Ssangyong Musso vs Isuzu D-Max

What's the difference?

The SsangYong Musso XLV Ultimate is an affordable workhorse that has good comfort, features and drives well. It suited my little family and our gear just fine this week with its space. If you need the practicality of a ute and are on a budget, you get a lot for your money here.

The new engine makes the D-Max a much more likeable ute than it already was, which is high praise.

It’s smoother and quieter and makes for a more pleasant drive. The added efficiency is a bonus both for your wallet and Isuzu’s emissions credits.

The 3.0-litre engine will probably remain the favourite, but anyone who test drives a 2.2L might even be tempted to opt for the smaller unit. Isuzu sure hopes so.

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

The Musso looks the part of a 4x4 dual cab ute. It’s big even without the XLV pack at 5095mm in length. And with it, that jumps up to 5395mm. Enough to well and truly fill out a car space.

To put it in perspective, it's longer than the Kia Carnival, so I'd check to see if it will fit in your garage!

The finish isn’t the best, with wide spaces between door jams and the tray (I can fit my hand in that one) and a painted foam-like joinery in the tailgate which is already showing a lot of wear and tear for a brand-new workhorse. Stuff like this could make it look worn quickly.

Once you move into the cabin, it becomes obvious where a lot of the facelift has been focused.

The black leather upholstery, headliner and accents all make it feel premium in the cabin.

The dashboard has been redesigned to be more horizontally-themed and to sit lower than the previous dash. It showcases the new upgraded tech screens, large integrated air vents and digital climate control panel.

The cabin looks way more expensive than the price tag might suggest and it's most welcome.

The look of the D-Max depends on the grade you end up with, but the 2.2-litre SX and X-Rider variants down the lower end of the model-run are still pretty standard-looking utes. Inside and out.

You get fairly rugged styling that fits in for both work and play, and the interior is functional, if getting a little outdated. 

The black trim (and extra features) that comes with the LSM X-Rider as opposed to the SX is worth it if you’re keen to get a 2.2-litre-powered D-Max for the family rather than one for a fleet as it just elevates things slightly.

Inside, it also means nicer cloth, and not having the vinyl flooring looks a little less ‘farm ute’.

The cabin of the XLV Ultimate is big on space and all occupants enjoy fantastic head- and legroom.

Individual storage is good for a ute with the front enjoying two cupholders, a good-sized middle console and glove box plus a drink bottle holder in each door.

Rear occupants get map pockets, a fold-down armrest with two cupholders and storage bins in each door.

Amenities on the whole are good with the heated and ventilated front seats that feature lumbar support. But the upgrade to electric control for the fronts and heat function for the rear outboard positions clinch the luxury factor Both rows are well-cushioned and comfortable for long journeys.

Charging options are limited to the front with two USB-C ports, which is an upgrade from the old USB-A ports, and two 12-volt sockets.

But one of them is an old-school cigarette lighter which I haven’t seen in years! Now that was a teachable moment when I was a kid.

It's a shame there are no charging options in the rear as it could be inconvenient if you travel a lot and your kidlets have devices.

Fitting a child seat in the rear row is a little awkward due to the backrest folding down in one piece and it misses out on any clever hacks like some other utes have, like the zippered accessed points to the top-tether anchor points found on the HiLux and D-Max or the 60/40 split-fold on the Cannon.

Because of this, you'll want to fit your child seats at the same time and probably want it to be a 'set and forget' scenario.

On to the upgraded technology – the touchscreen of the multimedia system is responsive but the info is limited to the radio and a small settings menu.

Think of it as more of a mirror-screening device for the wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It’s easy to connect to the CarPlay and the graphics are nice and bright. 

The instrument cluster is semi-customisable but it’s here you can access/customise more information like the safety features, which I appreciate.

Our test vehicle has that XLV Pack fitted which adds 300mm to the tray length and boosts the overall capacity by 251L.

