Originally Posted by
Tins
I seldom drive new cars these days. I’m not sorry about this..
The last two weeks I have had the ‘good fortune’ to be driving a current model Isuzu D-Max Dual Cab ute. 44,000 km.
This has some god points: Everything works, but that’s expected. The 3.0 diesel delivers ‘adequate’ performance. Fit and finish is as expected from this company, but not really a whole lot better than my Ford, although I imagine it will last better. The factory tray is well built.
Not so good is the six speed manual gearbox. Oh, it works, but the shift as awful. On the face of it it should be good, as the gates are close together, but it’s actually very easy to downshift to second when you want fourth. The gear position indicator on the dash is no help here, as it only comes on when the get is fully engaged. And anyway, really? Anyone who goes to the trouble to seek out one of the rare manual versions will probably be interested enough to know what gear they are in without resorting to looking at the instruments.
Speaking of the dash, ugh. The two main gauges are fine, but between them is a whole lot of useless info which is barely readable until it disappears to be replaced with a lane position graphic, which merely serves to distract you from the actual lanes on the road.
Then there is the speed warning, which reads the speed limit signs, and annoyingly dings if you are so much as a k over. Ok, but it will read the limit sign of a school zone, the ones that display what the speed is in school times, and ding its bloody head off even though all the school kids are tucked up in bed.
Also not so good is the steering. The electrically assisted rack is lifeless, with no feel whatsoever, except….. more on that later. But this lack of feel means you have no idea where the wheels are pointing, and it is very easy to run wind on bends.
The ride…. well it’s better than my 109. Not too bad if you are driving, I guess, but as a passnger…I have a fractured vertebrae.. I’d rathe ride a horse. This is the top spec model, which is aimed at families, and it’s poor.
Ok, none of the above is truly a deal breaker I guess, but for the price it’s not good enough imo.
However…. This car was greeted with acclaim as it brought “modern safety” to the ute market. Great. So, what does this mean? It means the car intrudes into everyday driving unnecessarily at unexpected moments. It isn’t as bad as Gav’s H6, but it’s still awful. The lane assist feature is particularly annoying, as it sounds no warning but grabs the wheel to keep you inside the lines, until it doesn’t. By this I mean it is unpredictable. I experimented on a well maintained and marked road near me. If I strayed to the centre line it would drag me back, but when I tested it by taking my hands off the wheel it blithely ignored the lines, both the centre and the fog. Useless. But then, when I was driving normally it bit me. I was driving on a street with double centre lines. I approached a parked car ( yeah, I know ), and as there was nothing coming I just let the car drift over the lines to go past….. Oh no I didn’t! The bloody car grabbed the wheel and dragged me back to safety. Except, the parked car was still parked. It was then I experienced the joys of automatic braking. Ok, I know that I could overcome the bloody steering, but I tend to keep my reins loose. Well, I did.
I have nothing against computer programmers, but I don’t want some teenager from Nagasaki driving my car for me, especially when he/she isn’t in it at the time. This Isuzu has caused me not to trust it. As an appliance it is fine, as a car I hate it.
I enjoy driving. On this basis I’ll stick with my D2. Even my Oka is preferable.
And don’t get me started on the “infotainment system”. I love CarPlay. It is simple, and intuitive, and connects seamlessly. Unless you are in a D-Max.
