Isuzu D-Max Utility review: This bargain buy is the perfect pick-me-up pick-up

IN the last few years, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Fiat, Volkswagen and Mercedes have stopped selling pick-up trucks in the UK.

Leaving the door wide open for Isuzu, which is making nothing but pick-up trucks. It’s no coincidence that sales have shot up 50 per cent.

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The D-Max Utility is the bargain basement in the firm’s line-up, which is primarily aimed at the builder and farmer market but now makes a more compelling proposition than ever to families on a budget, having had a huge image overhaul.

While the two-seater, entry-level single cab starts at a cheap-as-chips £22k (assuming you avoid the VAT by registering it as a work vehicle), an extra £3.5k buys the much more practical and popular five-seater double cab.

Previously, while using the same engine as the top-of-the-range V-Cross spec, the base Utility trim only came with a manual gearbox.

But Isuzu has just announced you can now get it as an auto for £1,500 extra in all but the single-cab model.

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That said, the amusingly long-throw six-speed manual is a retro hoot to handle in the waterproof, vinyl-floored cabin you can literally hose out.

However, to assume it is lacking everything in this basic trim would be a mistake. OK, the D-Max Utility doesn’t have a touchscreen display like the fancier models ­– just a CD/DAB radio combo including USB and Bluetooth – but it does have lumbar-supported seats, speed-sensitive steering, start/stop system, cruise control and hill start/descent control.

Plus, a suite of safety systems that really stand out at this level, including traffic sign recognition, intelligent speed limiter, active lane keeping assist, autonomous emergency braking, blind spot monitor and rear cross traffic alert.

I’ll stop there – but you get the point. The only downside is that it beeps at you, quite a lot. Compared to the last D-Max, the 1.9-litre diesel is predictably just as gruff sounding. And while the ride is marginally more composed on-road, it’s still no SUV in that department.

Off-road, however, it is streets better with upgraded shocks and suspension.

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And did I say it looks better? It does. Much. Inside and out. More upmarket and more aggressive respectively.

With that brutalist tough plastic bumper moulding and knockout 18in steel wheels, you really don’t need to shell out for the top of the range to get noticed.

Still capable of a one-tonne payload, able to tow 3.5 tonnes and carry a family of five with the assurance of a five-year warranty, this bargain buy is the perfect pick-me-up pick-up.