This big beast of a brawny pickup radiates muscularity. You won’t find one parked outside a poodle parlour for vegan owners of cute lap dogs. Nor would you turn up in one to a consciousness raising conference for non-assertive exponents of quasi-confrontational gender politics. What you do have is the toughest of the tough. Isuzu specialise in making vehicles to cater for the most demanding users who won’t take second best. An Isuzu D-Max is built to survive the hardest use in areas like the construction industry and agriculture. But make no mistake, there’s a sophisticated side to the D-Max too. Not only is there the Business Range and All-Purpose Range: there is the Adventure Range. And top of that range sits the V-Cross, tested here: a comfortable, well specified variant that rivals and outshines the competition – as evidenced by the multi awards gained from professional appraisers as it wins Pick-up of the Year and numerous awards that would make a D-Day veteran proud..
Few motors on the road today are so uncomplicatedly convinced of their rightful place in the world as this hefty double cab of top quality and excellence. The top spec £38,495 V-Cross is now extensively revised and updated with a more powerful stance and enhanced levels of interior comfort. And beneath the external appeal lies a chassis that is strengthened to even higher levels to cope with the rough and tumble of working life. So the family should be as safe as houses in a V-Cross double cab when you become an adventurer. It’s noticeably quieter too, thanks in part to improved chassis cab mounts.
Critics of pickups – bear with me please there are such folk – suggest that owners belong to the unreconstructed sort who deceive themselves into thinking that they are buying a utility vehicle for that very purpose – whereas they are really flaunting the metallic equivalent of large biceps. Heaven forbid that one should challenge such views. In doing so one would merely fall into the trap of endorsing the very suggestion one is setting out to oppose.
Much better to let the V-Cross speak for itself. You might imagine it addressing its critics in the following manner.
‘Friends. If you don’t approve of this vehicle, kindly remove your cardboard cup of flat white coffee out of the way of my fat tyres now running on 18″ alloys before they squash it completely flat along with your objections.’
For the V-Cross is nothing if not uncompromising. Big but also beautiful; you just have to love it. It’s an unchained Hercules of the road ready to rip up preconceptions along with objections.
But, Hey! Who would suspect that such a big hunk of pickup muscle comes with comfort that puts many a sedate saloon to shame? Inside the revised capacious cabin expect ‘room plus view’ in front and back, cushioning and cosseting, tactile trim plus touchscreen, climate control plus cruise control…all in all, an all-round, feel good package of reassuring quality that merits instant approval.
A 164 PS 2.0 diesel is smooth, responsive and non-polluting, has 360 Nm of torque to enable you to tow up to 3.5 tonnes and it can carry a one tonne payload too. Perfectly combined with an improved 6 speed auto box and selectable 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel drive in high or low ratio together with a diff-lock, it gives effortless performance. You won’t get stuck in one of these in the harshest conditions. Out on the highway it’s a winner too. You could reach 112mph undercover of darkness if you were a criminal.
‘Yes, yes,’ I hear you mutter. ‘But how capable will it be off-road on my hill farm in an arctic winter? Will I be able to follow my sheepdog to the top of Snowdon? (Only joking) ‘ Shamefacedly I have to tell you that I didn’t test it to extreme: but I know a man who did. He reports that it is supremely capable.
Ride and handling are now improved thanks to that stiffer chassis which underpins this ruggedly tough pickup. So confident are Isuzu in its durability that there’s a 5year warranty.
You’d be forgiven for asking whether it’s a utility vehicle doubling up as an SUV or vice versa. Truth is neither description fits. It’s a partnership of practical pleasure. Rugged yet refined, ready yet relaxing, the V-Cross is the pick-me-up pickup of promising potential. As such it wears its utility credentials with pride, proving that the D-Max mission to double on the desirable delivers an endurable double cab of dreams. And if that’s too many ‘Ds’ to digest when ‘A’ grades are needed – how about awarding acclaim to this advanced automobile of admirable authenticity for its accommodating assistance to those whose lifestyles demand adventurous autonomy.
Silliness aside, it’s a smile-a-mile drive all the way.
