Macho a-go-go

Have a monster adventure in Isuzu’s new meaty pick-up

You’re going to have to buy American if you want a pick-up more aggressive than this or one that casts a larger shadow across the road.

The beast in question is the Isuzu D-max AT35. AT stands for Arctic Trucks, a company founded in 1988 in Iceland that specialises in taking pick-ups and 4x4s and re-engineering them with uprated suspensions and considerably larger tyres.

Arctic Trucks has modified many different brands of vehicle over its history but lately it is Isuzu that seems to be the most predominant of them with an At-modified vehicle in its catalogue for the past few years.

Isuzu only sells pick-up trucks in the UK so having a meaty one on the books is a good idea. Especially one that commands a price of £57,529 including VAT. That’s the one with a manual gearbox – if you don’t want to have to shift the cogs yourself then you’ll be paying £59,329.

If you’re buying a pick-up through your business you can deduct almost 10 grand from those numbers in tax. Still, even at £47k these aren’t cheap. So, what do you get for the money?

First of all, and most blatantly, you get Tonka toy wheels and tyres. The wheels are 17in, black painted, and wrapped with huge 35in 315/70 R17 all-terrain tyres.

The disparity between rim size and diameter of tyres means generous sidewall depth. It’s good news for ground clearance and also allows for tyre pressures to be lowered when extra traction is needed. Probably not required for a trip to your DIY store.

These giant tyres would obviously stick out further than the standard wheelarches, which would be illegal (not that there are enough traffic cops about these days to pull you up on it), so Arctic Trucks provides extra large arches for the job.

These make the Isuzu, not a narrow vehicle in standard form, challenging to fit in a normal size parking bay. A minor issue if what you’re after is a lot of presence.

And the D-max AT35 has plenty of it. AT branding is everywhere, from mud flaps, badging and AT35 embroidered on the seat backs to carpets and sill scuff plates.

Under the bonnet is the standard 1.9-litre diesel engine that powers all D-max models, regardless of body configuration (the AT35 is a crew cab four-door five-seater only) and which produces 164PS and 360Nm of torque.

Transmissions are six-speed manual or automatic with the same number of gears. Manual gearboxes are most popular, with autos beginning to catch up.

The four-wheel drive system is shift on the fly with two-wheel drive for road, four-wheel drive high ratio for grass or mud and 4wd low ratio for serious stuff. A rear differential lock is standard and can be selected at under 5mph and disengages automatically above 19mph.

Other bespoke AT hardware is a

Bilstein suspension system. How much affect this has when driving on the road is hard to judge because it is the big wheels and tyres that dominate. With live axles both front and back it does not drive like a passenger car or an SUV. But then neither do rivals like the Toyota Hilux or Ford Ranger Raptor.

But anyway, you buy the Isuzu D-max Arctic Trucks AT35 for its macho looks. How many people will pay nearly £60,000 for the privilege is another matter.