2025 Isuzu D-Max LS-U+ Tour Mate review

Australians love their dual-cab utes, no secret there. Once in their driveways, buyers love to lavish them with aftermarket accessories, often spending many thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, on tailoring their pride and joy to suit their specific needs.

And it’s this passion Isuzu is tapping into with its special edition, the D-Max Tour Mate, which bundles in some of the brand’s best-selling accessories for what is claimed to be a reduced price.

Tapping into the towing and touring set, the D-Max Tour Mate accessory package adds a tow bar tongue and 50-millimetre ball, a 12-pin wiring harness, an electric brake controller, heated and power-folding Clearview towing mirrors, a canopy with dual lift-up side windows, slimline weather shields, and unique ‘Tour Mate’ badging on the tailgate.

Isuzu claims the added accessories, if ordered separately, would cost over $9000, but add just over $3000 to the price of the donor D-Max. Six grand in your pocket then. And unlike some aftermarket accessories, they are covered by Isuzu’s six-year/150,000km warranty.

A compelling proposition, then, especially for buyers who are looking to tow and tour, mate, the wide open roads of our big island nation.

Isuzu has given the Tour Mate treatment to just two highly specified variants of its popular dual-cab – the LS-U and LS-U+.

The D-Max LS-U Tour Mate is priced at $70,990 drive-away, while stepping into the D-Max LS-U+ Tour Mate will set buyers back $73,990 drive-away. It’s the latter we have on test here.

Standard equipment across both grades run to Isuzu’s venerable 140kW/450Nm 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel, 18-inch alloy wheels, LED head- and daytime running lights, side steps, Rough Terrain Mode, a rear diff-lock, and a tub liner.

Interior equipment includes keyless entry and push-button start, a 9.0-inch infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (both wireless and cabled), dual-zone climate control, a 7.0-inch digital instrument display, leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear selector, and powered lumbar support for the driver’s seat.

In LS-U trim, the seats are trimmed in cloth, while the extra $3000 spent for the LS-U+ we had on test adds leather-accented seats and interior trims, as well as power-adjustable and heated front seats.

The Tour Mate’s headline act, though, is the accessory pack, the big-ticket item being the hard-shell canopy that encloses the tub. It’s fitted with lockable side windows and a rear window. Conveniently, all three windows use a single key and are tinted, meaning your stowed bits and pieces are well hidden from prying eyes.

The Clearview towing mirrors, heated and power-folding, are cleverly designed. They can be retracted or extended manually depending on whether you’re hauling a van or trailer. When extended fully (up to 180mm), the Clearview mirrors meet towing compliance in every state and territory of Australia.

The slimline weather shields attached to both front and rear door windows offer protection from rain and dust when on the move.

At the business end, the towbar and tongue kit with 50mm ball, 12-pin wiring harness and electric brake controller ensure the D-Max is ready to haul.

On towing, the D-Max is rated to lug 3500kg braked and 750kg unbraked, but the addition of the Tour Mate accessories has impacted payload.

Adding 85kg of built-in extras to the D-Max means the LS-U’s payload is now 910kg, while the LS-U+ is rated slightly less at 905kg. Without accessories, the LS-U is rated at 995kg while the LS-U+ stops the scales at 990kg.

The D-Max is starting to show its age, just a little, inside. The dual-cab ute segment has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years, and that’s reflected in the increasingly modern and refined interiors found in some of the newer models in the segment.

That said, the D-Max’s cabin is spacious, comfortable and well laid out. The LS-U+ grade we have here adds leather seats with heating and power adjustment up front. The seats themselves are comfortable with good under-thigh support and nice bolstering on the sides and seat.

There are some nicer soft-touch materials used on the top of the dash and door cards, and enhanced by contrast stitching that helps break up the sea of black inside.

There are plenty of spots to stow your daily accoutrements too, with two gloveboxes, a central storage bin, door pockets that can take bottles, as well as another slimmer lidded cubby on the dash top.

