I've been lucky enough to (just) afford buying a brand new Isuzu D-MAX LS 4X4 Diesel Auto ute.
I actually bought it from a dealer in
Redcliffe (
Brisbane) and had to wait a month or so for it to be delivered.
At the same time I ordered the following
accessories (followed by my comments):
ARB Colour coded canopy with lift up windows - Terrific. Can even get to the frig through the side window - Pity about the dust and metal filings still inside it.
Tub liner - What can I say, it's a tub liner (could have been cleaned)
Heavy duty towbar with large 7 pin plug to suit
Kimberley Kamper - Supplied Hayman Reese TB with SMALL 7 pin Narva plug. I now have to use a small to large adapter. Birds nest of
wiring where they spliced into the rear
wiring loom. Cable for brake controller?? not even cable tied along the chassis.
Prodigy P3 electric brake controller. Little did I know that is two models that I quoted. What I should have asked for was a Tekonsha P3 controller. I ended up with the cheaper one - Prodigy. (Still a good product though.)
Dual battery setup with deep cycle battery. Asked for HD
wiring NOT that lightweight stuff they generally use. ("These guys know what they're doing. Do it all the time" was the reply). Result, thin stuff, two BLACK cables to the Anderson plug on the back TB. Battery IS deep cycle and is mounted in ute tub. No problems with that. I still have to
check where the cables run through the front wall of
the tub. I suspect NO grommet. The hole in
the tub liner was not sealed (I would have used silicone) and I suspect the first bit of water will see inside
the tub wet. The dual battery regulator looks OK and
well mounted next to the ECU under the bonnet.
Safari
snorkel. Snorts a bit when you put the foot down. Suppose that's normal. Don't know how to stop that.
Colour coded steel winch bar. I said I would be mounting a winch later and was not worried about the hole where the winch goes in the short term. Result, "RAD 4x4 Products" steel bar. I'm not even sure if I can even mount a winch to it when the time comes. My brother asked me where my original bumper bar is. They most probably put it back into stock. There was certainly no allowance made for that sort of thing. When they wired up the indicator and
parking lights in the bull bar I now see where they have just cut a cable, each side, and left it with absolutely no termination at all. Not even a bit of insulation tape at the end of the bare wires.
Good quality
Driving Lights. IPF Sport XS with 2 spread beams. Absolutely terrific. Normally they fit one spread beam and one long distance. I wanted two spread beams. The Kangaroos on the side of the road along the Marlboro stretch at two in the morning were easy to see.
Rubber Floor Mats. 4X4 deep side mats.
Well for $165 they looked like they came from a SC sale.
da good news. I've got it. 8.8 l/100km coming back
home.
da bad news.....
Had to have a wheel alignment the first working day after delivery. Steering wheel was off centre. Also one bolt was completely missing from the sump plate and another was cross threaded and wouldn't tighten. They fixed that by retaping the threads and fitting new bolts.
I'm about to send them an email and ask for the name of the company that did the after market work. Then, if they are represented up here, I will present the vehicle to them to fix the shoddy workmanship.
I may even ask for my front bumper back. Just in case I want to remove the steel bar. What do you think?
The vehicle I have no complaints - so far. Just can't believe the lack of after market quality workmanship these days.
Malcolm