#02#Think pick-up truck in the UK and you are likely to envisage the likes of the
Nissan Navara and
Mitsubishi L200 Double Cabs, usually looking menacing in black and chrome - leisure trucks you could never imagine getting dirty. It wasn't always like that; pick-up trucks were workhorses for builders, antique dealers, etc. With all the "leisure" double-cabs out on the road these days, it's easy to forget that the workhorse trucks are still out there too.
That brings us nicely to the Mazda BT-50 4x2 Single Cab - the complete antithesis of the leisure truck. 'Our' Mazda was the base model, with no frills at all - white pick-up man version. In its own way it looks just as "hard" as the big, black double-cabs because you just know this truck is built to work, to get dirty.
First off, it's no family car substitute; it's only got two seats for the builder and his mate. In the base model, the rear load area is entirely open to the elements (and other people), and painted body colour (white in this case). But that load area is simply massive - almost 2.3 metres in length and nearly 1.5 metres wide, although this narrows to little over a metre between the wheelarches. That's a lot of space - it only seemed right to load up the bed with all sorts of family detritus and take a trip to the local Council Refuse Disposal Centre (what happened to "the tip"?). And what a load of junk it took, although I was worried that the immaculate white paint finish of the load area might not remain so immaculate with some items sliding backwards and forwards.
Inside, it's no frills too. There are these strange handles on the door, which I later identified as 'window winders' - it has been s a long time since I've seen those! No air conditioning present either; in fact the standard equipment list in the brochure is short: central locking, power-assisted steering and sun visors. And that's your lot - this truck is built to work, remember.
#p##06#
The theme continues outside: no unnecessary chrome and no alloy wheels with fat tyres. Under the bonnet there is a 2.5-litre diesel engine that develops 141bhp at an incredibly low 3,500rpm and an even more impressive sounding 243lb.ft of torque at just 1,800rpm. Unladen, the Mazda feels pretty quick - I counted the 0-60mph time as about 8 elephants (seconds), while the official figure for 0-62mph is 10.4 seconds, but it feels a lot quicker than that.
Unladen - that's the most important word here. The character and behaviour of the BT-50 is totally dependent on whether laden or not. Unladen, it's very quick; loaded up, it's not so. Unladen, the ride is abysmal - worse than you could imagine. The springs have to be stiff to be able to cope with the maximum permissible load of 1208kg (including driver and passenger) and another 1600kg of trailer behind (if you really want to tow, get the 4x4 version which can pull 3000kg). Load up the back of the truck and it all changes; the ride becomes quite respectable. It would be no hardship driving around all day like this.
It's the same for the handling; stiff springs usually mean good cornering, but unladen it's just not true. There is insufficient weight over the rear wheels for the suspension to work properly and you might as well be driving on wooden tyres. Load up the Mazda and it's back to being quite respectable - although you'll want to tie your load down (using the hooks all round the load bay), or it will move everywhere.
All the above comments need to be taken into context. Most pick-up trucks these days are leisure vehicles and have to cope with family demands. The Mazda BT-50 4x2 is a worker - it's not fancy, it just gets on with whatever is asked of it. And if I were a builder or say an antique dealer carting stuff all over the place, then the BT-50 would be a fine way of doing so. A week of pretending to be
Lovejoy passed by surprisingly quickly!
2007 Mazda BT-50 range overview
| Model | Estimated 'On the Road' Retail | Commercial Vehicle 'On the Road' |
| Mazda BT-50 4x2 Single Cab | £12,370.00 | £10,561.17 |
| Mazda BT-50 4x4 Single Cab | £14,511.00 | £12,383.30 |
| Mazda BT-50 4x4 Double Cab TS | £17,597.00 | £15,009.68 |
| Mazda BT-50 4x4 Double Cab TS2 | £19,529.00 | £16,653.94 |