There are four cupholders up front, two in the usual spot in the centre console and two retractable – one on each side – located in the dash.

The second row is comfortable enough with supportive seats and a good amount of room in most key areas, certainly behind my own 173cm driving position. A small-ish drivetrain tunnel does rob some foot space, but overall there’s enough room back there to get comfortable.

Passengers are served by a fold-down armrest with cupholders, separate air vents, and door pockets that can accommodate bottles.

The seat bases can be folded back to create more overall floor space and reveal two smaller storage cubbies, one under each outboard seat, that are ideal for hiding valuables. The seatbacks fold forward too, creating a higher flat space for additional storage.

Out back, the lined tub measures in at 1570mm long and 1530mm wide with 1122mm between the wheel arches. The depth to the top of the tray is 490mm, but the addition of the canopy creates some useful storage options. And the lockable windows at each side and the rear make for an easier time accessing your stowed gear.

And the canopy is removable too, transforming the Tour Mate into a regular dual-cab ute.

A 9.0-inch infotainment touchscreen hosts the D-Max’s infotainment setup and it’s showing its age. Yes, there’s wireless and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto along with inbuilt satellite navigation and Bluetooth connectivity, but the graphics are dated and the entire system looks and feels a little aftermarket.

That said, the system is intuitive and easy to use with helpful shortcut buttons on permanent display across the bottom of the screen. The inclusion of traditional dials for volume adjustment and radio tuning is always welcome, as are the physical switches for the D-Max’s climate controls.

We had no issues connecting Apple CarPlay wirelessly with a stable connection throughout or time with the Tour Mate.

A 7.0-inch screen nestled between two traditional analogue dials displays a host of driving data that can be accessed via switches on the steering wheel.

The Isuzu D-Max range (excluding the Blade variant) was awarded a five-star ANCAP safety rating based on 2022 testing protocols.

Crash testing saw the D-Max achieve an adult protection score of 86 per cent, 89 per cent for child occupant protection, and 69 per cent for vulnerable road users, while its safety assist systems achieved an 84 per cent score.

Isuzu’s full complement of safety and advanced driver assist systems are the lynchpin of the D-Max’s five-star ANCAP rating.

Called IDAS (Intelligent Driver Assistance System), the suite includes autonomous emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go functionality, traffic sign recognition, driver attention monitoring, tyre pressure monitoring, a rear-view camera, and rear parking sensors. There are no front parking sensors.

As part of a 2023 update, Isuzu fitted the D-Max with a switch that disables blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic functions when towing.

Overall, most of the safety systems remained helpful rather than irritating, although the rear cross-traffic braking function felt a little overly aggressive, especially since it recorded several false positives, slamming on the brakes despite the absence of any danger while reversing.

A suite of eight airbags covers both rows of occupants.

The Isuzu D-Max is covered by the brand’s standard six-year/150,000km warranty, while scheduled servicing is spaced out at 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.

Isuzu offers capped-price servicing for five years or 75,000km with each trip to the workshop priced at $469. That equates to $1407 for three years/45,000km or $2345 over five years or 75,000km.

Looking at other popular dual-cab models, the Toyota HiLux costs just $305 per visit to the workshop for the first five services. However, the HiLux’s service intervals are a less-than-generous six months or 10,000km.

The best-selling Ford Ranger trumps both with 12 months or 15,000km intervals, and each of the first four services (60,000km) costing $379.

Isuzu claims the D-Max and its brawny 3.0-litre turbo-diesel will get by on 8.0 litres per 100 kilometres on the combined fuel cycle.

Our week with the Tour Mate returned an indicated 9.0L/100km, achieved over a variety of driving scenarios – from peak-hour traffic to suburban running around and highway cruising. We did not tow with the Tour Mate.

We did see a consumption figure in the low 7s after a long highway stint, but once back in urban environs, the number climbed steadily before resting on our final reading.

