Work-ready single cab Isuzu D-Max ready to strut its stuff

The Citizen

a day ago

The Citizen will spent the next three months in the company of the Japanese brand's locally made flagship single cab D-Max.
It is not often that the motoring media gets to drive a bakkie that is not a double cab or at best, whatever nomenclature a manufacturer gives to its cab-and-a-half derivates.
Single cab importance
Whereas the lifestyle deception applies to the former, the latter pair are mostly work implements with limited 'everyday' useability as a result of providing seating for two.
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Along with lacking certain features deemed not required, they are omitted from most media fleets for added fear of being unfairly taken apart by those seemingly unable to understand the difference between a leisure bakkie and a workhorse.
Still, workhorses are the bread-and-butter for the majority of South Africa's bakkie brands and while the monthly National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMS) figures don't provide a figures breakdown based on bodystyle, a quick search reveals that no less than eight brands offer single cabs locally.
Plans are being set into motion to make use of the D-Max loadbox throughout the course of its three month tenure.
Besides the Great Wall Motors (GWM) Steed and P Series, and the Foton Tunland, all the others are locally assembled by comprising the Ford Ranger, Mahindra Pik Up, Nissan Navara, Toyota Hilux and Volkswagen Amarok.
Welcome flagship D-Max single cab
The eighth brand, but the perennial third best-seller behind the Hilux and Ranger, the Isuzu D-Max also rates as the third behind the former pair to offer a cab-and-a-half version called the Extended Cab.
While the most recent meet-up with the latter was in 2022 with the range-topping two-wheel-drive LSE, the last drive with a single cab came at the D-Max's long delayed market launch earlier that same year.
Interior puts function and ease over style and abundance of tech.
Following a line-up expansion in March last year, which saw the 3.0-litre 4JJ3-TCX turbodiesel engine joining the 4JK1-TCX 1.9 that had been the sole option until then, the arrival of a Splash White single cab D-Max late last month presented a unique opportunity of spending more than the usual seven-days with a provided product.
This being long-term 'ownership' of the Struandale-built D-Max for the next three months in LS grade, the flagship single cab, equipped with the six-speed automatic available for the first time in any generation 'work'-spec 'D-Max or its KB predecessor.
Spec sheet
As with The Citizen's other long-term bakkie, the double cab Ford Ranger XLT, the D-Max doesn't have four-wheel-drive available for an additional R81 300.
Priced at R590 800, the LS doesn't underdeliver on the spec side despite its workhorse focus.
LS rides on 17-inch alloy wheels as standard.
Aside from the auto 'box, which comes standard on all 3.0-litre models, its list of features comprises the following:
17-inh alloy wheels;
colour coded bumpers, door handles and mirror caps;
four-speaker sound system;
daytime running lights;
cloth seats;
dual front airbags;
traction control;
Hill Descent Control,
electric mirrors;
auto lock/unlock doors;
electric windows;
leather-wrapped multi-function steering wheel;
adjustable driver's seat and steering column;
4.2-inch TFT instrument cluster display
rubberised loadbin
In-cabin storage is sorted by a cubby on top of the dashboard, a central storage box doing double duty as an armrest, a split glovebox and four cupholders, two located underneath the air vents that also double up as coin trays.
Storage comes via a pair of gloveboxes and four cupholders, two being located underneath the air vents.
Taking care of the infotainment is Isuzu's smallest system, the seven-inch display with Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and a single type-A USB port.
As for its working credentials, the single cab 3.0-litre LS auto has the same 800 mm wading depth, 3 500 kg tow rating and 227 mm of ground clearance as the rest of the D-Max range, but with a payload of 1 205 kg.
Progress
Put to the test not long after its arrival, and in between the series of test vehicles, initial impressions needed careful self evaluation given what the single cab represents.
As such, the lack of expected niceties such as a reverse camera and rear parking sensors can be seen as expected based on workhorses often lacking both.
Isuzu's entry-level seven-inch infotainment system comes standard on the LS.
The same applies to the bouncy ride with no load in the back, as well as the typical Isuzu diesel engine clatter.
It is, however, the infotainment system that provides the real oddity. Apart from 'freezing' when scrolling through a paylist on the move, which has been done deliberately to avoid distraction, it automatically dims the display with the headlights turned off.
Single cab LS has a payload of 1 205 kg and a standard rubberised loadbin.
Flicking it on then sees the screen revert to its normal resolution – a scenario never experienced on the bigger nine-inch, which does feature the annoying 'distraction' time-out.
The rest of the interior is straightforward, and while hard plastics are the order of the day, they feel solid, while the ergonomics are plain to use from the shortcuts as the base of the infotainment to the physical buttons and dials for the air-conditioning.
Stalwart diesel readying to show worth
On the move, the venerable N-Series truck derived 3.0-litre engine offers a strong pull that makes the D-Max feels more responsive than what it should feel like.
Delivering its 140kW/450Nm to the rear axle only means it feels lighter than what its 1 780 kg kerb mass suggest, however, it remains to be seen how this will be affected with a few 100 kgs loaded onto the back.
Seats are trimmed in hard wearing cloth and are manually adjustable.
As with the Extended Cab, and also the 1.9-litre-engined X-Rider driven last year, the six-speed automatic 'box varies from acceptable when shifting up, to erratic on the down change with two ratios often being dropped.
Fortunately, this is augmented, and negated, by using the manual override and shifting manually with the stubby gear lever, though it stands to reason that this will be of little concern to most buyers just thankful not to row any gears in the first place.
LS can only be had with the 140kW/450Nm 3.0-litre turbodiesel engine.
Having so far stayed confined to town driving, the 4JJ3-TCX engine's reputation for frugality, despite its displacement and having been extensively revised since the original 4JH1-T debuted in 2002, has so far not shone through.
Although nowhere near Isuzu's 7.6 L/100 km claim, a best of 9.7 L/100 km has been amassed, though this has since fallen back to 10.1 L/100 km.
More to come
Despite its foibles, the D-Max LS has run faultlessly throughout the 343 km it is clocked-up since arriving
Hard working tasks, as befitting of a workhorse, is being planned and as such, progress is expected to shift up a notch throughout the remaining two months.
Included in its price tag is a five-year/120 000 km warranty and a five-year/90 000 km service plan.
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