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00:00G'day, I'm Paul. Got some exciting news about the Mazda BT-50 and also the Isuzu D-MAX.
00:06The D-MAX has kind of become one of my new favourite utes. It really brings a whole lot
00:09of safety features and a whole lot of technology to a segment that's kind of a little bit dated.
00:14Both of these utes are going to pick up more power, more torque, plus a factory off-road
00:19kit and all this comes from a reliable source that we've used previously. It's the same
00:23source that gave us information on the Bronco getting an EcoBoost V6, which we now know
00:28is true, so I trust him or her. You're never going to know. Now, if you haven't done so
00:34already, make sure you hit subscribe and also press the bell icon that's going to tell you
00:37every single time we publish a new video, but let's get started.
00:41Now, a little bit of a history lesson here. Both the BT-50 and the D-MAX share a platform.
00:46So instead of the BT-50 now being related to the Ranger, it is very much related to
00:50the D-MAX and that means that the BT-50 loses its previous generation five-cylinder turbocharged
00:56diesel engine and now shares that engine with the D-MAX, which is a new version of
00:59the Ford JJ. It's a bit of an iconic motor because it goes on forever and ever. They're
01:04very hard to kill and Isuzu has simply refined it a little bit. It now makes 140 kilowatts
01:09of power and 450 newton-meters of torque, which is 10 kilowatts and 20 newton-meters
01:15more than its predecessor. I've tested the D-MAX before and I'm really impressed with
01:19it. I've also been up close and personal with the BT-50, so based on the D-MAX being good,
01:24I assume the BT-50 is going to be good as well. They're both a huge leap forward.
01:28Okay, let's move on to the first bit of exclusive information and it's my understanding that
01:32both of these utes are going to come with a factory off-road kit. What does that mean?
01:36Well, it's a kit that's going to be endorsed by the factory and fitted by the factory.
01:40So when it gets delivered to you, it's fully warranted and covered and ready for you to
01:44do some off-road driving. At the moment, the BT-50 Range in Australia caps off with the
01:48GT, that's the top specification model, and the D-MAX Range finishes up with the X-Terrain.
01:53Now both of those look like they're good off-road, but they're very much the same as
01:57lower models in the range, just with a little bit more styling and accessories. My understanding
02:01is that this off-road kit will actually make them better off-road as well. And if you want
02:05a picture in your head, think of something like a Ford Ranger Raptor, a Nissan Navara
02:10Warrior. We've tested those cars and they're very much standard utes in that sense, but
02:15then have a lot more off-road equipment such as better tyres, different suspension that
02:20increases the ride height and gives you more clearance underneath, and potentially a snorkel
02:24as well which will make driving through water and those types of conditions a little bit
02:28easier. I've got some pictures here of what it'll look like as well. What you're looking
02:32at on screen there right now is the BT-50 off-road version. I think this looks fantastic,
02:37so you can see the big chunky tyres there, they kind of look like the BFGoodrich tyres
02:41fitted to the Ford Ranger Raptor, big looking alloy wheels as well, and then the big tow
02:46hooks on the front. And then if you look at the back, you can see those flared wheel
02:50arches with the plastic bolt-ons, and you and I both know that that means this ute is
02:54very serious off-road. If I was to take a guess at it, the standard 240mm ground clearance
03:00of both of these is probably going to be a little higher. If you look at something like
03:03the Ranger Raptor or the Nissan Navara Warrior, they're all up at about the 270mm mark. That
03:08just affords you a little bit of extra room. They both also come with extra protection
03:13at the front to stop rocks and things like that hitting your engine, and overall that's
03:17going to be better for the off-road experience. While the BT-50 looks cool, I reckon the D-MAX
03:21looks sensational. So these are just artist's renders of what we think these will look like,
03:27but same story again, a big set of chunky tyres for the D-MAX. D-MAX of course now comes
03:31with a standard rear differential lock, finally, the previous one didn't. So you've also got
03:36low range there and also a hill descent control as well. So this will also come with that
03:40added ride height. You can see those tow hooks at the front for recovery. It all round
03:45looks like a far more impressive vehicle off-road. And I think the rear sums it up as well with
03:50that decal on the back, it really makes it stand out. And a little less focus on those
03:55sailplanes. I know a lot of people aren't huge fans of them, same with the wheels on
03:58the X-Terrain. I think this design really lends itself to this being capable off-road.
