Powerful LDV bakkie slayed by Amarok, Ranger, Hilux and D-Max

Just about every other day now, a new Chinese player enters the South African bakkie market.

They take aim against established stalwarts like Ford, Isuzu, Toyota, Nissan and Volkswagen. And their products are at times competitively priced and highly-specced while offering class-rivalling power and torque.

LDV with their new range of T60 bakkies are just such a company. On paper the LDV bakkie looks like it can take the fight to the Ford Ranger, Isuzu D-Max, Toyota Hilux and VW Amarok. But how does this translate into real world driving?

LDV bakkie packed to the rafters

On paper you will pay R790 000 for the top-of-the-range LDV T60 Max Luxe 4×4 AT. It comes with a comprehensive range of comfort and safety features like electronic stability control, front and side bolster airbags and disc brakes all round.

Inside you get Bluetooth mobile phone connectivity with steering controls, air conditioning, power steering and electric windows to name some of them.

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What you also get on paper is a 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel powerplant that is said to deliver no less than 160kW of power and 500Nm of torque. This puts the LDV bakkie right near the top of power and torque charts. Ahead of the Ford Ranger and VW Amarok’s 154 kW offerings, the 150kW Toyota Hilux and 140kW Isuzu D-Max.

The Citizen Motoring looked at the weights of the bakkies and the LDV T60 Max Luxe 4×4 AT comes in at 2.1 tons. This is 300kg lighter than the VW Amarok and Ford Ranger and less than 100kg heavier than the Isuzu D-Max and Toyota Hilux.

Bakkie time sheet

The VW Amarok leads the charge with a 0-100 km/h best time of 10.38 seconds, with the Isuzu D-Max coming in second with a time of 10.59 seconds. The Ford Ranger is next up at 10.71 seconds, while the new Toyota Hilux 48V has finally joined the 10-second club with a 10.96-run to 100km/h.

The LDV bakkie has the power and torque, an easy-shifting eight-speed automatic transmission and was substantially lighter than some and a little heavier than others. I expected big things from this new Chinese bakkie when I strapped my Racelogic Vbox test equipment to it at Gerotek.

But sadly, the power never translated to the road and the LDV T60 Max Luxe came in at the bottom of the list with a best time of 11.44 seconds.