Mazda BT-50 2018 Review

Not so smiley

The facelifted 2018 Mazda BT-50 has lost some of its smile for a more serious, chiselled look.

Yet aside from the new nose and some spec improvements such as Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and a reversing camera across the range, the BT-50 continues as it has been for the last seven years it has been on sale.

This was a good time as any to assess whether the BT-50 is keeping relevant and to see if its new nose is enough to shift more of them.

Of course, Mazda wasn’t going to show off its hardened-up ute over lattes at a converted warehouse studio in a trendy inner-city suburb. Instead we went bush, camping in the unforgiving Gawler Ranges, foraging for food at the catering tent and sleeping rough among the feral pigs, snakes and worse still, other journalists.

This isn’t the first time the BT-50 has been restyled to answer the criticism that it doesn’t look blokey enough. In 2015, the nose was changed with a new grille and headlights to try to harden-up the BT-50’s lines.

Loads of torque

As in its Ford Ranger sister ute, the BT-50’s turbo-diesel five-cylinder does not spin up like a modern Euro turbo-diesel. More than most modern diesels (including those in its category), this one’s a traditionalist with its gruff nature when revved.

But the engine dispenses with a small amount of turbo lag as soon as the tacho swings to about 1500rpm, at which point it gets a hefty turbo boost that sees excellent response all the way to around 3000rpm (which is where peak power is developed).

The redline starts at 4900rpm, but you’ll only try getting there once. There’s not much point revving the five beyond that, as it’s really not happy doing it.

Learn to keep it in the 1500-3000rpm range and you’ll make the most of the meaty 470Nm of torque on hand.

In fact maybe there’s a bit too much torque for the BT-50 to handle when unladen at least; it’s easy to get a rear wheel spinning when on dirt or slippery bitumen, although the traction control quells the worst of it.

Selecting 4WD is the obvious answer, and also obvious – and easy to forget – is to select 2WD again before driving on dry, paved surfaces. If you don’t you’ll damage the 4WD transfer case.

The six-speed auto doesn’t disgrace itself with either abrupt or lazy shifts; it changes gears smoothly and quickly and the spread of ratios suits the engine’s power/torque band too.

Not so advanced

While the BT-50 has a five-star safety rating and plenty of active safety features such as trailer sway control and traction/stability control, there’s no advanced safety features such as autonomous emergency braking, radar cruise control, blind-spot monitoring or lane departure warning available on any model.

The BT-50, like most utes in its class, has independent, coil-spring suspension up front and a leaf-sprung, live axle at the back. This is never going to make the basis of a lush-riding vehicle, but the BT-50 soaked up the worst of it well once past a firm fussiness at low speeds.

The steering feels a bit heavy at first, but is responsive and direct. While the lanky wheelbase, all-terrain tyres and relatively basic suspension do no favours for fast cornering, within its limits the BT-50 holds a chosen line well.

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Great off-road

Slipping and sliding up and down the soft sand in the Gawler Ranges, I was reminded of how good the BT-50 is off-road.

Its low-range reduction ratios are excellent for descents and there’s plenty of power to keep up momentum on the slippery climbs, although the standard side steps, like any on a 4WD, impede ramp-over angles.

Ground clearance (at 237mm) is very good, as is its 800mm wading depth. The BT-50 also gets hill descent control, traction control and an electric locking rear diff.

Towing capacity is equal to the best in class with its 3500kg maximum (350kg towball download maximum). However, the BT-50 can’t tow 3500kg when fully laden itself; its Gross Vehicle Mass is 3200kg but Gross Combined Mass is just 6000kg.

With a 3500kg trailer behind it, you can only carry 395kg of the maximum 1095kg payload (XTR) in the in the BT-50.

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Creature comfort

The BT-50’s cabin has aged well in terms of design and function (except for the lack of steering column reach adjustment), with a simple, attractive and tidy dash layout and plenty of room up front in the supportive front buckets.

The rear bench is one of the more comfortable in the dual-cab segment too. Where the cabin is not so great is in presentation; it has too much shiny, brittle plastic compared to more recent ute offerings.

The service interval change to 15,000km/12 months (from 10,000km/12 months) is a bonus, although warranty remains as one of the shortest in the industry, with just two years of coverage (with unlimited kilometres).

There’s no doubt the upgraded BT-50’s minor cosmetic surgery, longer features list, longer service intervals and – despite price hikes across the range -- attractive pricing are a step up for what is already one of the better utes on the market.

Whether that’s going to be enough to bring more customers through the door is another question.

How much is 2018 Mazda BT-50?
Price: $32,205-$51,990 (drive-away)
Engine: 3.2-litre five-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 147kW/470Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual or automatic
Fuel: 10.0L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 256g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP)