There would be few motoring brands in the Southern Hemisphere as instantly recognizable as Isuzu. Their trucks have graced our roads for years and now they are juicing up their customer choice with a brand new SUV.
It's a hard market segment to crack, littered as it is with dozens of peoplemover type vehicles that supposedly fit the family mould. But unlike most SUVs that are designed as family cars that can go off road - and most don't - this new MU-X is built, and built very well, for that purpose with the bonus being car-like refinements.
It's a seven-seater and as an example of the practicality the MU-X exhibits in spades there are no fewer than 14 cup holders. It might be a record and the designers have clearly had family in mind. The same approach shows up in the common-sense use of hard plastics
on the dash, console and the doors. More affluent SUVs don't always cope well with rugged family use but there's no such pretence with this Isuzu. And, hallelujah, the main controls don't need a book or an app to figure out.
The cloth-covered front seats are the bucket variety and multi-adjustable for comfort. There are door runners that, to be candid, you couldn't do without climbing in but that also make getting out of the cabin a bit of a stretch. But there's plenty of room inside. Seven adults would be a squeeze but the three-and-four combination (four adults, three kids) can fit well. If you're seriously off-roading there are what is cutely called 'assist grips' for passengers and if things get dodgy the Grade Logic Control will work for you by holding in gear for steep descents.
Other specifications that show how competent off-road this SUV is include the Intelligent Traction Control System, Electronic Stability Control and Isuzu's Terrain Command 4WD select dial. You can switch to 4WD on the fly up to 100kph for dirt, beach or gravel.
