Isuzu D-MAX RG (2020-2026)
Also referred to as: Isuzu D-MAX RG 2025 and Isuzu D-MAX RG 2027.7 reviews
Third and last Isuzu I buy. Absolute piece of rubbish, the car has had a laundry list of issues and every time one is resolved a new one appears. This nightmare experience has been exacerbated by the poor customer service of the car yard (Carco Midland - avoid at all costs). Show details
very disappointed with the issues i have had with the vehicle and isuzu warranties in particular. I have had very poor service, all brake rotors and pads failing at once after a service, a steering rack after 70k, then additional knocking following repair which is still a work in progress and awaiting diagnosis 3 months after initial warranty… Read more
repair. Paint has worn to bare metal in footwells and door pillar 'decals' severely faded around all doors. Constantly get deny then delay on warranty claims. Be careful on what you buy from Isuzu. Family vehicle with occassional 4wding
Where do I start. Bad first. Front suspension issues, the usual reported excessive tire wear and ill handling when going through bumps etc on the road. Isuzu reckon my car isn't one of the effected ones. Don't know how they can claim that. The… Read more
reports are covering 2021 to 2025 models. Mine is a 2021. Also won't do anything as it's done more than 40,000kms. How does a bad design fix itself once the vehicle has gone past 40,000kms? The transmission doesn't allow the engine to use it's torque and chops down at the first sight of a hill or even slight rise in the road. Very sensitive so called safety electronics, very intrusive. Mine didn't have the software installed to have the one button cancel option. Took a long time to get approval from Isuzu for it to be upgraded. Emergency braking alert scares the hell out of me, it will activate whenever it feels like having a panic attack. Loses power intermittently when trying to take off. Doesn't happen often but can be dangerous. It will give enough power to get you into the intersection then give me nothing. The engine drops back to idle and I then can't get out of the way of oncoming traffic. Could be dangerous. It has also had the recall done one the ECU for losing power at highway speed. Did lose power on us once before the recall so it was a thing. However it had to be done twice , for some reason it didn't work the first time. Once again they don't know why. Had it checked out by Isuzu on a couple of occasions but they have no clue. Probably have to pay out of pocket to get it sorted by someone that actually can diagnose issues and know what they are doing. It took 2 months to get a part from the warehouse in Melbourne and delivered to Sydney. Couldn't tell me where it was or when it would arrive. What sort of system is that? The good. When the engine is operating properly I'm quite happy with it, good amount of power, however does need a throttle controller to minimize the turbo lag. And no, I haven't got one on at the moment so Isuzu can't blame the power loss issues on that. Relatively comfortable, even though mine is the base model. Comes with all the mod cons I want and some I don't want/need. Don't expect economy anywhere near their claims. Only time I can get it below 11km/l is down hill with a tail wind. To be fair I'm running A/T tires that are one size larger than standard so that could be why. They are also cheaper and I have more choice. We use the car for general running around and also tow a 3 ton of road van. With my experience from owning this I more than likely would not buy another. It's not because of the issues I've had it's because of the way Isuzu feels the need to ignore genuine concerns and come up with nonsense excuses.
Follow-up · Nothing has changed. A poor design in suspension or steering won't fix by itself and Isuzu continue to hide behind a ridiculous policy that makes no sense at all. They've lost me for a repeat customer.
Mighty MUX/Dmax - This car can do it all! – Absolutely love my MuX (2022 model). It does everything! from touring this great country in comfort, to Towing our 2T caravan with ease, dropping off the kids at school and has done some difficult 4WDing (Budawangs national park/ Gardens of stone national park). Fuel economy is remarkable, my long term… Read more
average is 7.3l/100km (no van, mostly highway driving at 100km/h - click the photo attached as I know you won't believe me!), and with 2.2T Van I achieve 11-12l/100km (around 100km/h). The car effortlessly cruises along at 1500RPM on the highway and the motor is quiet as a mouse (love the new 6 speed trans).
It tows out 2.2T Expanda caravan with ease, hardly going over 2000RPM (note: Nex gen MuX has a huge 3500kg towing capacity). The ride is very quiet and refined and you can drive for 5-6 hours without breaking a sweat. The van tow ball weight is 170kg so I don't need any suspension upgrades (just stock), they can handle up to 350kg.
No issues to date and great service from my dealer. I priced a Prado at $95,000 and ended up with a brand new MUX for $60,000 and bought a caravan with the saving! Toyotas need 6monthly/10,000km servicing while MUX is 15,000/1 yearly so halve the maintenance costs.
The legendary 4JJ3 motor is bullet proof and doesn't require Ad blue like the 2024 Prado/Everest, so less things to go wrong, and avoid $80 to fill up the ad blue tank. The DPF is one of the most reliable to date, a friend at work has a DPF model (2018) with over 300,000km and still going strong (no DPF issues). The drive train is good for 500,000+ km. The car weighs a little over 2T, substantially less than Prado at 2.6T meaning much higher power / weight for effortless hauling of heavy loads.
I've taken this car deep into the Victorian high country, Barrington tops, Snow driving and 4WDing in many of the national parks and never been stuck. All with stock tyres and suspension. This model comes with Diff locks as standard!
The kids love the rear air conditioning. There is an evaporator in the boot, with separate fan controls so they can adjust their own temperature (lucky!)
The car has loads of room, we can fit 4 persons + gear for a snow trip with ease. The boot space is gargantuan (you can pack your elephant) and the 3 rows sit perfectly flat, so you can install a fridge, or just sleep in the back (I recently saw the new Prado boot and you'd struggle to fit 2 suitcases, its a deal breaker).
