Isuzu Oz rules out new 1.9-litre engine – for now

Isuzu UTE Australia says its customers do not yet want an engine like the smaller-capacity 1.9-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel unveiled in its new D-MAX ute in Thailand last year, but stops short of ruling the unit out completely for our market in future.

The 1.9-litre 'DDI Blue Power' unit produces 110kW and 350Nm, offering both more power and torque than its 2.5-litre predecessor while weighing 20 per cent less. The Euro 5 emissions-compliant engine is claimed to be 19 per cent more fuel efficient, producing 161 grams of CO2 per kilometre.

However, Isuzu's General Manager for Sales of Europe, Middle East and Oceania, Keiichi Yagai, told motoring.com.au at last year's Paris motor show that the new oiler wasn't earmarked for the Australian market, although he declined to offer any further details.

Instead, and as the recent media launch of the updated 2017 D-MAX revealed, the upgraded D-MAX and its MU-X SUV sibling are powered by a heavily reworked version of Isuzu's previous 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel.

The new engine now has Euro 5 emissions compliance while still boasting improved performance: the same peak power of 130kW is retained, while peak torque is now 50Nm higher, at 430Nm.

Importantly, some 380Nm – the old unit's peak torque figure – is now available from 1700rpm (100rpm lower) to 3500rpm (700rpm higher).

Produced exclusively for the Australian market and already subjected to more than 100,000 real-world test kilometres, the engine features a number of new features aimed at securing its cleaner, gruntier credentials.

The engine features redesigned pistons, fuel injectors and a fuel pump, along with a new variable-geometry turbocharger, a larger EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) cooler with a redesigned bypass valve, new ceramic glow plugs, a new intelligent battery sensor and a diesel particulate diffuser.

Already common in the wider commercial vehicle world, the DPD essentially traps particulate matter in the exhaust gas in a filter, then safely burning off the trapped matter when the filter has reached its capacity. It's an automatic system, meaning the driver doesn't have to do anything when an automatic burn is conducted roughly every 500km.

Emissions-compliance systems such EGR, SCR (selective catalytic reduction) and DPDs (or DPFs – diesel particulate filters) have been used in trucks for years. While a DPD requires little or no input from the driver, SCR systems require a separate tank for AdBlue solution, thereby requiring a little bit of extra effort on the part of the driver.

When motoring.com.au asked the managing director and CEO of Isuzu UTE, Yasuhiro 'Yasu' Takeuchi, if the 1.9-litre engine would ever make it to our shores, he was non-committal.

"Actually, it was not ruled out completely," he said.

"But we asked [our customers and dealers] which is better, 1.9 litres or 3.0 litres, and most people told us 'no – 1.9 litres is too early, so please keep the 3.0-litre engine because we need the towing capacity, we need the torque."

However, Mr Takeuchi said the smaller engine has not been ruled out indefinitely.

"Here in Australia we want to add up to our customers' needs and, hearing their voice, I don't know – maybe [we could bring the smaller engine here in] in five or 10 years," he said.

"However, at this moment we have decided to keep a 3.0-litre engine. It's not such an easy thing to develop a 3.0-litre engine, but we went with that and they [Isuzu Motors Limited in Japan] spent a bunch of money to meet our customers' needs."

While the bulk of Australia's utility market does centre around a 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine architecture, there are exceptions – most notably Volkswagen's Amarok range, the majority of which is powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel producing (in its most potent form) 132kW and 420Nm.