Gareth is spending six months with Isuzu’s venerable D-Max DL20 pickup truck to find out what life’s like living with this towing champion.
He’ll be putting its capabilities to good use with a mixture of towing his race car to circuits, transporting his puppy Ace to various corners of the country and hopefully getting it muddy too by putting the truck into its natural habitat – mud. Find out how he’s getting on below…
Jump to
- Welcome
- Modifications and first impressions
- Towing with the Isuzu D-Max
- Using the D-Max as a ‘normal car’
- Off-roading in the D-Max
- Goodbye
Update 1: Welcome to the fleet
When it comes to pickups, the Isuzu D-Max is one of the best you can buy. It’s a seriously capable machine, with superb road manners, genuine off-road capability, a practical design, and best of all, a braked towing weight of 3.5 tonnes and the ability to carry up to a tonne in additional weight at the same time.
And frankly, that little lot stacks up to make it one of the most appealing vehicles for my lifestyle, so I’m going to be spending the next six months reviewing the one you can see here to see if it works as well as it appears to on paper. There must be some reasoning behind the fact the company sells 80% of its vehicles to private buyers, after all…
What makes it so well-suited to me? Well, the towing ability it a strong selling point. I’m intending on spending the summer at motor racing circuits with my ‘60s Sunbeam Alpine, competing in historic events, and as such I’ll be making regular use of the towbar on the back to pull the car and its trailer to the four corners of the country.
But furthermore, my racing means carrying a LOT of kit, from tool boxes to jerry cans, and pit boards to spare wheels. It doesn’t all fit in a ‘normal’ car, and that’s before we consider the fact that I’m often joined by my wife and parents. I reckon the D-Max will mean I can carry everything and everyone I need, as well as pulling the car. It could be the ultimate do-it-all vehicle.
I’ll be making use of the off-roading capabilities too. The D-Max has switchable four-wheel drive, a low-range gearbox, so it should be able to tackle all terrains, and where I live that can come in seriously handy. I’m in the middle of nowhere in rural Northamptonshire, and we regularly go off the beaten track to walk Ace, my seven-month-old Golden Retriever.
I suspect the ride height will come in very useful as well, because around here the verges are very high and it’s going to be brilliant to be able to see over them. Ace is going to have to learn to climb into the back, though!
What spec is your Isuzu D-Max?
This one’s the DL20 manual, which means it’s got a six-speed gearbox with gear lever. Just over half of D-Maxes sold are manuals, so it makes sense that I try this one. The ‘DL’ stands for Diff Lock, which means it has a rear axle capable of being locked for extra traction in slippery conditions. The 20 is the lower of the two DL models, with it and the 40 sitting in the middle of the range above the Utility and below the V-Cross.
Equipment highlights for the DL20 include:
- Heated fabric front seats
- Rear parking sensors
- Cruise control
- Automatic headlights
- 18-inch wheels
- CD player with four speakers and Bluetooth
I quite like the fact that this vehicle doesn’t have a massive screen to control all the multimedia – they rarely work that well in my experience. But that doesn’t mean I’m planning to live without my creature comforts either…
I’m a huge fan of Quad Lock, the smartphone mounting system I use on my motorcycles, and I’m going to grab an air vent mount for the Isuzu to take care of all that. It means I can use my phone’s voice control, which takes away a lot of driving distraction, and will display Google Maps (better than any built-in sat-nav) and stream my music through Bluetooth. It actually sounds like a better solution as I’m typing this, so it’ll be interesting to see how I get on.
With the race season in full swing, it’s not going to be long before I start getting the best from this award-winning pickup, and I’m excited to get going! Stay tuned for more updates over the coming months…
Update 2: Back for the future
On this specification of D-Max, I did notice a glaring issue with what I’m planning to do with it, though. The open load bed with over-rail liner had no way of covering or locking, meaning while in theory (on sunny days) I could transport my race gear to circuits, I couldn’t keep it secure if on an over-nighter.
To address this, I spoke to local Isuzu dealer Close Motor Company in Peterborough, about installing an Aeroklass E-Tronic canopy to the D-Max. This would cost £3113.40 including fitting, painting in body colour and VAT, and would liberate the biggest rainproof load area imaginable, complete with locking and tinted glass to keep my kit away from prying eyes in the paddock.
