2021 4WD UTE COMPARISON! Isuzu D-Max LS-U vs Toyota HiLux SR5+

It'S going to be awesome, but if you want to read all the nitty gritty detail on each of these utes well, we've got a written comparison test for all that. This video isn't going to focus on those bits it's all about driving on road and off road and we've, got detailed reviews of these two particular utes as well. You'Ll find the links in the description below so just what do we have here? Two: dual cab: diesel. Four wheel drive utes with automatic transmissions, both of which are near the top of their respective model. Lineups. The isuzu d max we have is the lsu, which is one step down from the top of the new generation d max lineup, and that price is the list price check out, auto trader for drive away deals it's relatively close on price to its rival. In this test, the toyota hilux sr5 well to be precise. This is the sr5 plus, which adds a few non necessary extras to the equation, as i mentioned before, you'll find all the detail on what you get and what you miss out on in each of these particular models in the written comparison test, which you'll find the Link for in the description below and trust me there's plenty more stuff there. Now, if you want to watch matt, get stuck into the on road driving impression, then stay tuned. But if you're a little bit impatient – or you want to see more of my ordinary mug and you want to watch some of that off road action, you can scrub ahead.

The time codes are on screen now or you'll find the chapter markers if you're watching on youtube, so that makes it a little bit easier for you and, if you are on youtube, don't forget hit like hit subscribe, share this video with your friends and hit the Bell icon to stay up to date with all our latest content now let's go for a drive, shall we Music? The big thing you need to know about this hilux is that it keeps the same engine, but it's got more power and torque and it's got plenty more power and torque than the all new d max that's right, we're, talking 500 newton meters, and that is the Figure that counts when it comes to utes the d max only 450. So you might need to keep that in mind, and the thing with the hilux is that it does feel more peppy than the d max in terms of its acceleration and its response. There have been improvements to the refinement on offer in the hilux, but it's still quite noisy. You will notice the diesel engine clattering away under throttle, and while you do get that extra push, when you put your foot down, it is audible. Part of that is to do with that extra power and torque 150 kilowatts, 500 newton meters, and also it comes down to the transmission, which does tend to work towards keeping you in the sweet spot of the talk band.

That can mean that the transmission does sort of skip between gears and you might find that a little annoying, because this isn't the quietest engine out there. You can hear it doing its business and that can be well a little bit annoying after a while. But generally the power and torque the engine, the transmission, they all work and you get away pretty well. In this thing, toyota made quite a big deal of the fact that they have re tuned, the suspension in the hilux and made it more passenger friendly, apparently it's. Still firm, though it's not necessarily comfortable uh, with nothing in the tray and if you're gon na be running around with nothing in the tray. A lot, then, maybe make sure that you take it over some rough road surfaces, because you will notice that it is a little bit constantly jittery and still sharp. It still punches up from the rear axle. Over sharp edges i mean it's a ute, so you've got to expect some level of discomfort from the rear end, especially with nothing in the back, but i will say that i don't think it's as good as it could have been for the re tuned suspension. Toyota has also tweaked the steering for the lifted high lux and made it a little bit lighter on center, especially at higher speeds. So you'll notice that on the highway it's just a little bit more manageable to keep it in its lane, but at lower speeds.

It can feel well heavy that's the best word to describe it, especially when you're parking or, if you're doing a three or five or seven point turn you'll notice, just how much arm work is required to make it pivot and that's, not the case in the d Max one thing: we're not going to be testing today is the towing capability of the facelifted hilux it's, just not part of today's plan, but you'll be happy to know that it does now have the benchmark level of towing capacity, which is three and a half tonnes For a braked trailer and we look forward to putting it to the test at some point in the future. Some other considerations for the on road portion of the test is that the hilux misses out on some of the safety items that the d max gets. There'S. No blind spot monitoring or rear cross traffic alert, and i would like to see blind spot monitoring in a ute like this just to be extra safe. But thankfully, this face lifted version of the hilux does finally get a digital speedometer, and that means you can watch your speed down to the kilometer increment and make sure that you're not getting fined. I know we said in the introduction of this video that we're not going to go into full details on the interior or any of the nitty gritty bits and pieces that you maybe want to check out our full detailed reviews of each of these vehicles to catch Up on, but i will say that when you sit in the hilux, even though this is the sr5 plus with the leather and the heated seats, it just doesn't quite feel as special as its price tag suggests.

