Thanks for the memories...
We say goodbye to our long-term test vehicle after a year filled with adventures. With 43 172 km behind us – almost all of them from long-distance trips and plenty of dirt roads – we got to know the D-Max rather well. Here are our final impressions.
When we took delivery of the Isuzu D-Max in October 2018, we wrote that we were looking to give it a nickname, but motoring journalists rarely get sentimental over vehicles and for the greater part of the year, we simply referred to the D-Max as, well, “the D-Max”.
But sometimes when we spent several days in the D-Max and relied on it for a good article, its name was “Big Blue”. It may be an obvious nickname, but we nevertheless used it with affection. It wasn’t until the end of its testing period at Drive & Camp that Schalk came up with “Ou Grote” (Ol’ Big Guy).
This name comes from deaf Afrikaans rugby commentator Zandberg Jansen who concluded his weekly show with the salutation “Nag, ou grote” and sometimes added a cheeky comment like: “Will you be dancing tonight or does your neck hurt?”
“Ou Grote” was, of course, Zandberg’s nickname for Frans “Domkrag” Erasmus, a prop for the then Eastern Province who was known for his powerful scrumming and devastating rushes. The name seemed to fit our D-Max, because besides the fact that both Erasmus and the D-Max hail from the Eastern Cape, the D-Max also powered over obstacles and chased down challenges.
What did we like?
Back then, we wrote that our D-Max drove as if it were a ship out at sea, but that the vague steering action would be a good thing on technical terrain. Later, our Ou Grote would smartly swerve around hundreds of potholes and the “vague steering” was never an issue.
We also mentioned that its brakes were not particularly sharp, due to the tonne of accessories, but we were able to stop fast enough when a kudu jumped out in front of us in the Tankwa Karoo National Park.
After thousands of kilometres on corrugated dirt roads, dust never leaked into the cabin and there were no squeaking noises. Reading these words, it may seem that Isuzu have us in their pocket, and the editorial team dug deep to find negative issues to highlight, but in the end, there really was very little to complain about.
What wasn’t that great?
Our D-Max behaved well, but it remains a machine and no machine is infallible. In March 2019 in Thabazimbi, we heard a clicking sound from the right front wheel and found grease leaking from the CV joint boot. An Isuzu mechanic from Potchefstroom determined that a damaged transverse shaft
had damaged the CV joint. But, apart from this mechanical fault, the D-Max never put a foot wrong.
The optional extras, however, are a different story…
•The T-Max 12 500 winch’s fuse burnt out after we recovered an off-road caravan in Mozambique – fortunately there is a fuse that prevents the winch from overheating and conking out!
•The Desert Armour rock sliders did a great job protecting the body when we crawled over rocks, but the body paint on the rear wheel arches got roosted because the rock sliders couldn’t prevent gravel and pebbles from hitting the paintwork.
•Front Runner’s roof rack on the cabin held fast, but the same company’s bracket for the T-Max-48” high-lift jack began to rattle after a while. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the bracket was coming apart, and we had to either leave the high-lift jack at home or chuck it in the back where, of course, it would slide around freely and cause havoc with our camping equipment.
•The Desert Armour sliding frame for the Engel fridge/freezer severed its power cable and we had to redirect a new cable to where it would not be cut.
•The RSI canopy leaked dust after months of use and especially the cutlery in the kitchen cupboard was regularly covered in a layer of dust. RSI’s SmartRack roof rack also came apart on the corrugated tracks of the West Coast National Park and we had to secure with cable ties lest it fell off on its own.
•But the biggest issue was with the extra 60 ℓ fuel tank that supplemented the standard
There were some hiccups, but they mostly had to do with the accessories and we could always leave with confidence on a trip…
80 ℓ tank. This really messed with the Isuzu’s tin brain. We expected this to happen, but what we couldn’t predict was that the range readout would often indicate that we had an estimated 200 km left over, and then, immediately, the fuel light would blink on and we’d have to cross fingers in the hope of reaching the nearest petrol station inside the remaining 60 km.
In conclusion
Just like Frans Erasmus, our D-Max has done itself proud, even if it hasn’t quite achieved the legendary status of Ray Mordt and Syd Nomis. There were some hiccups, but they mostly had to do with the accessories and we could always leave with confidence on a trip, knowing that this blue bakkie would always get us back home safely.
Goodnight, old man. Look after the people who’ll be travelling in you next.