SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


We drove the 2013 Isuzu KB300 D-Teq LX d/c 4x2 automatic and wanted more

Please note: This vehicle is called Isuzu D-Max in certain markets

Updated on 23 June to reflect two low-pressure versions added to the range. The three LXs with cloth upholstery are not considered "additions" as such, as they are options.

Bucking the trend

Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday June 22, 2013

In a world in which ever more buyers are switching to automatic transmissions for their off-road machinery, we wonder why Isuzu continues to buck the trend. With 23 models in the new range;16 rear-wheel drives and seven 4x4s, all but one use five-speed manual gearboxes. The only automatic is a two-wheel driver. It’s a double-cab fitted with the range’s most powerful engine and kitted to the highest, LX, specification. Surely there is an opportunity being missed here?

After months of vague promises and carefully leaked hints, Isuzu SA launched its new range this past March. Basically the new vehicles are bigger, stronger, safer, supposedly more comfortable, and boast a couple of driveline enhancements. The 2.4-litre petrol engine gained 18 kW of power and 26 Nm of torque, both 2.5-litre diesels continue unchanged and the 3.0-litre D-TEQ bulked up with an added 10 kW and 20 Nm.

The automatic transmission gained a fifth ratio and a lock-up clutch. Its manual override is engaged by flicking the shift lever over to the right, then moving it forward and backward to change up and down. That’s fine, but it’s still a rather average torque converter unit; changes aren’t particularly quick and flare can be induced quite easily.

On the other hand, interior styling is sleek, modern and more attractive than previously. Switches and controls are positioned so they fall easily and naturally to hand and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning controls are all big rotary dials placed within easy reach of the driver. Similarly all cabin vents are easy to reach without compromising functionality, so ensuring fast heating or cooling of the cab interior. They can be selectively opened or closed according to individual occupants’ preferences, while double-cabs have rear ventilation ducts as well. All LX models have automatic climate control.

Unfortunately, even though the new main dash controls look smarter than the old silver painted devices, Isuzu seems determined to spoil things for the sake of a few Yen-worth of cost cutting. Door, steering wheel and gear shift brightwork tries hard to look like satin chrome, but fails. It’s still silver paint; just better done than before. A vehicle priced in the 400s, and R43 000 more expensive than its predecessor, needs to look the part.

The new load bin is 135 mm longer, 70 mm wider and 15 mm shallower than the old one; not quite as big as that on the Amarok, but getting close. An informal measurement between wheel arches read 1120 mm. Its loading height is at 860 mm and the new, wider tailgate fits well. Four lashing eyelets are provided. It’s rated for a payload of 1133 kg and maximum braked towing capacity is 3500 kg.

The back seat area now offers more people-volume with plenty of head, shoulder and knee room although foot space, when the driver’s chair is at its lowest, is still a bit tight. Entry and exit is easy although we felt that the side steps could be a touch wider. Three belts and head restraints attend to passengers’ needs, and a pair of ISOFix anchor points is provided.

Up front, the driver’s seat adjusts electrically and phone, music and cruise controls are repeated on the steering wheel that adjusts for height only. The central storage box with armrest deserves special mention; it holds 13 CDs in standard cases easily – quite the biggest we can recall seeing.

Our test vehicle came with Goodyear Wrangler AT/SA mud and snow tyres that should work very well as general purpose farm and trail rubberware, but felt harsh over rough concrete and rippled asphalt. This is despite Isuzu’s assurance that the new riding experience is even better than it was previously. As always, one needs to acknowledge one’s main driving environment and tyre-up accordingly, because on provincial dirt roads and a short forestry track drive, the ride quality was as we remembered it.

Despite a few reservations, we liked this new, bigger, automatic Isuzu but felt that a four-wheel drive option could be as close to ideal as the brand can get.

Test unit from Isuzu SA press fleet

The numbers
Price: R423 400 with leather, or R413 900 with cloth upholstery
Engine: 2999 cc, 16-valve, four-cylinder, turbodiesel
Power: 130 kW at 3600 rpm
Torque: 380 Nm between 1800 and 2800 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: About 12,6 seconds
Maximum speed: About 180 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 9,5 l/100 km
Tank: 75 litres
Ground clearance: 220 mm
Approach/departure/breakover angles: 30,0/22,7/22,4 degrees
Warranty: 5 years/120 000 km
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 km; at annual or 15 000 km intervals



What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.


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