I spent the weekend in the Isuzu mu-X SUV, or adventure SUV as it has notable become to categorized under. The vehicle is built to take on the brunt of the city while enabling its drive to drift off-road a bit without thinking too much about everything else. The 2022 model has gone under the knife and received a considerable number of upgrades from its predecessor, most notable being the look of the vehicle. The mu-X spots a “less angular” fascia from the revised grill, striking LED lights and the cabin space to match.
Moving to the interior, the first stop one would notice is the upgraded infotainment system, that has also been upgraded from the previous model in the actual system used previously plus it supports both Android Auto and the Apple CarPlay; however, I personally feel like the interface needs a bit of work and the actual software of the system needs to be brought closer into 2022. The issue that I picked up is that it is problematic when trying to connect through Apple CarPlay on Bluetooth but rather seamless when connected via cable.
The interior has been refined as it has been polished up and works for the SUV, one wouldn’t feel like scrapping the finishes when taking the car to some adventure time. The rear seats also give ample leg room should you decide to rope in some mates and extra row of seats that fold flat in the boot should the kids decide to join in on the joy ride.
The key thing that we noticed is the unoccupied slots around the gear, which felt there are features that missing (even through the top spec model). I’m saying that though, the build quality has been refined and it works, it feels like it speaks to longevity taken into consideration.
Inner city driving is surprisingly comfortable even though the engine would rev a tad too high for my liking whenever the gears changed down to a lower gear, especially through traffic. Speaking of the drive, the inside has had an upgrade in that the wind noise has been taken car off, to a point where there’s hardly any noise even in high-speed like on the highway*
If one is worried about how it handles on the off-road, well stress no more. The car has had some work done through the suspension when it basically absorbs the bumps on and off-road. The ground clearance means that you would not have to worry about descents, especially when driving on gravel BUT it IS one to consider when choosing between a roof (terrible choice) and a tow bar rack
The mu-X starts at R725 500 for the 3.0 LS, making it competitively priced in the adventure SUV market.
*Please make sure to keep to the regulated speeds on the road
