Peta Lee reviews the Isuzu Extended cab - a beefier and more butch truck you couldn’t hope to find!

The kids loved it, my broad-across-the-beam housekeeper loved it (apart from the seat more than accommodating her ample girth, she found it easy to swing her arthritic knees into the cab!), and my mixed grill mutt who I’m convinced is crossed with a giraffe loved it too.

I’m talking about the Isuzu KB 300LX Extended Cab

Price: R275 748. Article Options Email to Friend Print Article Remove from Favorites Add to Favorites Remove from 'Articles to Read' Add to 'Articles to Read'

Mine happened to be a glorious Revlon red, as well, which any girl worth her salt knows is the one lipstick colour guaranteed to seduce a man right out of his socks...

Never got that lucky, unfortunately, but it certainly upped my shares among normally cantankerous and grumpy male drivers during the morning rush hour!

The beautiful shape is enough to sway you

Just the shape is enough to sway anyone – it’s beautiful. And big, girls! And with all the comforts of home, with seriously comfy seats, big easy to read gauges, a wonderfully large windscreen providing top-notch visibility, and enormous torque from that monster engine.

This Isuzu is a diesel, so the fuel gauge never moves

It’s a diesel, so the fuel gauge needle never moves, and in Durban, where your car’s aircon is never off and where I can spend up to two hours in the traffic some mornings (feels more and more like Jo’burg down here!) it was a pleasure. Generally, I get to the stage where I want to stick duct tape over the gauge so I won’t panic at how fast it moves!

The bakkie also has new cloth and vinyl trim and fuel consumption and outside temperature meters, both extremely useful for women drivers, I think!

Storage bins could have been jump seats instead

The only downside – for me – with the car was the two storage bins behind the front seats. I know it’s more a cab and a half rather than a double cab, but I would prefer two little jump seats there for two kids instead of two ruddy great storage bins, with ridiculous little keys which somehow never seemed to fit.

A monthly shop became a problem when my daughter and I could unlock only one of the bins, into which we stashed two packets of perishables so that the sun didn’t defrost/melt them before we got home, and the rest of the shopping was squashed on the front seat and the floor, and around the base of the bins. We never did get to open the second one... it also stuffed up the seating arrangements for the lift club – big time! 

The Isuzu KB 300LX is a bakkie to love!

Bins aside, though, I loved the bakkie. Loved the spaciousness where I sat, the great sound system, the running boards (sides and rear, which made climbing in oh-so-easy), and being able to load up a bunch of furniture and belongings into the back when a mate was moving. It was also incredibly easy to open and close the tailgate – even the little girls could do it unaided.

There’s terrific ground clearance so you won’t even feel the bump if you knock over a jaywalker, out of this world suspension, and if it’s not the quietest vehicle on the planet, who cares? It’s got almost everything else in its favour.
Price? R275 748.