The Isuzu D-Max Arctic Trucks AT35 is the sort of car that you’ve very probably got no need for but you just want for the hell of it. It’s just so much fun and has the potential to convert indoor types like your correspondent into a backwoods person. Based on the fairly cheap, useful and innocuous Isuzu D-Max range of pick-ups, it’s rendered massively more imposing, and a bit more able through a collaboration with Artic Trucks of Iceland, specialists in hardcore off-roading – icebergs, volcanos, that sort of thing.
So naturally, I took it to… Birmingham. Specifically, off-roading on a small but demanding course at the National Agricultural and Exhibition Centre nearby. I learnt a few things. First, that making progress in any 4x4 requires patience and a steely nerve, and it reminded me how enjoyable it is; just a recreation, a hobby like golf or windsurfing, though sadly not that easily accessible. Second, I learnt that the Isuzu has a rather traditional way of getting around hills and mud, which is the optional differential lock, still engaged by the driver rather than by onboard electronics.
That way, if you get into difficulties you have only yourself to blame, and quite a lot of professional 4x4 drivers prefer it. It means the power to the rear wheels can be adjusted depending on where you’d like the traction to be, and makes sure that the wheels on the rear axle spin at the same rate at very low speeds off the highway. In normal road conditions, you need your inner and outer wheels to spin at different rates to get round corners – ’cos physics. Anyways, with expert tuition I finished the course and it left me wiser and yearning for more. Of course, a pick-up is generally not the best shape for off-roading because of the long overhang at the back, so your “exit angle” from some ravine is too shallow. For that sort of activity, you need a Land Rover, a Toyota, or a Suzuki Jimny, so the legend goes.
The only problem was that the Isuzu sometimes didn’t seem to want to get out of its low-range 4x4 mode and into other normal 4x4 or two-wheel (rear) drive for road usage, via the rotary switch on the dash. Apart from that, it’s flawless. I try to resist feelings of envy, but I really would like to own a patch of forest and stream with a few sheep around that would make something like the Isuzu Artic Trucks machine not just a pose but essential for the job at hand.
THE SPEC
Isuzu D-Max Arctic Trucks AT35
Price: £47,999 (as tested; range starts at £21,999)
Engine capacity: 1.9l diesel, inline 4cyl, 6sp auto
Power output (hp): 162
Top speed (mph): 112
0 to 60 (seconds): 13
Fuel economy (mpg): 30.7
CO2 emissions (WLTP, g/km): 240
The AT35 sure looks the part. It has extra ground clearance, thanks to revised suspension and some enormously fat tyres (35in diameter, hence the name AT35) that can cope with even the jaggiest of terrains, a versatile tow or high bar, plus a body kit that protects the metal panels from damage. It does look cool, in town or country, something to do with form following function. You even get an Artic Trucks torque wrench for your money.
Ah yes, money. The great attraction of these double-cab pick-ups is fiscal as well as physical. This is because they’re technically classed as commercial vehicles and so as a business user you can claim the VAT back and enjoy other tax efficiencies. To do this the pick-up has to have a one-tonne payload capacity, which is pretty impressive, and the Isuzu will also tow 3.5 tonnes. So, a lot of ability to go with the looks. Still, the top of the Isuzu range will set you back £47,999 with its automatic gearbox if you’re a professional user; but with VAT on top, a dilettante will have to shell out almost £60,000 just for that authentic small builder/farmer look.
With the four-door double cab layout, you still get a five-seater that doubles as family transport, and I actually found the Isuzu perfectly acceptable on the motorway and in the city. The diesel engine isn’t the last word in refinement, but it was subdued enough on the M1, and it will pull itself along at about the same speed as a standard old Ford Focus, say. You and your folks are swathed in leather and there’s the usual touchscreen, DAB and connectivity. The only thing missing is a built-in satnav, so you have to use Google Maps or the like.
The kids tell me this is the way forward. It’s really quite comfortable in there, and of course “different” from the mainstream. It doesn’t give much away to its main, better-known rivals, the Toyota HiLux, a bit of a legend for indestructibility, the Mitsubishi L200, which is sadly leaving the market soon, and the Ford Ranger and its equally garish colour schemes. If you want even more novelty, there’s the rarely glimpsed value of the SsangYong Musso, or the intriguing all-electric Maxus T90EV from China going on sale soon. The Artic Trucks cachet does give the Isuzu a little bit of an edge. But you have to be doing well at your trade, which these days means getting through very rough terrain indeed.