Isuzus are very popular, and fully supported by the online forum "Ozisuzu.com.au" where there are loads of passionate Isuzu lovers that will offer free support/advice on upgrades/4WDing etc.
I researched Pajero sport, Prado, Everest, and MUX was best by far, comes with a 6 year warranty, great resale value, Corolla fuel economy and small price tag for this level of 4WD capability/towing/comfort.
I also researched the older (pre 21 models) but purchased the Next gen for the following benefits: - The cabin noise NVH is excellent compared to previous generation, quiet and comfortable. - The rear boot area sits perfectly flat, no plastic boxes that look like an after thought. - Fuel tank size is 80L (gives a range of 1100km on a tank @7.3l/100) - Electric steering makes light work steering a large car with caravan - 6 speed auto is amazing, at 100km/h the RPM is 1500 RPM and you can hardly hear the motor - LED lights are bright! - The car has ventilated disk brakes on all corners, providing great confidence when towing down steep hills. - huge 3.5T towing capacity and 350kg ball mass
This car is serious 4x4 offroader. The drive train is a north south motor, with rear wheel drive (great for towing with caravan ball mass adding to grip), then a transfer case to power the front wheels. The gearbox has low range for steeps climbs, crawling etc. All gearboxes have diff breathers as standard and the rear diff comes with diff locker as standard. Wading depth is 800mm out of the box! The car can be heavily modified with large wheels, lifted, bull bars, roof racks, long range tanks (all readily available). Air bags can be easily fitted to the rear springs if high weights are carried (ie caravan).
AVOID ISUZU DMAX & MUX. SUSPENSION DEFECTS, SAFETY RISK, AND WARRANTY DENIALS. ISUZU IGNORES AUSTRALIAN CONSUMER LAWS. A CLASS ACTION IS LOOMING. STAY AWAY!!! Show details
Be warned … have issues you will get no help – Be warned ….two Isuzus and both have major issues. One a 2024 DMAX the air con stopped working after 6000kms. Isuzu Australia take no responsibility. Dealerships won’t help. Sorry long waits, get in line with everyone else. We had to abort our holiday and return home. No dealerships would even look at it. Our local dealer said sorry earliest we… Read more
can look at it is the day before Christmas. Isuzu Australia said that wait is reasonable in their view. No air con for 6 odd weeks in the Australian summer. Nice one Isuzu! The other one has gone through one set of tyres after scrubbing out the front tyres. Service people are deceptive and don’t divulge what they know about issues. Rattle in the dash they “can’t find”, steering makes a noise ….”can’t find that either”…be warned if you have issues no one will help and you are on your own. Warranty means they will fix it when they are ready…bad luck if it’s major you are just another customer waiting by the sounds of things along time to have their cars fixed. Pathetic Isuzu!
Isuzu remove any negative responses on social media such as Instagram. Obviously keep the good ones and remove the negative to protect themselves …..
Only just okay – My latest employer provided work only car. In comparison to the previous D Max, Interior: is just a funereal looking as the last one with everything in black. The car has a vinyl floor covering which in a work vehicle is good for it's easy to clean. Dash cluster is easy to read but often has silly meaningless messages and more about that in a… Read more
minute. Air conditioning is adequate with dials not menus. Infotainment I can't comment on as I don't use it. Driver's seat is comfortable with good support. Driving: Ride quality is a bit jiggly over uneven surfaces. This D Max has a "safety package" which often gives false messages. There is a tiny speed sign which is only good in dry weather not foggy weather or night time driving. A message appears in the dash cluster "unable to read speed clean windscreen". If in a 60kph zone and then I turn down another road that message appears until it finds a speed sign it can read. Also when driving through a school zone the speed indicator adjusts to 40kph which doesn't apply out of the stated times but the car's computer doesn't know that. The silly chimes with this feature can be turned off permanently in the menu system. Anti collision warning when you're not about to collide with anything and the dash cluster goes red and there's a red LED warning bar where the top of the dashboard meets the lower part of the windscreen. I've covered that up with black gaffer tape. Lane keeping assist can be turned off by pressing a small steering wheel icon on the right side of the steering wheel. It has to be done every time you start the car. All these silly messages an safety icons appearing in the dash cluster make driving the car LESS safe because you're taking you eyes off the road it read and look this rubbish. Fuel economy is not great but I do have a heavy canopy on the back so the economy reads 11-13L/100km and I get about 600-650km to a tank of diesel but it's mainly stop start urban driving. On picking up the D max from work when new I did what I always do and went to a servo to check the tyre pressures and not one tyre matched another. The highest was 28psi and the lowest was 19psi and it should have been 33psi front 43psi rear. Gearbox: being an auto the accelerator has to be pressed hard to get it moving with gear changes taking place at 2000rpm and with a CVT auto one needs to keep the accelerator pressed to keep the car at 2000rpm to achieve rapid changes. This needs to be done if pulling away from rest on an 80kph zoned road. The car has a manual selector and like the previous Colorado and D Max I tend to use this rather than leaving the selector in D. The car will change down to first gear when stopping like at traffic lights. But can be manually moved to second for a higher and smoother take off speed. This car doesn't have running lights and only halogen lights as it's the poverty pack model. Already rattles have started to appear coming from the cheap plastic door cards with only 16K on the odometer and I wonder what else is soon to rear it's ugly head. Being an employer provided work only car I don't have to worry about fuel costs, rego, insurance or servicing costs as my employer has facilities for servicing the car. The car only goes back to the dealer for warranty work if needed and the work will be done as the dealer has no choice as my employer is government. Would I buy one? no just too much under developed computer tech put into the car to comply with ADR regulations with little thought given to it's functionality in day to day driving.
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