2021 Isuzu MU-X LS-U 3.0L Automatic 4×4 Review

Japanese brand Isuzu has some of the most loyal buyers in the Australian automotive market. Despite not being a huge company – at least not with its automotive division – and having offered fairly dated products for the past decade, Isuzu owners have remained fiercely loyal. The old MU-X seven-seat off-roader felt dated, under-equipped and outclassed by most rivals. Despite its lack of sophistication, owners still love them thanks to their endless reliability and good value for money. But there’s a new MU-X on sale in Australia – one that promises to offer significantly more than the last car, so what’s it like? We tested the mid-spec 2021 Isuzu MU-X LS-U 4×4 to find out. 

Price & Equipment: 8/10

Priced from $59,990 plus on-road costs ($65,473 drive away), the MU-X LS-U is reasonably well equipped for the money. Standard kit includes 18-inch alloy wheels, LED lighting, auto lights and wipers, a 9.0-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto, satellite navigation, digital radio, dual-zone climate control with rear fan speed control, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and gearknob, electric-folding mirrors, keyless entry and start, an electric tailgate, front fog lights, electric lumbar adjustment for the driver and an eight-speaker sound system. 

Safety kit is easily best in class with eight airbags (including a front centre airbag and third row curtain coverage), auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian, cyclist and intersection assist, automatic post-collision braking, misacceleration mitigation braking, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, lane keep assist with lane trace assist, driver attention monitoring, speed sign recognition, adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, auto high beam, a reversing camera and front and rear parking sensors. Very little is missing – we’d like to see a 360-degree camera, rear occupant alert and auto rear braking added to the spec list, but that’s it. 

It’s the added safety tech that is part of the up to-$12,000 price increase for the new generation MU-X – the old car had stability control and airbags, but that was it. Yet despite the price increase, buyers can spend even more on the MU-X to get to the top-spec LS-T, and that’s something we’d very much consider. That’s because, rather confusingly, a special (yet also permanent) deal on the LS-T 4×4 means that it’s officially priced at $63,990 drive away – officially almost $1,500 less than the lower-spec LS-U that we tested.

The LS-T adds 20-inch alloy wheels, black leather upholstery, heated and electrically adjustable front seats, remote start and an auto-dimming rear mirror.

Paint options include our test car’s ‘Mercury Silver’, as well as ‘Moonstone White pearl’, ‘Obsidian Grey’, ‘Magnetic Red’, ‘Basalt Black’, ‘Cobalt Blue’, ‘Jasper Brown’ and ‘Mineral White’. All colours are no-cost extra and the only interior option is black cloth. 

Competitors to the MU-X include the Mitsubishi $57,690 +ORC Pajero Sport Exceed and the $60,890 +ORC Ford Everest Trend 3.2L 4×4. The top-spec Pajero Sport Exceed includes more luxurious features such as leather upholstery and electric front seats, while the mid-spec Ford features live traffic for its navigation system. But the MU-X features comfortably more standard safety kit such as more airbags, lane trace assist and so on. Even though the MU-X LS-U is a mid-spec car, it’s got more kit than the top-spec Pajero Sport. 

Performance & Economy: 7/10

Under the bonnet of the 2021 Isuzu MU-X LS-U is the brand’s ‘4JJ3-TCX’ 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine that makes 140kW of power and 450Nm of torque. It’s the sole engine available in the MU-X in Australia – and even the D-Max ute as well until recently – and only a six-speed automatic transmission is available. Both two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive drivetrains are available.

Despite the MU-X’s 2,085kg kerb weight, the engine is totally adequate. Thanks to a short first gear, floored throttle starts are surprisingly punchy and although it slows at higher speeds, it’s always got more than ample overtaking grunt, unlike the slow 2.4-litre Pajero Sport. It’s a loud engine though, especially when cold, and that’s exacerbated by the slow nature of the six-speed torque converter automatic transmission. It’s a lazy drivetrain that will suit its buyers quite well, but those wanting more grunt will have to head over to the 157kW 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel Everest and its 10-speed auto. 

We’d love to see a V6 diesel MU-X and even an eight-speed automatic transmission, but those are firmly in the ‘when pigs fly’ category, unfortunately. A hybrid is rumoured to be in development, but will it’ll likely be years until it comes to fruition.

Isuzu claims the 4×4 MU-X will use 8.3L/100km combined, and we achieved 8.5L/100km in mixed driving skewed more towards highway use. That combined with its 80L fuel tank will give buyers a cruising range of around 900km, which is nothing special but much better than the Pajero Sport in our testing. The engine should be rated at newer than Euro 5 emissions compliance, though. 

Ride, Handling & Off-Road: 9/10

While the quality and technology of the 2021 Isuzu MU-X has been significantly improved, the driving experience has also taken a big leap forward compared with the old generation car. Now based on a new platform with newly-independent rear suspension for greater comfort, the MU-X is a genuinely very comfortable car that certainly feels more car-like than the Pajero Sport. It’s certainly more compliant than the somewhat stiff D-Max. 

As you’d expect for a car of this size and mission, the MU-X is not a hot hatch for handling. It feels large and not especially nimble, but it also feels much more light on its feet than the particularly heavy feeling Pajero Sport. What helps that further is the steering, which – like the D-Max ute on which it’s based – is much lighter and quicker this time around for greater manoeuvrability. Road noise levels are fine in the MU-X, as is the visibility – though we’d like to see a 360-degree camera fitted to help parking situations. 

