into a light truck all the more simple, fuss-free and financially attractive. Which are all things fleet managers around the world can agree on.

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

Work out the weight of all the tools, equipment, materials, crew and (if applicable) trailer that you need to haul around each day and measure it against this truck’s formidable GVM and GCM ratings. When combined with its compact dimensions, robust design and build quality, solid warranty and ready-to-work pricing, you may find it’s hard to beat if you’re prepared to think outside the square on what a single cab-chassis ute can look like.

While it’s generally agreed that trucks trail cars and utes in terms of safety and connectivity, the latest N-Series trucks are aimed at reversing that trend. Lots of active safety gear has been added to the N-Series in the most recent upgrade and that’s led to a much safer vehicle.

The ability to connect Apple CarPlay and Android devices is also a major bonus this time around.

The other element unique to Isuzu is the ability for customers to order a fully-finished truck, rather than order the basic package from the truck manufacturer and then finding a third-party supplier for the body they need.

Isuzu calls it its ready-to-work option and it spans various types of bodies including a service body, conventional drop-side tray, enclosed van and even a tipper body. As an off-the-shelf alternative to the traditional way of ordering and specifying a truck, it’s a surprise nobody else has done it, although Isuzu’s volumes definitely play a part.

This vehicle looks compact in comparison to a one-tonne ute - and the tape measure confirms it. Compared to a Ranger 4x4 dual cab ute for example, its 5020mm overall length is a surprising 339mm shorter, its 2490mm wheelbase is 730mm less and its 1855mm width is line-ball.

The Isuzu’s 2172mm height is 357mm taller, which could present a challenge if access to underground or multi-storey carparks is required. However, its remarkably small 8.7-metre turning circle is a whole 4.0 metres tighter than the Ranger, so it's highly maneuverable.

Built on a heavy-duty steel ladder-frame chassis, it has independent wishbone/coil spring front suspension, a leaf-spring live rear axle, power-assisted rack and pinion steering and four-wheel disc brakes. It also runs a 24-volt electrical system with twin batteries.

The single cab provides fabric-trimmed seating for up to three (driver bucket, passenger bench) but our test vehicle was fitted with seat covers from the Isuzu accessories range. With torsion bar assistance, the cab can be easily tilted forward to rest at a 45-degree angle and provide full access to the engine.

The service body, which is a blend of lightweight aluminium and steel, has a tough powder-coated finish. It comprises a large main storage compartment with big gull-wing doors on each side, plus a compact rear tray with checker-plate floor, drop-sides and load anchorage points. There are also rear underbody storage boxes on each side, plus sturdy body-mounted roof racks, safety yellow non-slip steps and sturdy grab handles front and rear.

Because they’re made to work first and foremost, the cabins of these 4.5-tonne trucks are roomy and offer plenty of storage space for clipboards, receipt books, Eskies and more.

As a workspace rather than simple transport, plenty of thought has gone into how they function for an eight-hour shift, too, and options like suspension driver’s seats will make a difference.

They’re a bit of a climb up, though, so getting in and out requires at least some measure of dexterity. But once you are in, the view through that huge, panoramic windscreen is fabulous and if you like the seat-height advantage of an SUV, you’ll love an N-Series truck.

Beyond that, the quality of the interior plastics still trails the car and ute world by a margin, and the hard plastic surfaces aren’t great to look at or engage with. By trucks standards, though, they’re on the money.

With a hefty 2825kg tare weight and 4500kg GVM, the Isuzu has a big 1675kg payload rating. It’s also rated to tow up to 4000kg of braked trailer and with its sizeable 8000kg GCM, it can legally tow that weight with a 500kg reduction in payload. Or you can cap the towing weight at 3500kg and keep the full payload. Either way, these are substantial GVM and GCM ratings for any number of working roles.

In terms of cabin storage, there’s no glove box but both doors have narrow storage bins and there are overhead shelves with restraint netting to keep loose items in check. There’s also a pop-out dual bottle/cup holder in the centre dash along with two small storage nooks, but more places to store things would be welcome in this space.

Our test vehicle, to use its full model name, is the NLR 45-150 SWB AMT Servicepack X. It’s the most compact model in the N-Series range and as a result is similar (and in some cases much smaller) in key dimensions to a one-tonne ute. It only comes in one specification with 3.0-litre turbo-diesel, six-speed automated manual transmission (we’ll get to that) and dual-rear wheels, for a list price of $87,789.

