WATCH: New Isuzu D-Max murders Hilux and Ranger on drag strip

The new Isuzu D-Max in flagship 3.0 TD 4×4 V-Cross guise this week not only blew us away on the drag strip, but its main rivals the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger too. And by a very impressive margin!

Before Road Test Editor Mark Jones tested the new Isuzu at Gerotek, the fastest non-six-cylinder, double cab, 4×4 production bakkie on his time sheets was the five-cylinder Ford Ranger 3.2 TDCi.

In clocking 12.34 seconds to reach 100 km/h from a standstill back in 2016, it held a slight edge over the Toyota Hilux Legend, which narrowly missed out at 12.38 seconds.

The fastest Isuzu in 4×4 guise Mark has tested was the KB 300 D-TEQ LX, which lagged way behind the Ranger and Hilux at 13.38 seconds.

ALSO READ: Isuzu D-Max lifts game in bakkie battle against Hilux and Ranger

Even though the new Isuzu’s 3.0-litre diesel mill produces 140 kW of power and 450 Nm of torque, 10 kW/70 Nm more than the previous version, the best we predicted it will perform is more or less in the same bracket as the 147 kW/470 Nm 3.2-litre Ranger or 150 kW/500 Nm 2.8-litre Hilux. It turns out we were off target. Way off target.

With almost no turbo lag off the line, something both the Hilux and Ranger has in abundance, the Isuzu stormed to a mind-blowing 0 to 100 km/h time of 10.59 seconds! This is 1.75 seconds faster than the Ranger and 1.79 seconds faster than the Hilux, a resounding victory by anyone’s standards.

But there is more to a road test than just a 0 to 100 km/h sprint time. Next week Mark will have the full set of results ready and interpret what exactly all the numbers mean for Isuzu in its fierce bakkie fight with Toyota and Ford.

For more information in the new Isuzu D-Max, visit the manufacturer’s website.