04:03We know especially with the D-MAX that a lot of people buy these vehicles to go around
04:07Australia for example, so they need something that is super capable off-road. And it's our
04:10understanding that Isuzu is putting a lot of effort into things like dust sealing and
04:14also underbody protection to make sure that if you do find yourself on something like
04:18the old Telegraph track, this is not going to stop halfway through.
04:21Let's move on to the next part which is extra power and torque. So when this engine was
04:26revealed, we kind of were a little disappointed because the standard in the dual cab ute segment
04:32at the moment is around the 500Nm mark from the 4-cylinder turbocharged diesel engines.
04:37So when Isuzu announced that they had released a new version of the 4JJ engine with just
04:42450Nm of torque, we were all a bit like, it could do with a little bit more. Obviously
04:46having driven it now, it's more than adequate and it actually feels a little punchier than
04:51450Nm. We know that when we tested the D-MAX recently for our single car review, it spun
04:56the wheels off the line when we punched it and it felt way punchier than the rest of
05:00the utes that already have 500Nm. So I reckon they're probably just telling a little porcupine
05:05there with the outputs and it probably already does close to 500Nm anyways.
05:08But our source tells us that these both are going to have a factory fitted power upgrade
05:13and that will be 10% more power and 10% more torque and that should mean outputs of around
05:18155kW of power and 500Nm of torque and that will match the segment leaders which at the
05:25moment are things like the Ford Ranger and also the Toyota Hilux. It's worth keeping
05:29in mind that we're not talking here about the V6 diesel options, so your Volkswagen,
05:34Amarok and that type of thing. We're strictly talking about the 4-cylinder diesel engines.
05:38Now how do we know that this is going to happen? Well, there is a little bit of a secret in
05:42the gearbox and it's possibly thanks to that gearbox that Isuzu was able to extract a little
05:47bit more out of it. Now stick with me here, it's called the Aisin AWR6B45, it's the second
05:53generation of this 6-speed automatic transmission. It came in when Isuzu switched to Euro 5 diesel
05:59engines and they've retained that with this latest generation of the D-MAX. Now this gearbox
06:05is also used in the Toyota Hilux. The reason you don't know that it's used in the Toyota
06:09Hilux is because Toyota gives it a different name and this is presumably so people don't
06:14really know that it is an Aisin gearbox. Aisin is of course owned 51% by Toyota, so they
06:19have a vested interest and this gearbox is used in the current 8th generation Hilux that
06:24makes 500Nm of torque. So the gearbox can handle that torque output and this is what
06:29we understand is going to come to BT-50 and D-MAX as a factory option. So you should be
06:35able to tick this box or perhaps they will roll it out with a model upgrade, perhaps
06:39mid-life, but we do believe this is coming and that has me excited because I think it's
06:44kind of a mental barrier for people. If you go to buy an Isuzu D-MAX or a BT-50, and certainly
06:49in the case of the BT-50 where the last generation engine produced 470Nm of torque and
06:54this one goes backwards, it's kind of this mental hurdle for people not wanting to have
06:59something that isn't the best. So they've probably kept this one in their pockets so
07:03that they can roll it out or perhaps charge a little bit extra for it, because I think
07:07people will pay if they know that they can extract another 10% out of their engines and
07:11have it backed by the factory in terms of warranty, they're going to jump at that opportunity.
07:16So this will also set them up for the next generation of the MU-X. So it hasn't been
07:20announced yet, but we know that the MU-X always follows the D-MAX and that will also
07:24mean that they can slot that in at 500Nm and give that a little bit more punch because
07:29that is significantly heavier than the D-MAX, so you really want to strike that balance
07:32between drivability and also feeling that power behind the wheel. So let's see what
07:37happens, it shouldn't be too far away, I'm tipping the next 6-12 months that we'll hear
07:41more about this. Let me know in the comments below what your thoughts are on this. Has
07:46the 450Nm held you back from buying the D-MAX or putting your name down for the BT-50 or
07:51do you simply not care? Let me know what you think in the comments section below. If you
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08:03news and reviews. But until next time, take it easy.