The king cab ute outsells everything else on the market and has done for a number of years.
Some buy them because they provide a work tool through the week and a family hack on the weekend.
Others just because they think they are cool, even though a 4WD or station wagon (if you can find one) would probably do the job more efficiently. Desire often supersedes logic.
The manufacturers have taken people’s wants and desires on board as well, with tricked up versions of their utes – sometimes trading carrying capacity for looks.
This story is for those of you who buy a ute primarily for work, spending the week towing that trailer loaded with a couple of tonnes of tools for the job.
Yet another variant in the Ready to Work range.Enter Isuzu’s MY25 N Series Ready to Work range of trucks. There’s wide cabs and narrow cabs, high roof or low roof (which will get you into a multistorey car park).
There’s short trays or long trays (so you don’t need to haul a trailer). There’s tippers that tip up. Or left. Or right. There’s single cabs or crew cabs. And most importantly, just like your Ranger or Hilux, you can just walk in off the street and buy one without waiting for the bodybuilder to do the job.
Isuzu have the biggest range of Ready to Work trucks that are, well, ready to work. To illustrate the breadth of the range and just how effective these trucks are, Isuzu invited Big Rigs to Lang Lang Proving Ground, famous for R&D of Holden’s cars for decades.
There we were greeted with, amongst others, an Isuzu NPR hooked up to a trailer with three tonnes aboard. Next to it was a Ford Ranger Super Duty, carrying the same load.
The first thing I notice is the rear suspension of the Ford is bogged down whereas the N Series doesn’t realise it’s got any weight hanging off the tow hook. This is interesting if for no other fact than the Ranger is rated for 4500kg of towing.
The Ranger Super Duty is 154kW at 3250rpm and puts out 600Nm from 1750rpm through a 10-speed automatic gearbox.
The NPR (in this case with a GVM of 4500kg – it’s also available in a 6500kg version) has 129kW and 430Nm from 1450rpm so is comprehensively beaten by the Ranger on paper. The NPR has a 9-speed dual clutch automated manual ‘box, a first in trucks of this type.
Firstly I drive the Isuzu NPR. This is single cab but you can buy a Crew Cab so you have the same flexibility as a Ranger if you want.
The ride in this truck is very smooth, and the suspension seat is superbly comfortable. Remember we are sitting over the axle so you would expect the Ford Ranger to be much better.
The 9-speed in-house developed transmission is superb with changes barely noticeable in the very quiet cabin. There is a power mode which will cut in automatically if you floor the pedal, so I don’t bother switching into it.
There is an engine brake and when engaged and going downhill the gears will drop back a notch or two to further aid braking – and save on brake pads. I don’t feel the laden trailer ‘pushing’ me downhill at all: zilch, nada.
I enter a 15-degree incline at 20km/h. 30, 40, 50km/h – the truck keeps accelerating all the way up this very steep grade. This with 3000kg hanging on the back. Impressive.
Pulling to a stop I forget to engage the handbrake or put it in Park (on purpose). The truck puts the brake on for me. Just another little something Isuzu have built in to aid your occasional forgetfulness.
Time to swap into the Ranger where everything is on par with the NPR and follow the Isuzu around the same route.
Firstly, I know that I’ve got a lot of weight behind me, both on the straight and particularly around corners – even more so down hills where there’s no engine brake to aid me.
Two tonnes aboard, 8.5 metre turning circle. Do that in your Hilux.The seating in the Ranger is indeed extremely comfortable but the seat in the Isuzu is just as good.
Obviously, you sacrifice a fraction because you are sitting over the axle but seriously, it’s not enough to really notice. Isuzu has done an amazing job in driver comfort. That is a real surprise.
I follow the Isuzu up that 15-degree grade and, even more surprisingly I can’t catch up to it with the extra power and torque at my disposal.
I don’t know how Isuzu do it. If I were to tow a heavy trailer (or caravan) around I’d go the Isuzu any time. The load feels so much more stable in any scenario.
The next exercise is all about getting 2-tonnes to site. We have an NLR tray pack with two tonnes aboard versus a Toyota Hilux with 300kg in the tray (its maximum) and the rest on a trailer.
Again the Isuzu shines, and in more ways than one. This version has all the power of the other Isuzu trucks but in a body with only a 2.5-metre wheelbase. The turning circle in this truck is an amazing 8.5 metres. The Hilux? 12.6 metres! Add a trailer and it’s no wonder the Hilux knocked over cone after cone in the slalom test while the NPR flew around it.
There are all the other attributes of the Isuzu product like the forward vision, the commonality of parts across much of the range to keep prices down and the number of dealerships right across the country.
Safety is right up there with all the acronyms included, plus one very neat party trick. If you’re driving along and have a medical episode, the passenger can simply pull the electric parking brake switch up and the truck will come to a swift stop as well as activating the hazard lights.
If a would-be, ute purchasing tradie could do the exercises I’ve just experienced, I reckon the head would overrule the heart in many cases. Yes, you can be cool, in your new ute. Or you could be ICE-UZU-COOL with a truck designed specifically to do your job. And because this new range looks so good, you can look pretty cool on the weekend as well.
Use your head and go check ‘em out.
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