2021 Mazda BT-50 review: On-road and off-road detailed review

CarExpert

The all-new Mazda BT-50 shares a platform with the new Isuzu D-Max, but what are the other differences? Paul Maric tests out the 2021 Mazda BT-50 and does on-road and a little bit of off-road driving, along with a detailed review of the features and technology.  Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior: 01:08 Interior: 03:44 Infotainment: 05:05 Safety Tech: 07:18 Practicality: 08:28 On-road: 11:12 Off-road: 14:55 Verdict: 17:02  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #mazda #review #bt50 @mazdaaustralia

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. So, let me run you through a story about interesting relationship dynamics.

00:04 This is the all-new Mazda BT50. The previous gen of this used to have a platform shared with the Ford Ranger,

00:10 but it now shares a platform with the all-new D-MAX, which used to have platform and other bits and pieces shared with General Motors,

00:15 which it doesn't anymore.

00:16 So now it's its own ute, so to speak, and then on top of that it shares all of its components,

00:22 except a few design elements, with the D-MAX. Not necessarily a bad thing, though. This here is second from the top.

00:28 It's called the BT50 XTR. It's priced at just over

00:31 $57,000. It competes with things like the Ford Ranger, the Toyota Hilux,

00:36 coincidentally the Isuzu D-MAX, and virtually every single other dual cab ute in this segment. Today,

00:42 we're going to do a detailed review of the BT50, with a little bit of light off-roading as well,

00:47 but we won't be doing any towing or load hauling.

00:50 I just want to make that clear from the start. If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review,

00:53 you can use the time codes up on the screen there,

00:55 or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down and use the chapters below. And if you haven't done so already,

01:00 I'd love it if you could hit subscribe. Please do it right now, and then press the bell icon as well.

01:05 That's going to tell you every single time we drive something new.

01:07 Okay, before we take a closer look at the outside of the BT50, if you do follow our channel -

01:12 thank you if you're a subscriber - you will have already seen our BT50 detailed walk around as a pre-production car.

01:19 So if you have seen that, we're probably going to go over a lot of the same stuff,

01:22 but if you haven't, this will all be new to you. So you have seven different colours to choose from, and make sure you're sitting down.

01:28 They're all free of charge. You can pick whichever colour you want, which is really exciting news.

01:32 Okay, what about the design? Look, it is a little bit controversial because there's a lot going on here,

01:37 and it looks like other Mazdas, but I don't think that's such a bad thing.

01:40 Part of the reason Mazdas are so popular is because they have a bold design.

01:44 It looks completely different to every other dual cab ute,

01:47 and I think it does what the Mercedes-Benz X-Class did.

01:49 Even though it shares a platform with another vehicle, people still buy it because of the brand, and also the way that it looks.

01:55 So I think this design works, and when you see it in person, it actually looks quite attractive.

01:59 So big old gaping grille here. It is huge. A big Mazda emblem up the front there. You have LED headlights.

02:06 I love that circle around that globe as well.

02:09 You've got lashings of chrome, a daytime running light down the bottom here with a fog light, indicators built into there too.

02:15 Okay, down the side here, 18-inch alloy wheels on a highway terrain tire. Nice looking design.

02:20 I think it makes it look premium, and it matches the chrome on the front of the vehicle too.

02:24 Let me know your thoughts on the wheel design. Do you think it looks good?

02:27 Little hubcap protector there as well. Random thing to have, but looks cool nevertheless.

02:32 Over on the side here, you have the indicator built into that wing mirror. No chrome.

02:36 This is body-colored, which is nice to see. Side steps as well.

02:39 A little bit more chrome here, and then come around to the rear of the vehicle.

02:43 So you'll notice here, incandescent globes. The new Hilux has an LED setup at the rear here that looks really nice.

02:50 This uses that old-school globe technology, and I would have thought this would be the perfect opportunity,

02:54 given this is an all-new platform, and you've put LEDs at the front to stick them in the back.

02:57 So, a little bit disappointing. A reverse camera built into the tailgate here. A little bit more chrome there.

03:03 Mazda logo, VT50, and then 4x4, if you get the 4x4 model.

