It’s actually quite pretty in Siberia. This Siberia at least. Photo: James Coleman.
Note from a rookie to other rookies: if you’re planning to head to the snow on a weekend, leave Canberra well before 7 am.
We made the mistake of passing Royalla on the Monaro Highway at 7:30 am. So we hadn’t even reached the gate to Kosciuszko National Park two hours later before we hit a line of cars, and at the front of it, a crew of traffic controllers turning everyone around because car parks at Thredbo and Perisher were packed full.
The woman in high-vis only agreed to wave us through when we mentioned we were continuing on past the car parks to Tom Groggin. But we ended up stopping near Siberia, which is actually closer and nicer than it sounds – just a few kilometres further along Alpine Way and not, in fact, gulags in the Arctic Circle.
It was the kids’ first snow date, and they loved it – for half an hour at least. Until their hands got cold. And one was run over by an errant toboggan rider.
If you’re wondering why I’m still prattling on about snow 100 words into a car review, it’s because I’m stuck on what to say about this week’s car beyond “Mazda BT-50. See also ‘Isuzu D-Max‘”.
I’m not kidding. Where once Mazda’s ute was a rebadged Ford Ranger – for better or worse – it’s now almost exactly the same as the Isuzu D-Max I tested barely two weeks ago.
It employs the same noisy but mighty 3-litre turbo diesel engine, the same six-speed automatic gearbox, the same part-time 4WD system, some of the same body panels, and this one being tested – in top-of-the-line SP spec – is even almost the same bright orange colour.
Put them next to each other and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d overdone it on the bourbon and are now seeing double.
A lot of the interior is shared too, down to the simple touchscreen, which means there’s a lot of that same hard and scratchy plastic that makes even a Ford Ranger feel luxurious.
The same basic layout as you’ll find in the Isuzu. Photo: James Coleman.
Apparently – and after a class-action law suit involving tens of thousands of owners – Isuzu has fixed the issues that plagued the last-model D-Max and MU-X and – by association – Mazda BT-50 where the inside of the front tyres would wear out within about 20,000 km.
“In response to local feedback, the recommended steering geometry settings (alignment) has been revised to maximise tyre life through a wider range of operating conditions across the varying terrain and surfaces found locally,” a spokesperson for Isuzu Ute Australia told Region.
So the rest should be bulletproof. Certainly, with the enormous Mad-Max bull bar fitted to my test example, I felt comforted knowing it was roo proof. There’s a lot of roadkill out this way.
The only annoyance was on the uphill sections of highway when the gearbox would change down just as it felt like the engine was making its power – but that’s easily solved by pushing the gear lever to the right and entering manual mode.
As with the Isuzu, you only ever turn the dial by your left knee to 4H when you’re on the rough stuff – on road with 4WD engaged, you’ll break something. But with the exception of a brief foray into a patch of roadside snow – not recommended because the wheels started spinning immediately – we stuck to rear-wheel drive and tarmac.
After more careful playing of spot the difference in the specification sheets I can reveal the BT-50 SP is slightly lighter than the equivalent D-Max X-Terrain – by 55 kg. It can carry two extra bags of cement too, thanks to a payload of 985 kg over the Isuzu’s 930 kg.
It’s now also ever-so-slightly cheaper than the D-Max with a nationwide driveaway price of $67,990 compared to the Isuzu’s $68,990.
But at the end of the day, it all comes down to what looks you prefer. And whether you like your seats with extra burnt-orange leather and your carpets plusher. I’m not even sure “Mazda” and “Isuzu” carry different bragging rights anymore either.
Mighty Mazda BT-50 meets the snow. Photo: James Coleman.
2025 Mazda BT-50 SP
- $67,990 driveaway
- 3-litre turbo-diesel engine, 140 kW / 450 Nm
- 6-speed automatic, part-time 4WD
- 8 litres per 100 km combined fuel consumption, 76-litre fuel capacity
- 2115 kg
- 5-star ANCAP safety rating
Thanks to Mazda Australia for providing this vehicle for testing. Region has no commercial arrangement with Mazda Australia.