The max payload is 880kg, which should be sufficient for a lot of weekend pursuits.

You get a full-sized spare wheel and with our optioned tonneau accessory, you don’t have to worry about your gear getting wet, either. 

The tailgate is large and feels very light to operate, thanks to the assist function but this ute lacks any sort of step to access the tray, which won’t be an issue for you giants out there but for me it was a bit of comedy to climb in to the back to retrieve stuff.

The D-Max remains straight-forward inside, given nothing has changed with the update aside from the 2.2-litre engine and the addition of stop-start - there’s a button for that now.

The interior and usability of the D-Max, especially in the lower-end variants where the 2.2L engine is available, is focused on the basics.

Tech remains at a relative entry point, where the 8.0-inch screen and its software feel outdated but do everything you need. Plus of course there’s the phone mirroring workaround.

The D-Max is comfortable and spacious enough, there’s also physical buttons for everything including media and climate settings, and adjustability in terms of the seating position means not needing to reach.

In dual-cab versions, there’s enough space for an adult to sit in the second row behind another adult, so the D-Max also holds its own as a family hauler. Tick.

Importantly, Isuzu is now able to claim a 3500kg braked towing capacity across the full D-Max range thanks to the new 2.2-litre engine.

Pricing is up across the board for D-Max (and its MU-X sibling) regardless of drivetrain, but we’ll stick to the 2.2-litre variants here to stay on track.

Most of the lower-level D-Max variants are $1500 more than the previous equivalent, and with the manual gearbox dropped, the cheapest grade is the 4x2 single-cab chassis SX with a 2.2L engine at $36,200 before on-roads.

You can get the SX in crew-cab with a chassis or ute back in either 4x2 or 4x4 with a 2.2L engine, which is also available in the LSM X-Rider 4x4. 

That one will set you back $59,500, which is still far from the most expensive D-Max around. That’s still the Blade, with a 3.0-litre engine and 4x4 only, but it’s now $80,900.

Back to the 2.2s, and the SX grade comes with the basics. Cloth upholstery, polyurethane steering wheel and gear selector, vinyl flooring and even halogen lights.

There’s basic air-conditioning, but it does have a HEPA filter, and rear vents for crew-cab models, plus there’s wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, auto wipers, and USB-C power ports as well as a USB-A port.

The central multimedia touchscreen is 8.0 inches, but the driver display is a little 4.2-inch unit between physical dials.

Stepping up to the LSM X-Rider brings with it auto-levelling LED headlights and LED daytime running lights, black styling trim, nicer cloth trim upholstery and gloss black 17-inch alloy wheels.

The rest of the D-Max line-up is 3.0-litre-only, and remains as it was before.

The upgrade hasn’t seen any changes to the Musso's powertrain and it is still powered by a 2.2-litre, four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine with a maximum power output of 133kW and 420Nm of torque (400Nm without the XLV Pack).

It’s got plenty of grunt and despite having only a six-speed auto transmission, the gear changes are mostly smooth.

Adventure enthusiasts should be happy because the Musso is a proper part-time 4x4 with low- and high-range, which is easy as pie to change over to when the need arises.

The new 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder comes with 120kW and 400Nm, that’s 10kW and 50Nm more than before. Isuzu also says there’s 60 per cent more torque ready from near-idle at 1000rpm.

An eight-speed auto replaces the six-speed, but the brand has also culled the manual options that remained in the line-up.

As ever, that sends power and torque to a part-time 4WD system capable of 2H, 4H and 4L with a rear diff-lock.

Despite its size, the Musso's official combined cycle fuel economy figure is only 9.0L/100km.

My real-world average came in at 10.2L/100km after a good mix of open-road and urban driving. Not too surprising, but that's without any loads. Expect it to be thirstier if you plan on towing.

Based on the combined fuel figure and 75L fuel tank, you should be able to get a driving range in excess of 800km.

The biggest advantage for the new drivetrain from Isuzu’s perspective is that it’s more fuel efficient.