03:08 Now, I did notice here that this doesn't have a torsion bar, which makes this a little heavy to lift.

03:14 And same with this hinge system. It's fairly old-school technology.

03:17 We thought it was just the pre-production car that we looked at originally that didn't have that torsion bar,

03:22 but it looks like it's carried over. You have hooks in the back here, and then in terms of dimensions of the tray,

03:27 just over 1570 millimeters of load length, a little over 1500 millimeters of load width,

03:34 and 1120 millimeters between the wheel arches, and you have just over 1000 kilograms of payload.

03:39 But it's quite disappointing there's no 12-volt outlet or power point in the tray.

03:44 So, we're inside the VT50. Start off with the key first, is what it looks like.

03:49 You have lock, unlock, and two blanks, a little bit of brushed aluminium, and then on the back you have a Mazda symbol.

03:56 You'll note here this being the model one down from the top. It doesn't get remote start,

04:00 but it is a proximity sensing key, unlike the equivalent D-MAX. So, leave that in your pocket.

04:05 You grab the door handle, and then it has push button start. Now, what about the styling?

04:09 So, I can see that Mazda's gone for a slightly more premium look here.

04:13 So, you can tell because of these materials up the top. That's all really nice and softly padded.

04:19 The differences between this design and the D-MAX lie in this little hood here, plus some of these air vents.

04:24 You'll also notice this doesn't have a cubby hole at the top, but it still does get this side section here,

04:29 and then you see piano black as well, which, I say this every single car that we drive,

04:33 it is already dirty and scratching, and this car is pretty much brand new.

04:38 So, piano black. I reckon it needs to go. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

04:42 Now, what about the touch points? That's nice. On the door here, that's really nice as well.

04:47 Okay, so how hard are the surfaces? We've tested them with our durometer.

04:51 If you want to see how the BT50 compares to other cars that we've tested,

04:55 use the link in the description below. Now, what about build quality?

04:59 Yeah, look, it's not too bad. That's flexing a little bit there, but for the most part,

05:03 that all feels pretty good. Let's move on to infotainment. So, the BT50 has some segment first,

05:08 which is really good to see in the dual cab ute segment. You often don't see this kind of stuff

05:12 happening. So, it's all led by a 9-inch infotainment system. If you want a detailed review of this,

05:17 you can click up here to watch our detailed review of this infotainment system, but today,

05:22 I'm just going to give you a quick walkthrough. So, in terms of audio, you have AM, FM, DAB,

05:27 plus digital radio, and then you also have the ability to connect your phone over Bluetooth or

05:31 USB devices as well. You have inbuilt satellite navigation, an eight-speaker sound system, but

05:36 the most impressive part and the segment first is wireless Apple CarPlay. I'll show you what that

05:41 looks like, and it means that you don't have to have your phone hooked up with a cable. It all

05:46 just works wirelessly, and you can see here it's a full-screen integration. Nice and sharp and very

05:51 quick as well. It also has Android Auto, but you do need to connect that with a cable. I'll show

05:55 you what that looks like. So, another nice integration there. You can see it scrolls up

05:59 and down. We'll go to Maps. Very nice and responsive too. So, both really good integrations

06:04 of smartphone mirroring. So, keep in mind as well that you do have voice recognition. This works

06:09 just with the car, so you don't have to have the phone connected, but if you do have the phone

06:13 connected, you can do a long push to send voice commands through the phone. It means you can send

06:17 messages, play music, enter destinations, you name it, you'll be able to send it all through the

06:22 phone, and that means you have enhanced processing power for your voice as well. There's also this

06:26 small screen ahead of the driver. This is your trip computer and all your off-road details. So,

06:32 you can see here you've got two trip modes. You have a mode here for your fuel economy and how

06:37 you're driving. You've also got a compass, your audio settings, safety systems, and a highlight

06:43 of what's going on there, and then also your four-wheel drive controls. What you've got,

06:46 engage, disengage. You can see right now it's in too high mode, and then you have settings. So,

06:50 this is where you can change all the safety systems. You can also change the units for

06:54 the trip computer and everything that has to do with the way the car drives. So, it's a small

06:58 screen, but it's got all the details that you need, and it's designed ever so slightly differently to

07:04 the D-MAX. You'll be able to differentiate the two. You've also got one USB port down the bottom.