It probably should even little things like the steering wheel, which has a really coarse leather trim on it, just makes it feel a bit more trucky than the d max Music. The isuzu d max is an all new ute, so does it feel like it? Well, if you've driven the previous one, it certainly does because this is a much improved vehicle both in terms of what you feel when you get inside the cabin, but also how it drives and that's the bit i'm talking to you about now. So the first and most noticeable thing for me is the steering it's much more direct and much lighter than it's ever been, and in fact it feels like it's, been to the ford ranger school of steering it's, really quite good, both at lower speeds when it's maneuvering In parking spaces or when you're doing those three and five point turns that i've spoken about it's still got a big turning circle, but it's much easier to manage and at higher speeds it's just more trustable. You just feel a bit more connected at the front axle in this vehicle than you do in the hilux. Next is the fact that it's still got that three liter engine but it's an all new engine as well, so you've got pretty decent power and torque figures, but considering it is an all new engine and it's got a bigger engine capacity than a lot of its Rivals to only have 140 kilowatts and 450 newton meters seems a little bit underdone, but the thing with isuzu is that they build reliability into their engines and so maybe that's.

Why they've, maybe tempered the outputs that they potentially could have gotten out of this engine? I reckon it's better for a bit more than what we're seeing, but it is still a pretty impressive power plant. It does pull you along effortlessly, although maybe not as sprightly as the hilux. One thing you might pick up on in here is the six speed automatic transmission, which does shift quicker than the previous version, but it's also a little busy uh same as the hilux. It can try and keep you in your torque band and, in fact, even worse than the hilux. This engine is a bit louder and, in general, it's a bit louder in here overall there's a bit more road raw and a little bit more wind noise to contend with, just not quite as refined as perhaps i was expecting it to be. The suspension for the all new d max has been aimed at being more amenable to both work and play, so you can still get more than a ton in almost every variant of the dmax range in terms of payload and we're. Not testing that today. So don't get too excited about seeing a thousand kilos of stuff in the tray of this unit, but we will get to it at some point in the future so stay tuned and when it comes to the play side of things well, it is much more comfortable Than it has been in the past, the previous generation d max was well fairly agricultural in terms of its road manners, but this one is much improved i'm, not saying it's the best in the class.

I think that still falls to the likes of the ranger and amarok in terms of driving dynamics, but wow it's, pretty nice. Now i know i said we weren't going to dwell too much on the nitty gritty, but safety technology is now part of the drive experience and in the d max it's, more interventional than in the hilux. For example, you get a more active lane, keeping assistance system which will actually sort of keep you in your lane more actively through the electric steering, and that means that it can just feel a little bit safer at times than the hilux, which does have a lame Departure system and it can break the wheels to pull you back into your line, but it's, just not as smart and also this d max, has blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert on every single variant, which is a huge tick in my book that's. In addition to things like aeb, with pedestrian and cyclist detection and adaptive cruise control on every single automatic model, so this is impressive and, as i mentioned when i was speaking to you about the hilux inside the d max just feels well all new and i guess That'S, what a lot of people want? The big screen in this lsu spec 9 inch screen with apple carplay, which you can do: wireless apple carplay as well, and android, auto and now toyota's, just catching up with usb connect, apple, carplay and android, auto so it's.

Just a more well slightly more high tech place to be and it's also got really comfortable seats as well in terms of other elements to the cabin that are worth discussing, there's nice materials and you also get a big digital instrument cluster for the driver plus. While you don't get things like leather seat trim or electric seat adjustment or seat heating, it does all feel still pretty nice in here. As with the previous generation d max, you still get three and a half ton maximum towing capacity and, like i said, with the hilux we'll, get to a towing test of the d max at a later date. So stay tuned, we've returned to our set piece hill. Climb to see what these two are like in the rough stuff – and there was some gravel track driving to get here so we'll fill you in on how they behaved on that too. First up the hilux, which we've consistently ranked as our pick of the dual cab youth brigade for off road driving. So we tackled some gravel tracks on the way in and sure enough. The hilux is still really firm. It'S, almost a harsh rider it's improved a tiny bit over how it used to be, but over gravel tracks and corrugations and irregular surfaces. It really is quite punishing, but now is the fun part. Now is the low range four wheel, driving we're on a oh we're on a bush track with deep ruts.