I went for this option, and couldn’t be happier with the result. Most pickups I see around these parts have some sort of load cover like this – whether for transporting farm machinery, dogs, sheep or almost anything else you can imagine. My D-Max fits right in.
The process was amazingly simple too. I didn’t have to lift a finger! Close came to our office, collected the car at 9am, and it was back transformed into an imperious load-lugger by 4:30pm. I was kept informed about the whole thing in a friendly, personable manner by Parts Manager Staffan, and on first inspection everything fits and works brilliantly. I’m a happy boy.
On the other hand, another modification I’ve carried out is far cheaper, easily D-I-Y-able, and arguably just as helpful. I mentioned in my previous update that there’s no screen for multimedia or navigation on the DL20 D-Max, and to address this, I’ve installed a brilliant bit of kit: a Quad Lock magnetic phone mount with air vent attachment and wireless charging.
This device couldn’t be simpler: I just place my phone on the magnetic pad and it’s held in place, with charging taken care of via the USB socket in the D-Max.
I’ve been familiar with Quad Lock for years, having used their modular kit on several motorbikes. They provide a phone case with one of their patented fixings on the back, and that opens you up to myriad fixtures and fittings that bolt together to connect a smartphone to bikes, boats, walls, chargers, tripods, selfie sticks and plenty more besides.
It’s become a bit of a lifestyle choice for me over the years, and as well as on motorcycles, I’ve used it when sailing, to charge my phone at my desk, to carry my work pass and credit cards around using the magnetic card holder (pictured below), and even to film myself using the tripod. It’s clever kit and very well built, so seemed the ideal addition to the D-Max.
In terms of cost, the Mag case for my Google Pixel 7 Pro was £31.99. The vent mount is £29.99 and the Mag wireless charging head is £39.99, and includes a USB-A to USB-C cable so I can plug into the Isuzu’s dash-mounted USB jack to power it. That means for £102 I’ve got the full functionality of my smartphone including voice control, permanently charging and streaming through Bluetooth to the truck’s speakers. That’s considerably cheaper than upgrading to the DL40 D-Max, and ditto cheaper than any aftermarket touchscreen stereo.
With these two additions, I honestly believe the D-Max is going to be a wonderful companion, and I can’t wait to start putting it to good use.
A few first impressions…
I’ve spent a bit of time with the Isuzu D-Max DL20 now, and it’s time to offer some initial impressions on what life’s like with it, and a few things you might want to add, depending on your use case.
Let’s start with the moment I sat in the truck. The commanding view out from the high driving position immediately made me feel as though I was in a large vehicle, with the vast steering wheel highlighting the more ‘agricultural’ feel.
This impression didn’t change as I turned the key in the ignition barrel, giving the glowplugs a chance to heat up, before firing the punchy 1.9-litre diesel engine. It grumbled purposefully to life in a manner befitting a much larger motor, with the entire vehicle gently shaking, and in particular the gear lever. It felt like it meant business.
The clutch is quite heavy, but first gear engages with a pleasing solidity and to drive, it’s no different to any manual diesel car, albeit with a monstrous 360Nm of torque.
Pulling onto the open road, that big steering wheel needs quite a bit of work because the steering itself is quite slow, but thankfully it’s light enough and you soon get used to it. Furthermore, it’ll come into its own when reversing with a trailer, where quick, darty steering can cause accuracy issues.
Anyway, it’s much more comfortable than I expected, especially given it has a leaf-sprung rear axle for carrying heavy loads. This often has an impact on ride comfort, because it’s unable to control the wheels’ movement in the same way more advanced systems can. Isuzu claim to have done a lot of work in this area, improving the mounts for the body as well as the suspension damping, and it shows.
Now, it’s time to start really seeing what the D-Max is made of… tune in next time for an update from the race track.
Update 3: Towing with the Isuzu D-Max
I’ve already used the Isuzu D-Max DL20 for plenty of towing this year, including four race meetings – Silverstone twice, Thruxton and Donington Park. This has given me a fantastic insight into its capabilities as a tow car over both short and extended journeys.