The MU-X’s off-road ability is impressive too. Featuring a two-speed transfer case with 2H, 4H and 4L modes, as well as rough terrain mode, hill descent control and a locking rear differential, the MU-X doesn’t feature the selectable terrain modes of the Ford Everest. But we’re not sure that those modes are necessary as the MU-X is very capable off-road. It also features 285mm of ground clearance, 29.2-degree approach, 23.1-degree ramp over and 26.9-degree departure angles. What’s better is that you don’t need to buy the top-spec LS-T or this LS-U as even the base model LS-M has all of the same off-road tech. 

Unlike a lot of SUVs, a big portion of MU-X owners will actually use it for towing – Isuzu reckons more than half of buyers – and its towing ability is best in class, rated at 3,500kg braked and with a 350kg maximum tow ball download. The GVM is 2,800kg, and the GCM is a huge 5,900kg. 

Interior & Practicality: 8/10

While the exterior of the MU-X is more modern and sleeker than the car it replaces, the real improvement has occurred on the inside. That’s because the MU-X’s interior is both more modern and higher quality than before, but it’s actually more practical as well, and that’s despite only a very modest 25mm overall increase in length. The quality jump is noticeable, even in the mid-spec LS-U – the dashboard and lower centre console feature stitched soft touch materials and while the doors are hard to touch, the cloth and piano black inserts make it feel richer than both the Pajero Sport and Everest. 

Centre of the MU-X’s cabin is a new 9.0-inch touchscreen that is well featured with wireless Apple CarPlay, wired Android Auto, satellite navigation and digital radio. It’s not terribly intuitive to use as it’s a bit slow and it dims when you turn the headlights on but it’s a massive improvement on the previous car and is definitely better than the systems you get in competitors. We’d love to see a fully digital instrument cluster join the MU-X though, as it would make it feel more expensive inside.

The MU-X’s cabin is very practical, as you’d expect from a big off-roader. There are big door bins, big dual gloveboxes, a large tray ahead of the shifter – that should offer a wireless phone charger but doesn’t – and a reasonable centre console box with a comfortable faux leather lid. 

The second row of the 2021 Isuzu MU-X LS-U isn’t massively roomy compared with something like a larger Hyundai Palisade, but it’s still comfortable and well-featured – there are big door pockets, two USB-A charging ports, two map pockets and vents with a fan speed control located on the roof. The seat itself is a little hard but offers good support, and while it doesn’t slide, it does recline and when passengers are trying to get into the third row, folds and tumbles on both sides for easy access.

The third row of the MU-X is surprisingly roomy – six-footers fit with just enough head- and knee-room. There is also air vents and airbag coverage, as well as cupholders – though some USB ports would be a nice addition. Kids who get claustrophobic should be aware of the relatively small windows though – that’s because of the swoopier styling this time around – but it’s definitely roomier back there than rivals, especially the Pajero Sport.

Boot space in the 2021 Isuzu MU-X LS-U is huge and there has been a big increase in packaging efficiency compared with the old car – the seats fold completely flat now, and the boot floor lines up with the seats when folded. Behind the third row of seats lies 311-litres of space (25L more than the old car), while folding those seats opens up 1,119L of space (+68L) and folding the middle row opens up 2,138L in total (24L fewer than before, but we doubt you’d notice and still 342L more than the Everest). Unlike the Pajero Sport, the seat folding process is extremely easy – you pull the tab and the seats fold flat.

Service & Warranty: 9/10

Like other Isuzu Ute products in Australia, the MU-X comes with a six-year/150,000km warranty with capped price servicing for up to seven years and up to seven years of roadside assistance as well. Buyers of the Pajero Sport and Everest both get five years of warranty, while if you service your Pajero Sport at a Mitsubishi dealership, you get an extra five years of warranty for 10 years/200,000km in total. 

The MU-X’s service intervals fall either once yearly or every 15,000km, whichever comes first, and five years/75,000km of servicing costs a reasonable $2,015 ($403 per year). The servicing intervals are the same for the Pajero Sport and Everest. Servicing the Pajero Sport over the same time period costs $2,495 ($499 per service) and the Everest costs $1,581 ($317 per service). This means that the MU-X sits in the middle of the trio for service costs and it presents a fairly positive ownership experience.

The 2021 Isuzu MU-X LS-U 4×4 DiscoverAuto Rating: 8.2/10

Like the D-Max ute, which we’re big fans of, Isuzu has very successfully updated its MU-X off-roader. Unlike its endlessly-reliable-but-very-simple predecessor, the 2021 Isuzu MU-X LS-U offers a wide range of qualities that has catapulted it to the 21st century in a multi-generational improvement not seen in the industry for a long time. It’s very well equipped – especially with safety equipment – and relatively good value for money, it drives well, the engine is adequate, its cabin is roomy and much better quality this time around and its ownership experience is great.

It’s not perfect, of course. All of these improvements have come – literally – at a cost as it’s now a lot more expensive than its predecessor, the engine is really only adequate and we’d like to see some more standard features added to the equipment list. But again, there’s been a huge improvement compared with the last generation of MU-X and the difference between the two is stark. Like the D-Max ute, Isuzu has shot to the top of the off-roader class with the MU-X and we’re sure that it will recruit many more loyal owners with this update.