LDV T60 2020 Review

LDV has been on the map with Australian buyers for some years now.

However, in 2019 it seems the Chinese manufacturer made its biggest in-roads yet, earning record Australian sales on the back of a strong value equation and expanded aftersales care.

The T60 ute is central to LDV’s rise, accounting for more than half of its Aussie sales. In essence, the T60 Luxe gives buyers a valid 4x4 dual-cab option for under $40k, replete with five-star ANCAP safety score and the latest equipment.

Here’s the thing. The T60 Luxe’s retail price is set at $37,311 drive-away, but a cursory look on carsales.com.au reveals the going rate with dealers is closer to $32,000 drive-away. A manual version undercuts the automatic by about $2000.

Beneath the Luxe variant sits the LDV T60 Pro, with a retail price starting from $30,000 drive away – less again online.

Those prices position the T60 about $20,000 less than mainstream rival flagships like the Ford Ranger XLT, Toyota HiLux SR5 and Mitsubishi Triton GLS Premium.

The T60 Luxe gets as standard: 10.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, reversing camera and 360-degree camera, keyless entry and start, adaptive LED headlights, rain-sensing wipers, tyre-pressure monitor, a leather steering wheel and heated leather seats with electric adjustment, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, a digital speedo and two USB ports.

Safety is likewise extensive, with an official five-star ANCAP safety rating that is date-stamped to the LDV’s 2017 assessment. You get six airbags, lane departure warning and blind spot monitoring, but no autonomous emergency braking (AEB), which is fast becoming an expectation among fleets and the safety-conscious.

The LDV comes with a claimed 3000kg braked towing capacity and 815kg payload, both on par with or just below segment averages. Gross Combined Mass is advertised at 5950kg.

The LDV gets the basics right, with a ride and handling tune that is as much at home on school runs as it is on corrugated roads.

Unladen, the LDV T60 Luxe is afflicted with the signature tremor common on all dual cab, leaf-sprung utes, but the 2000kg kerb mass is well controlled through corners, aided by light, accurate steering, and an adequate grip threshold from the Dunlop Grandtrek rubber.

It’s a relatively quiet place to be too, with hushed wind and road noise acoustics inside the cabin. It’s surprisingly adept on rough, corrugated roads, with minimal vibrations evident and recovering quickly from large washouts. If anything it’s the diesel clatter that’s most intrusive.

While we’re on the engine – it too does the daily shuffle well enough, gently building speed and relying on its six-speed automatic to provide well-timed up shifts and down shifts. But even in isolation, the four-pot is short on fire power – and even more so in the company of rivals.

The 110kW/360Nm 2.8-litre turbo-diesel falls well short of class leaders, and what’s more, operates within a small rev bandwidth (peak torque between 1600-2800rpm and maximum power at 3400rpm).

The result is an engine that runs out of breath on hills and longer climbs. With a 1800kg load in tow, these traits are accentuated, the 2.8-litre having to work harder for a lesser result. Otherwise it feels relatively stable with a load in tow; and we like the fitment of rear disc brakes when we're facing long mountain descents. The LDV carried 300kg in the tray with minimal fuss.

Its small capacity but hard work ethic means the diesel posted a fuel consumption average of 9.5L/100km on test, which from experience, places it among most dual cabs for efficiency; neither here nor there.

Elsewhere, the cabin fit out is quite good, with some soft-touch materials at the contact points and well considered storage, including cavernous door pockets and a rear seat base that folds up, liberating space for large gear bags and the like. Two USB points reside up front.

Rear seat space is commendable too, with more room than many contemporary offerings including the Volkswagen Amarok; there are also rear air vents and a 12-volt outlet.

The T60 could do with a final layer of polish with respect to cabin execution… like the steering wheel-embedded buttons that don’t illuminate at night, or bugbears in the form of the infotainment system, which is clunky to operate and doesn’t have a traditional volume knob.

An outside temperature readout somewhere in the cabin wouldn’t go astray, either, along with a better quality reversing camera.

Given its lack of pulling power, we’d tend to think the LDV T60 will resonate most with weekend warriors and families.

Its five-star ANCAP safety rating is a boon and enhances its appeal to fleet buyers, complemented by hard-mounted rear anchorage points and ISOFIX attachments. Elsewhere, the T60's comfy front seats, second row space and handy driving lights deserve praise.

Off-road, a 550mm wading depth and 215mm ground clearance are compelling propositions. We found the Luxe a fairly competent machine during a short off-road stint in mostly 4WD high conditions.

Elsewhere, we found the lane assist function overbearing, and ended up turning it off. We also missed a driver’s seat grab rail for getting in and out of the cabin.

Does the T60 Luxe do enough to woo buyers from traditional marques like the Mitsubishi Triton and Nissan Navara?

A five-year/130,000km warranty and capped-price servicing (across 15,000km/12-month intervals) certainly lend the T60 more merit than ever than before. The problem is the Triton and Navara remain better known quantities, and the current market is such that entry-level variants either competitor are similar to the T60 in price, and both are better powered, too.

With a breed of new-generation 2.0-litre turbo engines on their way – boasting purported 160kW/480Nm outputs – the LDV promises to challenge traditional market perceptions about Chinese built utes.

More than ever, LDV is proving that value is no longer its lone calling card.