The rig I’ve been using is as follows: I’m pulling my Sunbeam Alpine racing car (circa 950kg) on a braked Ifor Williams CT136HD trailer (circa 510kg unladen).
The D-Max has a braked towing capacity of up to 3500kg, which is miles over what I’m asking of it, but it’s always sensible to have a good bit of headroom when working out towing weights, because otherwise you’ll be straining the engine and gearbox and fuel economy and performance will suffer as a result.
I’m also using the covered back to transport all my race gear, including 40 litres of spare fuel, a couple of heavy tool boxes, four spare wheels and all manner of other motorsport detritus. Thankfully, the D-Max’s one-tonne payload limit is way above what I’m carrying – I estimate the kit all together is around 400kg.
To give you some sort of indication how vast the load area is with the cover on, I can actually load up and still see out of the interior rear-view mirror, so there’s plenty of room left should the need arise, and that’s including stuff for an overnight stay.
It also leaves the cabin completely free for four fully grown humans, which makes this one of the best race support vehicles I’ve ever used. It’s a very comfortable vehicle over longer distances – Isuzu has done a lot of work on the rear suspension to make the leaf springs as refined a driving experience as possible, and we were all glad about that when navigating the 300-mile trip to Thruxton and back. It’s just a shame the Alpine didn’t do quite as well as the D-Max, but that’s a story for another day…
How do you set up an Isuzu D-Max DL20 for towing?
It couldn’t really be simpler. This D-Max has a fixed towbar so first of all, you need to reverse the truck so the ball is close to the trailer hitch. This is easier than you may think, because the parking sensors are configured to let you know when you’re close enough, although I always prefer to have a spotter there to ensure I’m safe and sound.
Some other vehicles provide you with either a reversing camera or a graphical representation of what’s happening behind, which naturally makes reversing onto a trailer easier, but it’s no challenge with the Isuzu.
Then it’s a case of hooking the hitch onto the ball using the height adjustment on the trailer. The D-Max is relatively low at the rear end, and I noticed at Silverstone Festival’s trailer park – which was on a slight slope down towards the back of the truck – that I had to stand on the trailer to get it low enough to hook onto the ball. This isn’t a problem with the truck as much as a feature you may need to manage if you’re using a low trailer like me.
Next up, you need to fit the breakaway cable and ensure it’s not able to touch the floor while driving (because you’ll quickly run through it if it’s dragging, rendering it useless). On the D-Max I pop it through the top of the towbar assembly and clip it to a hole underneath.
Then it’s time to connect the electrics. My trailer has a 13-pin plug for this and so does the D-Max, so it fits right on, but some trailers have a seven-pin set-up so in that case you’ll need to find an adaptor. They’re easily available from most trailer hire places and online supermarkets, but check beforehand to avoid a distressed purchase.
I won’t go too deeply into best practice for towing because that’s for another article, but I always check the lights are working (running lights, brake, reversing and indicators), and periodically ensure tyres are correctly inflated as per the sticker on the trailer.
What’s it like towing with the Isuzu D-Max DL20?
In a word: easy. The D-Max feels like it was born for this sort of work. You make good use of the ultra-short first gear to pull away, but it never feels under-powered, despite it’s relatively small 1.9-litre diesel.
That engine has huge punch in the mid-range and drags my rig with ease. I carried out a fuel economy experiment and noticed a 10mpg drop – from 36mpg to 26mpg – when fully loaded with everything I’m carrying. That didn’t seem to bad at all to me.
If I’m being very picky it does sound a bit gruff when working hard, but it’s not a Bentley… this is a working vehicle. What’s more important is its capability, and it’ll haul up to 60mph fully loaded without breaking a sweat. That’s the maximum speed I’m allowed to travel on UK roads with a trailer.
I think I’d test drive an automatic version for my use case and see if that’s easier to live with over longer runs, because it can get slightly boring working up and down the manual six-speed ‘box in the D-Max when you’re sat in traffic or navigating roads with roundabouts and so on.
Anyway, I’m absolutely loving life with this vehicle right now. It’s not perfect but it’s so impressively capable that I genuinely look forward to giving it its next challenge. And I reckon it’s one of the best cars out there for towing.