In addition to its service body, this hard-worker comes standard with half a dozen 16-inch steel wheels, 195/75R16C Michelin tyres and a full-size spare. The single cab is well-equipped with useful features like keyless entry with central locking of cab and service body, big door mirrors with power adjustment, heating and lower wide-angle view, driver’s bucket seat with mechanical suspension and weight adjustment up to 130kg, two-way adjustable steering column, cruise control and bright LED interior lighting. Also standard is a 4000kg-rated tow-bar, reversing camera, loud reversing alarm and door-mounted cornering lamps.

There’s also an infotainment system with smallish 6.2-inch control screen and DAB+ radio. Even though there’s no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, it has multiple connectivity including internet radio via smartphone, external camera inputs, navigation, reversing sensors and tyre pressure monitoring. The driver also gets a multi-information display and there’s plenty of the latest safety tech headlined by AEB.

The base engine for the N-Series trucks is a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel with 110kW of power and 375Nm of torque. Available across the short and mid-wheelbase N-Series models, the 3.0-litre engine is more or less the same engine as seen in the Isuzu D-Max ute range.

As such, it has a good reputation for durability and although there are some turbocharger and tuning changes compared with the D-Max, the basic engine is very similar.

There’s also a much more heavy-duty, truck-like engine option. That is also a four-cylinder unit, but with a massive 5.2 litres of capacity, it’s a real statement of intent. Although power is only marginally more than the 3.0-litre engine, at 114kW, torque is the big winner with 419Nm at just 1600rpm.

Typically fitted to N-Series models with the wider cabin, the 5.2-litre engine also shifts the GCM up a gear to 9000kg from 8000kg. The braked towing limit of the bigger-engined truck also jumps to 4500kg (from 4000kg).

The 3.0L trucks are fitted with either a conventional five-speed manual gearbox or a robotised six-speed manual (which operates like an automatic and is driven with just two pedals). The bigger engined versions have a choice of six-speed manual or six-speed robotised manual.

Isuzu’s 4JJ1-TCS 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel is closely related to the 4JJ3-TCX in the current D-Max ute and MU-X wagon. Tuned for hard work and long life, it produces 110kW at 2800rpm and 375Nm across a 1200rpm-wide torque band between 1600-2800rpm. It’s also equipped with a vacuum-controlled exhaust brake which can be switched on or off.

Isuzu’s MYY-6E is a six-speed fully-automated manual transmission, which may sound like a contradiction in terms, However, like the engine, it's designed for a long service life under continuous heavy loads. It uses an electro/hydraulically controlled wet clutch and lock-up torque converter to provide either fully automatic or clutch-less manual shifting. There’s also slow/fast gear engagement control, first gear start (for heavy loads) and normal or economy drive modes.

A handy power take-off (PTO) facility can drive numerous on-site implements, with drive coming from a counter gear on the left-hand side of the transmission case.

The first thing to know is that vehicles in this weight class – unlike passenger cars and dual-cab utes - don’t have to undergo an official government test for fuel economy. So there’s no simple comparison to be made here.

Also, there are simply too many variables in truck fuel economy to make definitive statements. Unlike cars which are usually loaded to within a few hundred kilograms trip-to-trip, a truck’s mass can vary enormously from empty to fully loaded (and with what) and those circumstances will vary nearly every day.

Then there’s the issue of what body is fitted to the chassis. Obviously, a high van body will contribute a lot more drag at highway speeds than a low-line tray body.

With all that in mind, it’s impossible to generalise although you can expect fuel economy to increase the more you put on board or hitch to the tow-bar.

It’s also worth mentioning that Isuzu’s N-Series engines meet Euro 5 emissions standard for diesel engines. N-Series trucks have fuel tanks ranging from 75 to 100 litres.

Average combined fuel consumption figures are not required for commercial vehicles in this weight division. Even so, the dash display was claiming 13.2L/100km at the end of our 295km test which included about one third of that distance hauling a heavy payload. So, based on those figures you could expect a real-world driving range of around 570km from its 75-litre tank.

Although the sheer size of the Isuzu can be a bit daunting at first, once you’re in with the excellent side mirrors adjusted, it’s vastly less confronting.

