Newbury Business Today

Mazda BT50

13th March 2008

Email: richard.maynard@newburynews.co.uk

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The BT50 is a pick-up you can rely on, says Maurice Hardy

ITS name sounds very much like the latest package deal from British Telecom, but make no mistake: the Mazda BT50 brings you an excellent deal.
The UK market for  pick-up trucks has heated up incredibly. Ford saw a doubling of sales for its Ranger during the last five years before introducing the latest model, which is virtually identical to the Mazda.
Like many pick-ups I get for test drives, all the Rangers I have ever had, bar one, have majored on the lifestyle image. They are big on glitzy paint, fancy stripes, huge and garish badges, side steps and shiny alloy wheels.
If you also think they are pick-up truck essentials, then I have some alarming news for you. My BT50 from Mazda had standard, non-metallic paint, silver steel wheels, not a hint of leather in the interior, and hardly any concessions to luxury. But it worked just the same and, once that paint and those wheels were muddy, you would hardly have noticed  the difference.
Apart, that is, that many pick-up truck buyers have the notion that they have bought a car and treat it with kid gloves as a result. So the truck, like some pampered and pimped Range Rover, never  gets dirty.
Why have one then? (I’m on one of my pet hates here) There’s plenty of room for   pick-ups in this world, but as working tools and not family car substitutes, a role for which they are not suited at all.
There are some details of the BT50 I don’t like and I was discussing them with my neighbour Tony, who is now on his second Ford Ranger, which he has bought for his work and not because his hobbies suggest it might be useful one day. I’m not keen on the umbrella handbrake under the dashboard, which I always find catches my knee. But Tony, who is as tall as me, maybe taller, so has equally long legs, says it is never a problem. In fact, he prefers it because it leaves the centre console free of one more item of clutter.
Both the Ranger and the BT50 share the essential features of the double cab – room for five, fairly easy access through all doors, and the biggest load box in the doublecab business.
It’s this last feature that will really appeal to working types, although it’s also extremely useful for those who cart around loads of leisure gear, too. Fit a hard top and you have a secure, dry place for all that equipment – and the weight of the hard top will also take some of the bounce out of the cart sprung rear suspension when the truck is running empty.
No matter what class of potential BT50 user you might be, you are sure to appreciate the new 2.5-litre TDCi turbodiesel engine. It gives the truck more than 140bhp when the old one got by with little more than 105bhp, and you really appreciate this extra power during every trip. It also expands the towing capacity to three tonnes.
The five-speed gearbox also gives good economy, with the test truck averaging a generous 30mpg, despite the weight and drag of its selectable 4x4 transmission. Tony says he gets that figure from his Ranger, too.
One niggle with the BT50 is that you can’t have the more powerful, 3.0 turbodiesel that Ford is now offering on top-level Rangers. Maybe it’s an omission Mazda will put right. I hope so.
BT50 users will also find the Mazda a useful tool off-road, too. There’s a decent amount of ground clearance, so the bottom of the truck is not knocking on the scenery all the time, and the truck rides well over ruts and bumps. It’s also easy to swap from rear to all-wheel drive and between high and low ratios.
When it comes to features like tie-down eyes, it also scores well. In fact, it’s top marks to Mazda for this new iteration of an old favourite.

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