Your Life
What’s changed in the popular BT-50 range, 10 years on?
BRUCE McMAHON takes a good look at the 2025 version of the Mazda model, and wonders whether a little too much focus has been put on family car buyers.
While the Mazda BT-50 of 2025 is a solid dual cab ute, our dinged and muddied 10-year-old version is still much appreciated. Could the latest BT-50 take its place?
In 2015, the BT-50 was a Ford Ranger clone: same mechanicals but different body styles.
And while much was made (rightly so) of Ford Australia’s engineering on that model, there was fair input from Mazda (after all, from 1998 to 2011, one-tonne Ford utes were simply re-badged Mazdas).
That changed in 2022 when Ford went off with VW for the next version of the Ranger and the Mazda was then based on Isuzu’s redoubtable D-Max utes.
Now, the current BT-50 is a decent four-wheel drive.
Isuzu has long engineered and built good machines, while Mazda’s long had a reputation for premium exterior and interior design and finishes.
It is a good combination, if perhaps not quite to the on- and off-road standards of today’s Ford Rangers.
There’s plenty of competition in dual cab ute ranks with the BYD Shark, JAC Hunter and Foton Tunland arriving alongside the Deepal Multitrack with retractable roof – turning it from ute to SUV at the touch of a button.
That’s on top of the long-awaited Kia Tasman and with Ford’s Super Duty Rangers still to come, plus an MG ute.
Despite this competitive field, the Mazda BT-50 and its three-litre, turbocharged diesel engine holds up pretty well with 140kW of power and 450Nm of torque.
The Isuzu-donated chassis and mechanicals, including six-speed auto and two-speed transfer case, are the basis for a strong workhorse.
The thing is, as durable and workman-like as the Mazda’s Isuzu-supplied powertrain may be, it sounds a tad agricultural compared with the five-cylinder Ford engine in older BT-50s.
There’s more grumble on start-up.
It’s harsher under early acceleration.
Yet, it can climb well beyond highway speed limits with decent smoothness.
As with the Isuzu donor, the Mazda’s ride, road holding and steering responses are good, if lacking that extra refinement found in the Ranger and its Volkswagen cousin or even the well-mannered Mitsubishi Tritons.
It is off-road capable, too, although some versions would do better with off-road-focused tyres.
Where the Mazda shades the D-Max is in the cabin with plusher, more premium materials and style. It looks more 2025.
The trouble is that this business of attracting more families leads to the loss of utility further up the BT-50 range.
For example, the SP version, from $71,500, has a cosmetic sports bar and roller tonneau cover with storage that takes up space at the front of the tub.
When closed, there’s not enough height for a regular 20-litre jerry can to stand.
Just two tie-downs in the rear corners of the tub don’t help when tying a load (or a dog) down. And that sail plane out back gives off a bit of wind noise.
So, with a Lotto win, the 2025 BT-50 would be considered (alongside the Mitsubishi Triton) just a mid-range unit with fewer frills.
That mud-splattered, dog-drooled 2015 version still does a good job, though an updated infotainment unit with Apple CarPlay would be appreciated.