You can hear it struggling for traction there a little bit, but with the little increase in power and torque that the hilux has it is able to get that to the dirt. It'S always been able to stretch those wheels and get a fair bit of wheel. Travel. Going on and get that torque to the dirt, but now you can tap into even a little bit extra. That torque is right. There, you don't, need a lot of momentum. You don't need a lot of heavy foot. This is a serious track. I'Ve seen modified vehicles, heavily modified vehicles struggle up this, and this has been washed out with recent rain. I can't get enough of this thing. This hill is unreal, so we're still climbing up now. What i did wanted to mention is that as standard the hilux is on road friendly tyres, there bridgestone jewelers and you could easily improve its capabilities off road with a good set. A decent set of all terrain tyres in the past toyota's downhill assist control has been a little bit too aggressive, biting really hard biting abruptly and making for a pretty harsh ride downhill. But this has got a real evened out and sort of settled approach. It maintains your momentum, you can even get off the accelerator. You don't even need to touch the thing you don't need to touch the brake, because those electronics are chirping away, they're doing their job and they're really holding it firm, that's, probably maybe about three or four k's an hour at the moment.

So you really are in control and the hilux is nice and stable and settled you can take your time. You can look around at the terrain, make sure you've got the right line, but the high lux as long as you take your time and you're patient and you do more than consider driving then you're. Absolutely fine. The hilux really is one of the utes one of the four wheel drive utes that you can count on Music. So we came in on the gravel, corrugated sort of gravel dirt surface and the d max did pretty well. It was nicely settled nice and comfortable and compliant. It was really a nice surprise, but now for the fun stuff, we are low range. Four wheel, driving we've got the rear, diff, lock and that's new in this thing. So remember that, because before in the d max, you had to rely on the traction control and it wasn't the best system around and that's, where it came up short, pretty consistently on really hardcore stuff. But now we've got the rear, diff lock and it is engaged, and at the moment the d max is doing really well. The only thing to consider with the d max is that it feels quite low, and this the lsu has side steps. So you've got to be a little bit wary of those grinding on any sharper deeper ruts i'm, really quite impressed. One of the niggles i do have about the d.

Max, though, is its tyres. They are road friendly rubber, but they fall well short of what you need on low range, four wheel, driving terrain. You need a decent set of all terrains and if you're gon na get a d max you're going to swap those out swap out the showroom standard tyres and get yourself a good set of all terrains, but other than that, there are few complaints about how it Is going at the moment the steering is quite light and that that is a real bonus off road, because you know you can maneuver the d max right. Where you want it to go, you can make sure you're on the right line. The d max is a pretty good. All rounder that rear diff lock, has really made a difference to its all round performance off road. The traction control has been tweaked or recalibrated, whatever you want to say, but it feels a whole lot more effective than it used to be in previous generation d max's, and while the power and torque increases haven't been huge, they do seem to have made a nice Difference a positive difference and while the wheel travel isn't, fantastic, it's, not the best around, when you can get the wheel to the dirt, it does get that torque through the wheel and you maintain safe and controlled momentum and that's a big bonus on stuff like Music. This so it's holding us at a nice controlled pace, it's pretty damn steep, take my word for it and three k's.

Three k's, an hour is ideal. We are we've, got controlled forward motion, there's, no rush, there's, no, certainly no free, wheeling, uh and again nice. Surprise handling it well, but yeah i would get rid of those times Music. We told you this video was going to be focused on on road driving and off road driving and i think you'll have to agree that's what we've delivered. But if you want more details, you can find the full comprehensive comparison test which covers off things like interior practicality, value for money, safety ownership, all that stuff you'll find it in the description below, but crafty we're. Here to pick a winner and i've got to say, this is probably one of the closest contests we've had in a long time. It is so close mate and you have to hand it to isuzu for making big improvements on that d max. That is a much improved thing and i think, in this case and i'm going to get plenty of hate mail from my toyota mates but um it pips the hilux only just just in terms of being more comfortable all round, and it is comfortably capable off road. Just not quite as much as the hilux, but it beats out the hilux in every other aspect again only by increments tiny bits, but it gets there in the end. Now, if you agree with that, be sure to let us know in the comments section, if you disagree with crafty we'd love to hear from you even more because uh, we know just how much people love their hiluxes, but thank you for watching.

It'S been one of the best tests we've done in a while, and we hope that you've enjoyed it and if you are still watching on youtube, don't forget hit like hit subscribe, share this video with your friends and crafty. I agree with you.