2025 Isuzu N Series truck review: Quick drive

It might be news to you, but the best ute to suit your needs might actually be a truck.

There is a new-generation 2025 Isuzu N Series truck launching in Australia with a raft of new upgrades: safety, assistance and convenience technology – along with new user-friendly drivelines. So, this actual truck is now better geared than ever to lure ute buyers away from the status quo.

Overloading is something we’ve been talking about for some years now, and something people are slowly becoming more aware of. It's a problem that is rife. Our appetite for more of everything only makes things worse. We’re towing more, loading up more gear, fitting more accessories and going to more places. 

This is the main reason why something like an Isuzu N Series truck might be a good idea for many Australians. So many professional and recreational users are illegally overloaded on our roads, knowingly or unknowingly, but they don't have to be.

The 2025 Isuzu N Series might not have the same tough-truck looks as a four-wheel-drive ute, and most of them don’t bring a level of off-road capability. But they’ve all got comfortably more than a one-tonne payload, up to 4500kg of braked towing capacity, and enough gross combination mass (GCM) to dip into both at the same time. In other words, you’re not overloading one of these bad boys any time soon.

In many ways, it’s something of a head-versus-heart decision. Imagine you’re a commercial plumber or other tradie who needs to carry a heap of heavy and bulky gear around with you from job to job.

You need something with a big payload and lots of load-carrying space. You might even need to tow a trailer as well.

For many Australian tradespeople and small businesses, this is your chance to scratch that LandCruiser-shaped itch in your life: Buy a 70 Series, kit it out with all of the gear, and modify it extensively to make it fit for purpose.

This isn’t a cheap exercise, and you can quickly go to double the original purchase price by the time it’s ready for action. Tray, canopy, suspension, GVM upgrades and possibly even a wheelbase stretch. And that’s just the start for some.

It’s okay, you’ll run the expenses through the business, you’ll have something for weekend adventures, and it just looks so tough right?

That’s mostly the heart talking. What if there is something fit for purpose, straight off the bat?

Isuzu’s N Series truck range – which can be configured to be driven on a regular car licence – gets an all-new generation model in 2025, replacing a model that dates back to 2008.

It's a similar line-up of models available, with a huge range of wheelbases, cabs and effective payloads. While the cab-chassis is often the starting point for a vehicle like this, Isuzu also offers a 'Ready to Work' range that gives a tray, service body or otherwise equipped load space straight off the dealer's forecourt.

It’s been nibbling around the edges of the ‘regular’ ute segment for many years now, and Isuzu has been the dominant player for these so-called light-duty trucks in Australia for more than three decades.

There’s plenty of new stuff going on here. Firstly, the range of active safety gets a big shot in the arm, and goes to levels similar to what you get in the latest range of passenger vehicles.

Autonomous emergency braking is more sophisticated, and includes a wider range of operation (including cyclists and intersection detection). There's also adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go functionality, LED lighting throughout, an electric park brake, front cross-traffic alert, an intelligent speed limiter, lane-departure warning, and traffic sign recognition.

There's also a new 10.8-inch infotainment display with embedded truck-based navigation, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and reworked interior and suspension seats.

There is big news in the dual-clutch transmission – with wet clutch plates – as a major part of the revolution in Isuzu’s light-truck driving experience. 

If you’re anything like me, the mention of a dual-clutch transmission in something like this sounds like a recipe for disaster. I was bracing for the worst in this case, even if the slurring old robotised manual from the outgoing model isn’t much to write home about. 

But the interesting thing here is that this transmission – which has been developed by Isuzu itself – incorporates a torque converter in its design. This is unusual for car-based dual-clutch transmissions, as torque converters are normally something you only see in traditionally designed automatics.

This means the Isuzu trucks are able to side-step the common problems of jerkiness and uneasy pedal control that you get with a dual clutch at low speeds. Instead of attempting to modulate smooth take-off through clutch slippage, the gear is engaged fully at a standstill.

The real benefit compared to the automated manual transmission of earlier Isuzu trucks means you have a significantly smoother, faster and more responsive gearchange when on the move. It’s almost carlike, which is revolutionary in this kind of application.