The fuel tank measures in at 76 litres.

The Isuzu D-Max is an honest toiler, its 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel proving an effortless companion on the road. With outputs of 140kW and 450Nm mated to a six-speed Aisin-sourced torque converter automatic transmission and part-time four-wheel drive, the D-Max leans heavily on its tried-and-trusted powertrain.

Sure, there’s a gruffness to the way the D-Max goes about its business, but it remains an honest oiler, unpretentious, and yet effortlessly powerful.

Peak torque is available from just 1600rpm in the rev band, and that means the D-Max copes with urban traffic as easily as it does highway speeds. It certainly doesn't feel under-powered, whether navigating traffic or getting up to motorway cruising speeds.

The D-Max is at its most relaxed out on the highway, the big diesel-four barely ticking over, simply gruffing along at low revs with plenty of poke in reserve to effect overtakes when needed. The six-speed auto does a good job of keeping the 3.0-litre in its peak rev band here, and unlike in the smaller-displacement and less powerful 1.9-litre engine available in some D-Max variants, isn’t overly busy hunting for torque.

Ride comfort is as you’d expect from an unladen dual-cab ute, a little bouncy and firm over rougher surfaces, which translates to some road noise inside the cabin. But we know from past experience that throwing a load in the tray helps to settle things down, the suspension tune geared towards carrying 905kg out back.

The steering errs on the side of light, which is a boon in urban enclaves here navigating tight streets and parallel parking into ‘just right’ spots.

Isuzu’s part-time four-wheel-drive system is a familiar one. A lockable rear differential and 4H and 4L drive modes, along with its Rough Terrain Mode (which works in cahoots with the D-Max’s ABS system to apportion torque to the wheel or wheels that need it most over more challenging terrain), underpin its off-road credentials.

And while we didn’t have the opportunity to take the Tour Mate off the beaten track, past experience highlights how capable the D-Max is when the going gets tough.

Isuzu claims capacities of 3500kg braked and 750kg unbraked, while the downball weight is rated to 350kg.

The downside of the Tour Mate’s built-in accessories is a reduction in payload – the maximum allowable weight of people, their luggage and any accessories – now at 905kg against the regular LS-U+’s 990kg.

Other numbers to consider are the gross vehicle mass (GVM) of 3100kg (kerb weight of 2195kg plus payload of 905kg) and gross combination mass (GCM) of 6000kg.

That means if you’re planning on towing a trailer at the maximum allowable weight of 3500kg, then your payload is reduced to 305kg. That reduced payload still needs to cover any and all people on board, anything else loaded into the ute as well as any accessories fitted, above and beyond what comes standard.

Owners are responsible for ensuring all weight limits are met and that the GCM is not exceeded when towing.

The Isuzu D-Max LS-U+ Tour Mate is a one-stop solution for anyone looking for some flexibility in their dual-cab. Pre-fitted with useful accessories, the Tour Mate takes the hard work out of adding aftermarket kit.

Fitting around $9000 worth of accessories, but adding only $3K to the list price, makes for a compelling equation. Throw in sharp drive-away pricing, an unchanged warranty, and it’s easy to see the value on offer.

The 2025 Isuzu D-Max LS-U+ Tour Mate ticks boxes for buyers after a touring and tow-ready dual-cab with proven credentials as a hauler as well as off-road competency.

Sure, the dual-cab has moved on in terms of refinement, but the combination of effortlessly lazy engine and transmission, off-road capability and towing credentials should keep the D-Max in the line of sight for many a buyer. And it now comes with added extras that sweeten the deal.

Rob Margeit is an award-winning Australian motoring journalist and editor who has been writing about cars and motorsport for over 25 years. A former editor of Australian Auto Action, Rob’s work has also appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Wheels, Motor Magazine, Street Machine and Top Gear Australia. Rob’s current rides include a 1996 Mercedes-Benz E-Class and a 2000 Honda HR-V Sport.

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