MAZDA MOB ROADIE
No matter the countryside in all its rough and ready beauty, modern-day utes can definitely do the job out there while keeping you cocooned in comfort
HOT, dusty, fly-riddled and beautiful – that’s the gibber and sand country around Oodnadatta, South Australia. Around here the ancient land of Australia’s real outdoors beats to a slow and considered rhythm.
Out here some men breed beef on cattle stations as big as Belgium. Other folk dig deep underground in search of pretty and precious opal.
This is no country for the faint of heart and a long way from the comforts of Surfers.
It is not really the country either for low-slung designer SUVs. Out here a proper four-wheel-drive, or maybe a decent two-wheel drive with some ground clearance, is the best bet for getting to town and back. And into this remote bit of country we head out from the charms of Coober Pedy in a little mob of Mazda BT-50s, windows up and aircon cranked.
A dual-cab XTR and a Freestyle XTR are the main players, running well up the gravel road toward Oodnadatta and the famed Pink Roadhouse, an oasis of food, drink and cool shelter from swarms of flies in spring weather of 40 degrees.
These are the revised Mazda utes, new versions with a bit more serious style to the front end and a couple of minor tweaks and additions for 2015.
It’s always been a decent machine this generation BT-50, it was just that style and a gawky gear shift feel to the six-speed manual which were a bit off-putting to some.
Both these issues are now sorted.
Among add-ons this season is an optional $295 Hema Maps package for the satellite navigation system and that’s a handy bit of kit as we follow billowing dust trials into the Never-Never.
Our utes here are six-speed auto, four-wheel-drive steeds with the lusty five-cylinder diesel and 147kW upfront.
The main roads through this part of the world have, in the main, pretty good gravel and sand surfaces interrupted from time to time by corrugations and dips in and out of dry creek beds.
The utes, with little load, are comfortable with the turns and dives; there’s some tap-dancing from the unladen rear over corrugations at slower speeds.
What’s most welcome here is the Mazdas’ steering, damping and roadholding at the front end.
The BT-50’s traction control keeps rear slides to a minimum. This is one area where electronics have improved with traction systems now much smoother.
We venture just out of Oodnadatta to a big claypan for circle work, tackle a couple of sand dunes and get big-time bogged in the hot, soft sand on the crest of a dune with the original 30 psi in the tyres higher now in these midday temperatures.
We camp at Arckaringa Station on the border of the magical Painted Desert. Check out thepainteddesert.com.au.
Next day it’s south to Coober Pedy – with a little rock crawling on the side – and lunch underground in the opal town to reflect how competent and comfortable today’s utes can be in unforgiving, but always spectacular, outback countryside.
Email me at bruce_mcmahon@hotmail.com THUMBS UP Grand country
THUMBS DOWN Flies SO the new Toyota HiLux has arrived and according to southern experts and big-scale comparison tests it’s not as good as the Ford Ranger, Volkswagen Amarok or Mazda BT-50.
It might be still ahead of Holden’s Colorado and Mitsubishi Triton utes according to those mega-comparos.
But now, to sweeten their deals this summer, Holden and Mitsubishi have given their showroom offerings a little extra icing.
Holden has cobbled together a “limited edition” of the four-wheeldrive Colorado LS Crew Cab, turning it into a Colorado LS-X.
Along with the Colorado’s standard specifications such as 3.5 tonne towing, the LS-X scores 16inch alloy wheels, front fog lamps plus alloy sports bar.
There’s a Colorado-branded bonnet protector and LS-X badges with carpets inside the cabin with its standard infotainment system and seven-inch colour screen.
Just 750 of the Holden Colorado LS-Xs will hit the showrooms at $46,490 for the manual and $48,690 for the auto.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi is introducing new drive-away pricing on selected dual-cab Triton models to celebrate 300,000 Triton sales in Australia over 30 years and five generations.
Mitsu’s Triton GLX Double Cab diesel with manual transmission arrives with free 16-inch alloy wheels and reversing camera for the drive-away price of $36,990.
The Triton GLS Double Cab diesel with manual is $39,990 drive-away and the range-topping Triton Exceed Double Cab $49,990 drive-away.
Mahindra, makers of utes, SUVs, tractors, buses and more, have signed up ex-Test cricketer Matthew Hayden as their brand ambassador.
“I’ve always had a proud fondness of India and the Indian culture during my world-class cricket career, so to represent the Mahindra brand in my home country is quite special,” Hayden said.