The engine is a 2.5-litre common-rail direct-injection turbo-diesel BS IV-compliant four-cylinder unit making a peak 136 PS and 320 Nm. That’s substantial, especially when you consider it’s a lazy utilitarian diesel engine that churns out the numbers accompanied by grunts and snorts — exactly how a big truck should. It’s a different sort of pleasure: experiencing unadulterated power and torque in their crude, raw form. The engine may be noisy, but it is refined. The power delivery characteristics are very linear, and the build-up of revs is smooth under that clatter with no vibration or harshness whatsoever.
The transmission is a five-speed manual unit with selectable four-wheel drive. There’s a rear-only 2WD, or high- and low-ratio 4WD at the turn of a knob. It’s a no-nonsense vehicle, really, and it doesn’t try to mask any of it. Another point to note is that Isuzu have been making diesel engines since before your grandma began making cookies (or insert a favourite childhood dish of yours here). Yes, that long. And their reliability is legendary.
The suspension setup — independent double wishbones front and leaf springs rear — is on the softer side of pliant and it soaks up bumps extremely well, yielding some obvious body-roll, but, thankfully, it’s not the bouncy kind that throws you off. It feels controlled and optimised to the best of their abilities on a budget. There’s no gyro-sensor roll-stability control or electronic dynamic damping available south of Rs 15 lakh now, is there?
Even so, there’s nothing that really upsets the D-Max at off-road and city speeds. It gathers momentum quickly for its size and sitting higher up means you have a greater sensation of speed. We were in the hills and the hairpins and winding bends did present some body-roll, but it was not too disconcerting. There is a certain degree of roll that the car seems to allow, considering the realities of physics, but after a certain point, it just feels as if men in white coats were present when the dampers were being tuned.
The V-Cross isn’t exactly a slouch on the open highway, though it did take a rather leisurely 16.3 seconds to get from 0 to 100 km/h. That’s not the measure you want, though, is it? The D-Max returned 8.5 km/l in the city and 11.5 km/l on the highway for a commendable overall figure of 9.25 km/l, in 4×2 mode, of course.
So how does the D-Max V-Cross fit into your life? Well, if you have to ask that question, it isn’t for you. If, however, you see it as the missing piece of the puzzle you’ve been waiting for in your life, there’s not one bread-and-butter reason to not go out and get one.
If you didn’t have to ask that question and are curious about its abilities, or if you think a sunroof is a hyped component of cars trying to be more interesting and you would rather prefer a truck-bed where you can put in a mattress and gaze at the stars, or drive all the way to Norway and stare at the mesmerising swirls of the Aurora Borealis, it does seem to make a strong case for itself.
It’s the V-Cross’ go-anywhere attitude that I loved. It’s not just a pick-up truck you take along for the ride. It’s a companion that won’t let you down and keeps you happy through the journey you take with it and the experience of it all. It’s your key to trucking around with confidence. It’s the comforting feel you get inside it. The car equivalent of aforementioned grandma’s cookies. And if you ever needed a reason to hold your head high and get into something high off the ground where you sit even higher, the D-Max has no equal.