07:08 Keep in mind this is for an Android device. If you do have it plugged up or you can charge your

07:14 device from that, you have an auxiliary port, a 12-volt outlet, and then more USB in the rear.

07:18 Let's talk about safety technology. You have autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian

07:22 detection. Another segment first is the center airbag. The whole purpose of this is to prevent

07:27 the two outboard passengers hitting each other in a side impact. So, the D-MAX and the BT-50 are the

07:33 first utes to get this technology, which is good to say. You have radar cruise control with a self

07:38 steering function. You have rear cross-traffic alert, a lane-keeping assistant, an emergency

07:43 lane-keeping assistant as well that will veer you back into your lane if it needs to. You have

07:48 blind spot monitoring built into those wing mirrors. Auto-dimming rear vision mirror. You

07:52 have miss acceleration prevention, so that prevents you from running into anything if you try and

07:57 accelerate when you're stationary. Then on top of that, you also have a turn assist. Now, the turn

08:02 assist is interesting because if you're at an intersection and you go to go through the

08:07 intersection and there's another vehicle coming, this is able to detect that and put the brakes

08:11 on so you don't hit them. So, a lot of standard safety technology here and it's really impressive

08:15 to see that it all just comes included in the price. In terms of parking, you have rear parking

08:20 sensors and a reverse view camera. Let's see what that looks like. It's actually really decent

08:24 quality and then you've got guidelines there as well. So, really good integration. Okay,

08:28 practicality and we'll start with storage. Your phone can pretty much go anywhere. There's no

08:33 wireless phone charging, but there's heaps of room for it, which is cool. Bottles, you have these

08:38 giant bottle holders down here. I did realise the other day though that I put my coffee in here and

08:43 it's not a massive coffee cup, but it kind of just got lost in there and then it was impossible to

08:48 recover. In the D-MAX, you actually have bottle holders in front of the air vents. In this,

08:52 you don't. So, that's a little bit disappointing. Your bottle can also go in the door though if you

08:56 want another spot for it. You've also got this storage slot here and you also have a centre

09:01 console there, which is pretty deep. Use that for reference. You have a glove box down here that you

09:06 can't fit anything in aside from the manual and then up the top, another storage nook, but keep

09:11 in mind, not air-conditioned like it is in the Hilux. So, any drinks you put in there are probably

09:15 going to stay pretty warm. You also have a sunglass holder up here. Now, moving on to comfort,

09:21 you do get dual zone climate control down here. I love that little integration with all those

09:26 switches. That looks cool. What about seat comfort? The seats are actually really comfortable.

09:30 It's not leather, but it's this cloth material that really hugs you in nicely. I quite like

09:34 the design and it looks like it'll be pretty easy to keep clean as well. The driving position is

09:38 great too. The steering wheel goes down, up, in and out, so you have the full range of motion and

09:43 all of this is really easy to reach. Righto, let's talk second row. What I'll do first is show you

09:49 what it looks like under here because you have some secret storage spaces. You've got one here,

09:54 which is fairly decent sized. In fact, I'll give you an idea of how big it is. See, it fits that

09:59 entire bottle very easily. Igor, if you can help me lift. Actually, no, look at this. I can do it

10:04 myself. You've got a second storage spot under here. Again, fairly decent size, so this will

10:09 be good for valuables and all that kind of thing. Then the back of this drops down as well. I'll

10:14 show you what that looks like. So over on that side, you have a jack and then you see your top

10:18 tether point. Now, keep in mind, you can only use these two outboard ones, so they slot through

10:23 here and then they attach to this center point. Okay, what about room? Grab handle, get inside,

10:31 shut this door. It's not too bad. So knee room is okay. Toe room is pretty compromised. Head room

10:38 is pretty reasonable. So bigger people like me are probably going to be able to fit in here fairly

10:42 easily. You've got a little hook there if you do want to put your shopping and other bits and

10:46 pieces, which is handy. You've got grab handles up the top here, map pockets, air vents, a USB

10:52 port and then let's have a look at our center armrest. There we go. It's got two cup holders

10:56 built into it and then you also have room inside the door to store your bottle as well. In addition

11:02 to the top tether points I showed you earlier, you also have ISOFIX for the two outboard seats.