Update 4: Can the Isuzu D-Max cut it as a ‘normal car’?
I’ve been very much enjoying life with the D-Max for towing (see update three), but even without a trailer it’s been an impressive companion for my lifestyle, having covered 5700 miles so far.
You see, around here they’re pretty lax with their hedge trimming, and the Isuzu’s additional height relative to a normal car means often I can see right over them.
And furthermore, on the myriad single-track farm roads around my village, meeting a vehicle coming the other way presents no issue whatsoever. I simply pull over onto the verge and let them by, because there’s a huge amount of ground clearance under this pickup and driving off-road feels as natural a habitat for it as anything else. I’ll delve more into off-roading properly in a later update, but suffice to say it’s a pretty capable machine in that regard.
I’ve noticed a few little niggles, though. Firstly the stereo – it’s a pretty basic unit, which I don’t mind because all I really need is Bluetooth thanks to my Quad Lock air vent mount for my smartphone, but every time I switch the D-Max on, it defaults back to DAB radio, meaning I need to press the Media button twice before setting off, every single time. It’s a minor thing, but over the miles I’ve covered in it now, it’s become quite onerous.
The second thing I’d like to mention isn’t in any way unique to the Isuzu, but the automatic crash detection system is rather over-active. It’s beeped and flashed a message up on the dash telling me to BRAKE in big red letters more times than I can remember, and not once did I feel like I was anywhere near the vehicle in front. That isn’t to say it’s not functioning correctly, however: there’s always something there, but often it’s a long way away and presenting no danger at all.
As I say, this is a problem with lots of cars nowadays, as these systems are required in order to gain a decent NCAP crash safety score. The D-Max scores the full five stars.
It’s a similar situation with the lane-keeping assistance, too, which seems to be over-sensitive to my positioning in the lane, but I find this less of a problem and certainly more helpful than the auto-braking.
I had cause to do an airport run in the D-Max the other day, and in that role it’s an excellent vehicle. Four full-sized suitcases fit in the back with room to spare, and four adults are very comfortable in the cabin at the same time.
I’m also finding the slow steering I mentioned in update one to be less of a burden now I’ve got used to the vehicle a little more. It’s a very accurate and well-weighted steering arrangement for the type and size of truck.
And as a final point for this update, I’m a big fan of the electric folding door mirrors. My drive is single lane, with the house one side and a fence the other. Being able to fold the D-Max’s ears in makes getting past much easier, whether I’m wheeling a motorbike by or being walked by Ace the Golden Retriever…
Update 5: Off-road in the Izusu D-Max DL20
Around here there are plenty of tracks leading to brilliant dog-walking spots, and recently the weather has been very consistent – it’s been grey, damp and unseasonably warm. These are ideal conditions for getting out with the pooch, and for some off-roading en route.
You see, this D-Max is touted as an incredibly capable off-roader, with plenty of kit to help out, and I wanted to put to the test. The big asset for me is the option of four-wheel drive, of course: most of the time it’s only the rear wheels getting power, but Isuzu has given the D-Max the option to temporarily power all four, albeit only on slippery surfaces and not on the road during normal driving.
But more than that, it can also shift into low-range gearing, which provides far better control at lower speeds on tricky terrain, affording it an imperious gait over muddy hills.
You need to stop to engage both systems using the control on the centre console, but it’s a simple procedure and doesn’t take more than a few moments.
Heading onto a muddy, inclined farm track I was amazed at what this truck can do. The tall driving position is very well matched to its under-body dimensions, meaning you’ve got confidence in where the extremities of the vehicle are and you’re able to take on hills and bumps you’d avoid in lesser off-roaders.
Of course, there’s always a limit to traction, and let’s not forget that this D-Max wears normal road tyres, but if things get a little too slidy, there’s more help on offer.
Next up is the locking differential on the rear axle, which prevents the wheels from spinning at different speeds to help you out of traction-limited situations by not letting all the engine’s output go to the wheel with less grip. There’s a button to control this next to the heated front seat buttons, and again you need to stop, but I’d wager if you need it then you’ve already worked out you’re not going anywhere anyway.
