When Isuzu asked us if we would like to join its national raod show and drive a couple of its latest heavy duty F series modesl on a long drive through the Northern Territory we jumped at the chance in heartbeat.
It was an interedting propostion drive a couple of heavy duty trucks, which although ostensibly city trucks would be put to work covering almost 2000 km through the wilds of the Territory in a three day odyssey in what is one of this country’s, in fact one of the world’s most uncompromising environments.
The plan was to fly into the airport at Uluru, in the shadow of that we like to think is the beating heart of this country, The Rock -Uluru, a place of enormous spiritual relevance to everyone in this land most particular our first nation’s people.
At Uluru we would be met by the Isuzu team including its PR operatives there to film and shoot ever part of the drive long with Isuzu staffer Tim Richardson and two of Isuzu’s finest new F series, an FYJ 320-355 and an FXD 170 355. The FYj was configured as a tilt tray with a heavy duty trailer tagging behind. It had a baby Isuzu on the tray and another Isuzu N series strapped down on the trailer. The rig had a GVM of a shade over 26 tonnes. The FY boasts a maximum gross weight of 32 tonnes, hence the 320 nomenclature in its badging> however this particular model with its road friendly 8×4 configuration can run with a GCM of up to 45 tonnes
The FXD was also a tilt tray but without a trailer. It was also hauling a baby N Series truck and was grossing around 16 tonnes, a bit under the trucks max GVM of 17 tonnes
Both of the trucks were powered by Isuzu’s new 6UZ1-TCC 9.8-liter 6-cylinder turbo-diesel, both with 355 horsepower and 1437Nm of torque
The FX 170-355 is aimed at regional and urban freight work and to prove Isuzu’s claim that it is built and designed for demanding Australian applications, we were about to throw it at the ‘Track’ the legendary 
Stuart Highway to Alice and on up the Centre to Darwin.
Underlining that this truck is one that is sold into a lot of urban markets it was equipped with an Allison six-speed full auto as was the FYJ.
The 8×4 FYJ is generally aimed at applications such as waste management, concrete mixing, and construction but also offers an ideal setup for heavy cargo.
The amble from Uluru to Alice was a relatively easy 450km run which we had the afternoon to tackle.
Another truck journalist colleague was at the wheel of the FXD and we took the tiller of the FYJ. Both trucks easily climbed to the maximum heavy vehicle speed of 100km/h and we made the hotel in Alice just after dark in the late Autumn evening, bracing ourselves for the roughly 700 off kilometres we faced the next day.
Most surprisingon the first day was the performance of the Allison auto. For although most see this as a city shifter, the auto handled the task with ease and in fact seemed perfectly mated to the torque Isuzu 10-litre.
The quietness and comfort of the recently revised Isuzu heavy duty cabs proved incredibly well matched to the drive that first day and which promised to be perfect for the much bigger runs in day two aned three into Darwin.
The ride of the trucks was also very good handling the at times choppy and uneven tarmac of the Lasseter and Stuart Highways with a huge amount of confidence and comfort.
Set the truck on cruise control and concentrate on steering the big Isuzu’s up the track.
Day two saw my colleague and I swap trucks for the run north from Alice through Tennant Creek to our overnight stop at the one horse town of Renner Springs, where the less than salubrious Desert Inn was our camp for the night. Not to be confused with the famous and glamorous Las Vegas Casino Hotel called the Desert Inn. The one in Vegas was famous as multi billionaire Howard Hughes’ place of exile for many years.We think Howard may not have locked himself in the hotel if he’d been staying in the one at Renner Springs.
Day two further cemented the notion that these new Isuzus were ideally suited to the task we had set them.
The comfort was excellent and long days at the wheel eating up the kilometres on the stuart Highway was a task these trucks were eating up.
As much as the Europeans wouldn’t like us saying it both of these new Isuzus felt more European than just about any Japanese trucks we had ever driven.
A very early start on day three at Renner Springs had us on the road pre dawn with an alost 900 kilometre run into Darwin which we reached in late afternoon piloting the Isuzu’s into the brand’s Darwin dealership.
Not only had these trucks handled the job withease they had done it efficiently, comfortably and with strong fuel consumption numbers. At
better than 2.5 km to the litre in the FY and almost 3.0km per litre in the FX they proved to be everybit suitable for a an almost 2000km drive through Australia’s outback with temps ranging frm early morning single figures to the mid-30s by the time we steered into Darwin.
There is little doubt the leader of the Australian truck market has got some even better mouse traps in its arsenal now and one can’t see any other brand catching Isuzu any time soon.