11:06 So look, overall, it's a pretty decent space and you probably wouldn't be overly offended if you

11:10 had to spend some time back here. So we've hit the road in the Mazda BT50. Well, this all feels

11:17 very familiar and that's a good thing. So they haven't really changed anything in comparison to

11:21 the D-MAX. So the on-road experience is virtually identical and that means that you're getting a

11:26 three-litre turbocharged four-cylinder diesel engine, makes 140 kilowatts of power and 450

11:33 newton-metres of torque and it's made into a six-speed automatic transmission and that

11:37 transmission is actually pretty decent when you sort of get stuck into it. It doesn't faff about,

11:42 it dives down in the gears and delivers that torque and has quite a strong mid-range. It

11:46 actually feels like it has more than 450 newton-metres of torque. This is slightly lighter

11:52 than some of the dual-cab utes in this segment, so it does feel a little lighter on its feet and

11:56 while the previous generation BT50 had 470 newton-metres of torque and another cylinder,

12:02 I think this feels like a better engine overall. While there aren't any drive modes, so to speak,

12:07 you can shift gears manually if you want just using the gear lever, you know, up and down through the

12:11 gears, fairly straightforward. Okay, let's talk fuel economy. So the official figure is eight

12:15 litres per 100 kilometres. Let's see what we're achieving. Oh, it's pretty impressive,

12:19 8.9 litres per 100 k's. So we're sitting slightly over that figure, but it's well within earshot and

12:25 it seems to be a little more economical than the Hilux we recently tested. Now, what about zero to

12:30 100 kilometres an hour? I know it's a dual-cab ute and fairly pointless, but let's do it anyway

12:35 and see how it goes. So just off the line there, it had a little bit of a chirp and that lends to

12:53 my theory that this feels like it has more than 450 newton-metres of torque. We're in there doing

12:58 like a Porsche where they claim something but it's actually way better than it is. So yeah,

13:01 that's an interesting point. Now, while we're driving along here, you may notice my tone of

13:06 voice is changing slightly. It is a pretty sharp ride and I didn't notice this as much in the D-Max.

13:12 I don't know whether it's the air pressure in these tyres is quite high or what it is, but

13:17 it does feel like it is a bit fidgety. I think with a bit of extra weight in the rear that would

13:22 reduce things a little bit, but it is worth pointing out that this is why you need to do

13:26 test drives. You need to be able to test this out for yourself. Go down the standard type of road

13:30 that you're always driving. If you're in and around the city, it's not that big of a deal,

13:33 but if you're out in the country here all the time and not carrying much weight, it's something

13:37 that you want to test out before you buy the car. Now, if there is one benefit to having a slightly

13:42 firmer ride, it is that it's going to improve handling slightly. So let's see how it goes here

13:48 through this corner. It actually feels pretty good. So it is obviously a dual cab utility with

13:55 leaf spring suspension, so it's not setting the world on fire in terms of suspension technology

14:00 or anything that it does in terms of handling, but in comparison to the other dual cab units in this

14:04 segment, it actually feels really nice behind the wheel, and that comes down to the steering as well.

14:08 Even though it's an electrically assisted steering rack, you're actually still getting

14:11 quite a lot of feel through the wheel, and again, that is pretty impressive for what should just be

14:15 a work vehicle. Let's talk visibility. I can clearly see out the front there. You can actually

14:19 see the bonnet ridges go all the way down to the front. At the side, you have a big old wing mirror

14:25 there, and then out the back, visibility is great as well because it's quite a big envelope. In terms

14:29 of noise inside the cabin, it's a pretty quiet engine. You can hear it when you get up it, but

14:34 when it's sort of just moving along nicely, it really isn't that intrusive into the cabin,

