If you have adventure flowing through your veins, there’s no better pick-me-up than a pick-up. India finally gets a double-cab truck that’s actually meant for the active family lifestyle. We test the most desirable Isuzu D-Max yet: the V-Cross.
Story: Jim Gorde
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
Did you know that the best-selling car in the USA is actually a ‘truck’? Well, terminology may differ but a pick-up truck — the Ford F-150, in particular — is the best-selling model; selling more than the Toyota Corolla, the Volkswagen Beetle and everything else in the market. Not all pick-up trucks are mammoth, gas-guzzling giant sheep or dinosaurs, though. Some actually make a lot of sense.
While India is known to have an aversion to estate cars, the pick-up has suffered an almost similar fate; only it’s perceived as a commercial vehicle more than a lifestyle choice of car. Well, it’s true that not many would pack a surfboard on to the roof-rack and head out into the city, but it is also true that a market for such vehicles that ply for play rather than for work does exist, albeit on a small scale. That’s where the D-Max V-Cross from Isuzu comes in. While the Japanese brand is known to have a credible pick-up line, it’s this lifestyle pick-up truck that, unlike the others, actually packs all the goodies and tech from a mid-size car. More importantly, it puts the ‘fun’ in function.
While my knowledge of pick-up lines had been rather non-existent until recently, I do remember, as I was growing up, that ‘Transformers’ had Iron Hide, a butch, massive and typically American pick-up truck that was tough as nails and afraid of no challenge. And that, in essence, is the true nature of the pick-up truck.
The D-Max V-Cross, then, is no different. It has a smart, purposeful exterior dominated simply by design and chrome. By design, of course, I mean proportions. It’s over five metres long, nearly two metres wide and six feet tall — similar to some people I know, those latter bits, come to think of it. Needless to say, it’s that way for a purpose. The headlamp units are large and incorporate projectors and what Isuzu call a ‘Fresnel blister’. The side-steps are chunky and, apart from being a necessary addition, also add to the butch, purposeful stance. As do the silver roof-rails.
The D-Max V-Cross is available only as a double-cab, which means it has four doors and two-row seating ahead of a 1485x1530x465-mm truck-bed, which is, for all intents and purpose, your boot that holds up to 265 kg of payload (and/or people). It rides on 16-inch wheels with high-profile 245/70 R16 S-rated tyres and sports a minimum ground clearance of 225 mm. Perfect for all kinds of applications, really.