The view to the front and sides is brilliant thanks to the deep glass and the high-and-mighty seating position is terrific for finding the corners of the vehicle, too.

You still need to understand that the length of the truck imposes some unconventional lines through corners, and leaving plenty of space between yourself and the insides of corners soon becomes second nature.

The seating position itself offers up a classic truck-like set-up with an upright seat-back and an almost flat steering wheel. It sounds terrible to car drivers but it’s not. It’s actually very comfortable for long stints at the helm.

Ride quality is compromised to an extent by the N-Series’ role as a hauler (and spring rates to suit that role) but the optional independent front suspension makes it a lot more comfy.

And even with the more traditional front suspension fitted, the fast steering makes the truck a lot more manoeuvrable than you might have imagined.

The biggest gripe for us was the transmission, specifically, the optional robotised manual six-speed. This unit really does hark back to the very early days of the technology (before the dual-clutch layout arrived) and the shifts are slow and stilted with a distinct lurch as the transmission swaps gears and engages the clutch.

You can improve things by lifting off the accelerator to initiate each shift, but fundamentally, modern dual-clutch transmissions do a much better job.

The other issue will be for drivers who like to left-foot brake in any vehicle with two pedals.

Unfortunately for them, the Isuzu places both pedals to the right of the big, almost vertical steering column with neatly cleaves the driver’s footwell in two, making left-foot braking impossible.

The doors open 90 degrees for easy access and there are decent boot-sized steps plus big handles on the windscreen pillars to help you climb aboard.

It’s a different driving position to a ute, as you sit high above the engine with your feet ahead of the front wheels and hands on a bus-style flat steering wheel. There’s also a big left footrest with lots of open floor around it, so there’s ample space to rest your foot given there’s no clutch pedal.

The suspension seat can be easily adjusted to suit a driver’s weight and works well in providing a more comfortable ride. The seat’s base cushion has no rake adjustment but there is some movement available in the backrest. Large glass areas deliver a commanding view ahead and to the sides while the big door mirrors provide excellent coverage of what’s behind. 

Its harsh ride quality when unladen is to be expected as it’s designed to carry permanent payloads between 1.0 and 1.5 tonnes. You do get thrown around, particularly on poor road surfaces with large bumps and dips. However, it’s no worse than the rodeo ride we’ve experienced in some unladen single-cab chassis utes which don’t have the luxury of a suspension seat.

The cab’s insulation ensures low engine and tyre noise, particularly during highway use where the turbo-diesel requires 2200rpm to maintain 100km/h and 2500rpm at 110km/h. The most noticeable noise at these speeds comes from wind buffeting around the mirrors, roof racks etc but it’s far from intolerable, as conversations can still take place at normal volumes.

Braking (particularly when using the exhaust brake) and steering response are good but the automated manual transmission takes some getting used to, as it shifts gears at about the same leisurely speed you would do manually.

These long pauses between cogs can be frustrating when climbing hills, as you naturally want to downshift quicker to avoid losing momentum, but you can’t do it in either automated or manual modes. Isuzu claims that the duration of these automated shifts can be shortened, but after consulting the owner’s manual to make this adjustment, we didn’t notice much if any difference (or perhaps we just didn’t do it correctly).

The engine has good flexibility and does not respond well to aggressive treatment. A more relaxed approach is best, using low rpm to optimise torque.

There’s no ANCAP rating required for vehicles in this weight class. Even so, it does have numerous passive and active safety features including driver and passenger airbags plus advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) including AEB, forward collision warning, distance warning, lane departure warning, traffic movement warning, cab-tilt warning and more. There’s also a reversing camera, reversing alarm (the loud beep-beep type) and door-mounted cornering lamps.

Because trucks are designed to be used day in, day out, the warranty reflects that. In this case, it’s six years and 250,000km of factory cover for any two-wheel drive N-Series.

The four-wheel-drive variants are, due to the tasks they’re usually put to, covered for three years or 150,000km.

Isuzu also provides six years of roadside assistance. There’s also capped-price servicing on a pay-up-front basis although the cost varies between models. 

There's a reassuring standard warranty of six years or 250,000km (unlimited operating hours) whichever occurs first. Includes three years/unlimited km coverage for body equipment, plus six years of 24/7 roadside assistance with unlimited km. Scheduled servicing every 15,000km/12 months whichever occurs first. Choice of servicing packages available.