14:39 and I love this. There's a soft strip of padded material here. I did notice in the D-MAX that

14:44 when I lent my knee on that, it was actually quite firm and not very pleasant, whereas here,

14:49 it gives you a soft padding, and it means that if you are doing long distance drives,

14:52 you're not going to get too fatigued with it. Okay, let's do some light off-roading. You've

14:57 got a 30.4-degree approach angle. That's the angle of the face you can approach before you start

15:01 hitting or scuffing anything, and then you have a 24.2-degree departure angle, which is the same,

15:06 but for the rear, we have 240 millimetres of ground clearance, and then in terms of the actual

15:11 off-road controls, 2 High, which is a 2-wheel drive mode, rear-wheel drive, 4 High, which is

15:16 4-wheel drive mode, and then 4-wheel drive low-range mode, which you activate when the car

15:21 is in neutral, and 4 High you can activate at speeds of up to 100 k's an hour. There is a rear

15:25 differential lock and hill descent control, but keep in mind, the rear diff lock only works when

15:30 the car is in low range. Now, if none of that makes any sense to you, or if you want a refresher

15:35 on what all of it means, click up here to watch our 4-wheel drive controls explained video,

15:39 but let's tackle log mountain first. I'm going to pop this into 4-wheel drive. We just want to

15:44 see how it goes up here, how it behaves on the ascent. Let's give this a shot. Okay,

15:51 I am feeling the suspension is a little bit firm, but outside of that, it's walking up this fairly

15:56 easily. It is sort of throwing us around a little bit because of that firmness, but it's walking up

16:01 here without any dramas at all, so traction control is still left on and it's having no

16:05 issues. It is dry up here at the moment, so that's not a problem. 240 mil of ground clearance is

16:10 about the norm, so we can't to see how it copes here with our rocks. I'll pop the hill descent

16:15 control on as well. Let's traverse down here. Yeah, look, that feels fine. I feel a little

16:24 touch underneath there from one of those rocks, but for the most part, it is not a problem at all.

16:29 Brake pedal feels good as well. It's not surging too much. I have feel through the

16:33 steering as well and we'll just let this hill descent control work on this last section.

16:37 Look, it's good. We'll tap there. It's good. It's not running away from us too much,

16:44 so for the most part, it all feels nice and controlled and it doesn't feel like it's going

16:47 to get away from us and then sort of have us trying to intervene with the brakes.

16:51 There's also an 800mm wading depth, which is really good. It matches the Ford Ranger,

16:55 but I can't show you that today, unfortunately. The river is still quite high, so we will drown

17:00 the car if we try and go through it. Okay, the all-new Mazda BT50. I genuinely thought this was

17:05 just going to come down to Mazda overpricing this and Isuzu just being the better offer of the two,

17:11 but as it turns out, especially in Australia at least, Isuzu only does drive away pricing on the

17:16 top spec model, so this actually comes in at a really affordable rate, especially compared to

17:20 some of the other utes in the segment. And you have to consider as well that at the same spec

17:24 level as the Isuzu, this has more features or better features in comparison, such as the key,

17:29 for example. I mean, an old-school key on second from the top in Isuzu is just,

17:33 I just don't think it really works, whereas here you've got a proximity sensing system. So,

17:37 it really is just going to come down to the money and the offer that you get.

17:40 This is an exceptional vehicle and they have done such a good job with not only the technology in

17:45 this vehicle, the safety, but also the way that it drives and handles off-road situations too.

17:50 So, if you are a dual-cab ute buyer, you are seriously spoilt for choice at the moment. I

17:55 always encourage people to do a 24-hour test drive before they purchase. You might find there are

17:59 some quirks that you don't like, but for the most part, you could happily go and spend your money

18:03 on this without test driving. You can just trust me if you want. Let me know in the comments

18:07 section below, would you buy this over the D-MAX? Would you buy something else entirely? Let me know

18:12 what you're thinking, I'd love to get your feedback. Now, if you did enjoy this video,

18:16 please make sure you share it, and also hit the like button, and don't forget to subscribe and

18:20 press the bell icon as well. But, until next time, take it easy.

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