Mazda BT-50 Pick-Up Range : NIFTY 50

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The modern pick-up must be a true utility vehicle, adept under commercial or leisure usage. Can Mazda's revised BT-50 meet the challenge? Steve Walker reportsâ€¦

There are only ever going to be a limited number of people in the UK who need to move 1,000kg loads over off-road terrain and that, essentially, is what pick-up trucks are designed to do. You'd think that this might limit the market somewhat but with clever marketing and a little help from a taxation loophole or two, the pick-up sector has flourished. Mazda's current attempt to cash-in on our penchant for big wheels and open loadbays is codenamed the BT-50.

We Brits are suckers for a bit of redundant capability: just look at the number of 4x4s on our roads that are total strangers to mud of any kind. There are parts of the planet where people need tough off-road vehicles like Mazda's BT-50 just to get about but such terrain is rare in these islands where it seems you're rarely more than a stone's throw from a shoddily tarmacced roadway of some description. So what exactly is the pick-up's appeal? Models like the Mazda BT-50 present buyers with a compromise between the tough working vehicle and the big family 4x4. They may be a little unsophisticated but they have a definite road presence, come well-equipped and are family hatchback affordable - particularly when you factor in their commercial vehicle taxation status. If you want a big car on a small budget, particularly one which can stand up to a hard day's work and take the family out in comfort on a weekend, the pick-up is perfection. So has the BT-50 got what it takes to claim a big slice of the hard fought pick-up sector? To make sure, Mazda have facelifted it in recent times, smartened up the interior and added a more powerful 156PS 3.0-litre turbo diesel engine for the flagship Intrepid version.

"Two excellent engines and a well designed interior mean that the Mazda is much more than a commercial vehicle"

The range is split between the workmanlike singlecab derivatives and the plusher, more family-orientated double cabs with their 5-seater capacity. Single cab buyers get a 2,280mm load length and the option of two or four-wheel drive transmissions. The double cab's four-door body eats into its load length, reducing it to 1,530mm. All double cab models are four-wheel drive but there is the option of TS, TS2 or plush Intrepid trim and the maximum payload achieved by the BT-50 4x4 derivatives is a sizable 1,212kg. The BT-50 has arisen from the same design blueprints as its Ford Ranger sister vehicle and there's little to separate the two products, the obvious branding differences aside. Don't let this put you off as both models are handsome customers, with the requisite menacing front end very much in evidence. In the best pick-up traditions, the successive BT-50 models pile on the styling addenda as you ascend the range. By the time you've invested in a TS2 doublecab (front fog lights, 16" alloys, chrome grille, chrome mirror housings and a side step bar), you'll have a fairly mean looking vehicle on your hands but the range-topping Intrepid model goes even further than that. Climb aboard and the BT-50 is initially impressive. The cabin design is simple and obviously penned with a view to durability in the face of robust treatment but the materials are of good quality and the standard of construction seems high. The pull-out handbrake mounted next to the steering column hints at the age of some of the underlying mechanicals and is a chore to use for hill starts but storage space is quite generous and the instrument cluster is attractively designed. Particularly on the higher-end derivatives, the overall impression is more passenger car than commercial vehicle and this being the case, you could say the designers have met the brief. Riding on the kind of old-school ladder frame chassis that's beloved of serious off-road drivers and with leaf springs and a solid axle at the rear, the BT-50 is never going to be a paragon of elegance on the tarmac. What you gain from such a set-up is good wheel articulation, a large payload capacity and a sturdy resistance to the kind of knocks that are unavoidable under testing off-road conditions. On the road, you have to say that the BT-50's performs much better than the B-Series. It's just not up to the high standards set by class leaders like Nissan's Navara and Toyota's Hilux. Vibrations and road roar are noticeably well-suppressed in the cabin, with the suspension proving resistant to the bouncy ride you got with pick-ups of old. If you're used to a modern family 4x4, you'll probably find the cornering body roll excessive and may be disconcerted by the BT-50's willingness to break traction in 2WD mode - especially in the wet with no load on the back. All four-wheel-drive models get a rear limited slip differential and can operate in 2WD, 4WD or low range 4WD modes. Safety provision runs to front airbags with all seatbelts getting pretensioners but only the double cabs get ABS braking which seems a serious omission. The MZR-CD 2.5-litre common-rail diesel engine that powers most BT-50s is as good as anything you'll find in the pick-up sector and can take at least part of the credit for the vehicle's impressive refinement. It's a very capable and smooth pulling unit with 141bhp making itself available at 3,500rpm and a muscular 330Nm at 1,800rpm. Even serious loads on the back don't seem to phase it too much with acceleration remaining strong and motorway work doesn't present a problem or create too much of a racket. Better still is the 3.0-litre 154bhp unit from the Intrepid. Here there's 380Nm, an increase of 15% over the 2.5. The BT-50 was always going to have a difficult battle against the class leaders, models which have been designed specifically for a modern pick-up market where comfort and on-road performance are as important as durability. Despite the shrewd and far-reaching improvements made over the old B-Series and the latest revisions, the BT-50 remains just a little rough around the edges. Two excellent engines and a well designed interior mean that the Mazda is much more than a commercial vehicle, however, and the double cab models definitely have the potential to attract buyers at the lifestyle end of the market. Just how successful it is may depend on Mazda's marketing know-how in this image conscious sector.

Facts At A Glance PICK-UP: Mazda BT-50 range ENGINE: 2.5-litre diesel 141bhp/330Nm / 3.0-litre diesel 154bhp/380Nm TOWING CAPACITY: [Braked] 3,000kg MAX PAYLOAD: 1,212kg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Driver and passenger airbags, seatbelt pretensioners.