You can also turn the traction control off altogether, which is a bit of a last resort, but will enable full power to all wheels with no electronic intervention. Expect big rooster tails of mud, but it’ll get the job done.
I tried all of these features and nothing surprising occurred; the D-Max extracted itself from everything I threw at it. Impressive stuff.
It’s got hill-descent control too, which regulates speed automatically when driving slowly downhill to prevent the two-tonne truck from sliding sideways and going out of control. This is a very handy feature if you’re tackling tricky topography.
And I did all this in some comfort, because the ladder-frame chassis has been tuned extremely well for this type of work. In fact, when you first stray off the road onto grass you barely feel a difference in the suspension, such is the quality of its tuning and length of its travel. Considering this is a mid-spec version of the D-Max, I’m left wondering why you’d need any more for 99% of uses.
It’s no wonder that I’ve never had a single problem towing my trailer on any kind of surface, really. The traction on offer far surpasses anything I’ve asked of it while doing so.
There’s only been one blot on the copybook recently, and that’s an electrical fault that developed with the stereo. It was a pretty dramatic one, in that the stereo stopped working altogether: screen, speakers, steering wheel controls; even the USB socket was dead.
A quick trip to the friendly people at Stoneacre in Peterborough and the issue was diagnosed. It was terminal… I needed a new stereo head unit! This is of course handled as part of the D-Max’s five-year, 125,000-mile warranty and was sorted in just 90 minutes.
I’ve since heard from friends in the trade this isn’t unheard of, but it’s also not exclusive to Isuzu, also affecting stereos from many manufacturers including Ford, VW, Mitsubishi and more. It’s apparently a result of the worldwide semi-conductor shortage that first reared its head during the Covid pandemic in 2020, forcing companies to use sub-optimal electronic parts in some situations.
This problem doesn’t happen to everyone, but it’s worth noting that it’s possible, so don’t panic if your multimedia system packs in. Take it to the dealer and ask them to have a look.
Anyway, from my perspective the D-Max remains a highly impressive workhorse.
Update 6: Ciao to a capable companion
I’m not going to beat around the bush. I’m sad to be waving goodbye to a true workhorse: the Isuzu D-Max DL20 has been a wonderfully capable companion and has shrugged off everything I’ve thrown at it over roughly 6000 miles.
The only blot on its copybook was the stereo. At one point it failed completely, which meant a brief trip to a dealer but will be replaced under the firm’s five-year warranty. But even when it was working, it would keep defaulting to radio rather than Bluetooth and lacked some functionality that I’d have liked from a lifestyle vehicle. Sure, this only just qualifies as one, but the point stands. Higher trim levels do get a nifty touchscreen system, and furthermore I’d hope this was sorted during the upcoming facelift.
I don’t see this as a major hardship, given the impressive way this vehicle handles itself in other respects.
On the road it’s a great mile-muncher, with great punch to reach motorways speeds and overtake with ease. It’s comfortable too, thanks to Isuzu’s hard work on the suspension. It might be a ladder-framed truck but unlike years gone by, that doesn’t mean it’s got a choppy ride.
But the truly impressive thing was its towing ability. On paper it’s got as much capacity to drag as any other pick-up, including a one-tonne payload in the bed, but living with it, it’s been such a robust, reliable steed. For my year’s racing, it’s been ideal, carrying all my kit plus spare wheels, and easily towing my trailer and 1961 Sunbeam Alpine race car in all kinds of environments, from wet fields to narrow B-roads and from housing estates to motorways. And all while carrying four adults, returning 26mpg. Not bad at all.
I was sceptical that a 1.9-litre diesel would be up to the challenges I had in store, but alas, it shrugged it all off with no issues at all.
The driving position means you’ve got excellent visibility for parking and peering over hedgerows, which has been brilliant in my local area – effectively a farm.
Taken off the beaten track, it’s a set of knobbly tyres away from being almost invincible, thanks to switchable four-wheel drive with a low-range option, a differential lock and hill descent control.
Would I buy one? Yes, but it’d need to be in the following specification: automatic gearbox, DL40 or higher trim, and that canopy over the load bed is an absolute must.
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