There were a couple of instances where a heave on the throttle would yield a short wait for a gearchange and thrust forward, but it’s not by any means bad. And it’s a stratospheric improvement for two-pedalled trucks, in my experience.

And for those who want to (or need to) spend bulk hours behind the wheel, this single update seems to be the most important. 

One available engine is a new-generation model, a 3.0-litre '4JZ1' four-cylinder turbo diesel. If that sounds familiar, that’s because it is. This is the next generation of Isuzu’s revered and long-serving '4J' diesel four-cylinder engines, which used to be a commonly shared unit between utes, SUVs and trucks alike. 

While still closely related to what you would find in an Isuzu D-Max and MU-X, they aren't identical like they once were, and this truck motor is tuned and calibrated differently.

These outputs are effectively carryover, but also are available lower and wider in the rev range for easier and more efficient operation. The 129kW at 2860rpm and 430Nm at 1450–2860rpm might not sound like much to write home about, when you get 500Nm in other utes in the segment. But pay attention to the RPM range where this is available. This engine is all about lugging along at relatively low RPM, and is designed for sustained heavy loads.

It's also geared correctly for the application, with a granny-like first gear allowing unladen take-offs from second or third gear in some cases.

There's an obvious benefit to bringing extra ratios into the mix as well. Along with having a range of short, closely bunched ratios at the start, you can still maintain a relatively low engine speed on highways and byways. You won't be spinning much more than 2,000rpm at 100km/h, for example.

While Isuzu notes that manual transmission take-up in trucks is becoming increasingly rare, Isuzu is keeping a six-speed manual N Series truck on the books for the time being.

Similar to what you get in utes these days, Isuzu’s diesel engine is reasonably refined and quiet, without too much noise and vibration permeating into the cabin. Although, our first drive was relatively short without heavy loads and big hills to contend with. 

Performance is meaningful and muscular, however, geared through those nine available ratios for torque and effortlessness rather than speed. In one case, we were loaded up with a 700kg Isuzu genset on the back of an NLR single-cab trayback, and the only perceptible difference was a smoothing of the suspension.

Initial acceleration is plenty fast enough for a truck, and the N Series is now able to rip through those nine ratios happily and smoothly. There should also be an efficiency improvement with this new driveline, but we aren’t sure exactly what it is just yet.

We got up to speeds of around 80km/h without any issue, and found the trucks to be comfortable and easy to drive. But we cannot speak to performance at highway speeds.

Those who want some extra grunt can look at the '4HK1' 5.2-litre four-cylinder diesel engine with 140kW at 2600rpm and 513Nm at 1600–2600rpm. Perhaps if you’re fully laden and towing a trailer, this could be a good option. 

Independent front suspension and a rack-and-pinion steering set-up – not hugely dissimilar to what you get in regular passenger cars these days – is another element of improvement and carlike familiarity for the Isuzu N Series. It adds in a big dose of compliance and comfort to the equation.

The steering is still slow and slightly heavy, but it’s no longer heaving and ponderous in operation. And depending on your model and specification, the turning circle varies from surprisingly great to staggeringly excellent.

And in this case, the ride quality is noticeably improved with coil springs up front replacing the leaf packs. There’s a bit more smoothness in the ride at suburban road speeds, but it’s also significantly less terse over speed bumps and sharper potholes.

We don’t yet know what kind of pricing the new 2025 Isuzu N Series truck range will be at, especially considering the wide range of options, body styles and configurations available.

We can rest assured that pricing will go up for this new model, owing to the range of new equipment, technology and other upgrades that are included.

However, the improved levels of comfort and ease of operation, while maintaining proper truck-like payloads and towing capacities, will no doubt be appealing and fitting for some serious users.

Sam Purcell has been writing about cars, four-wheel driving and camping since 2013, and obsessed with anything that goes brum-brum longer than he can remember. Sam joined the team at CarAdvice/Drive as the off-road Editor in 2018, after cutting his teeth at Unsealed 4X4 and Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures. Off-road writer of the Year, Winner - Sam Purcell

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