The old engine’s 6.9 litres per 100km become 6.6L/100km in the new engine, in part thanks to a new stop-start system. That system is also now on the 3.0-litre engine, where 8.0L per 100km drops to 7.1L.

With its 76L diesel tank capacity, the D-Max should theoretically be able to travel more than 1000km on a single fill, although that comes down to a lot of variables - that 6.6L figure was achieved in almost lab-like conditions.

The Musso has won me over with how it drives. The update has seen the suspension retuned and it’s well-cushioned without feeling spongy.

The ride comfort is very good but you occasionally get some shudders through the frame when gear changes happen on a steep hill. The cabin sounds refined with how quiet it is, even at higher speeds and you’ll enjoy that on longer trips. 

Hitting the open-road isn’t an issue with power being delivered smoothly when you accelerate. Despite being a tall car, the Musso handles cornering much better than I thought it would without heaps of roll. 

You don’t feel any of the weight of the car when you steer, though, and that’s a bit too light for my liking. But it gives the Musso more of a car-like feel rather than a ute/truck feel which some people might enjoy.

Massive windows mean the Musso has crazy-good visibility for a ute and I feel confident about checking the blind-spot because of it. That's great for such a big vehicle.

Despite being almost 5.5m long, the Musso isn't too difficult to park because of the 360-degree view camera system, and front and rear parking sensors, a must have on large cars like this. The camera system is a smidge low quality for the image, though.

Let’s start with the most important part of the updated D-Max. The new 2.2L is smooth. 

It feels so much more refined physically, but it's also quieter. Paired with the new eight speed, it makes the D-Max a much more likeable ute than it was with the rattly 1.9L.

At the launch, Isuzu had a bunch of MU-Xs to drive (keep an eye on a review coming soon), and the new drivetrain actually suits that big family SUV down to a tee.

The power and efficiency changes are second to how much it changes the characteristics of the thing.

If anything, the D-Max sits in a slightly higher gear than necessary, probably to try and eke as much out of the diesel dual-cab as possible in terms of fuel efficiency, but put your foot down and a more appropriate gear is close-by, and without much fuss.

There's also a relatively good stop-start system. It's not seamless but it's better than some. You take your foot off the brake and the engine rattles back to life, rather than waiting for you to put your foot back down.

The rest of the D-Max’s behaviour is pretty standard ute stuff, as it was before.

The steering is on the light side, but accurate enough even though it has a slightly doughy spot dead-straight. It’s not anything you wouldn’t expect from a ute.

Similarly, the brakes are a bit spongy but predictable, and once you’re used to where the ‘bite’ point is it’s easy to live with.

The suspension is a bit busy, but easy to keep on top of and doesn’t jostle you around. 

Isuzu has done well to include pretty much the full range of safety features across all its variants, with the SX only missing out on rear parking sensors - it still has a camera though, obviously.

Key features like rear cross-traffic alert with braking and adaptive cruise control are standard, plus the D-Max achieved a five star crash safety rating from ANCAP, even though that was under slightly easier testing back in 2020.

The biggest (but only) gripe on-test with the D-Max’s safety gear was its lane-keep during adaptive cruise. There seemed to be a need for the ute to sit close to either the centre line or shoulder during cornering, which led to some discomfort on fast country roads.

The on-going costs are great on the Musso, with it coming with a seven-year/unlimited km warranty, which is above average for this class. 

It also comes with a seven year/105,000km servicing program where services average $375, which is competitive for the class. 

Servicing intervals are average at every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.

Isuzu’s six-year/150,000km warranty covers the D-Max, which could do without the limited distance, especially for a workhorse.

There’s also five years of flat-rate servicing every 12 months or 15,000km, costing $469 each time.

That’s gone up about $20 per visit since the update, with total cost over the five years at $2345.

There are 164 Isuzu dealers across the country, so finding somewhere to service shouldn’t be a challenge.