KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 ― It’s been seven months since Malaysia decided to “float” the oil price. Since then, we have all been very vigilant of the global oil prices as that ultimately indicates whether we’re going to be paying more…to live.
It’s now a norm to have drivers stand-by their vehicles at the end of the month, quickly make a dash for the nearest petrol station if they know the prices are going up the next day.
It’s either that or we hope every month, that there’s a by-election. Either way, we’re all looking for ways and means to reduce our monthly fuel consumption.
The last time Isuzu had an SUV in Malaysia was way back during the days of the “carrot cut” jeans and fluorescent shirts . Yes, it was the early 80s when they had the Trooper.
Whilst there are still quite a few Troopers running around town, it was only earlier this month that they decided to finally end generations of speculation and brought in the MU-X.
The MU-X is the successor to the MU-7, a model that was launched in 2004 in several South-East Asian markets, China and India but… never reached our shores.
The MU-X. True to the recent Isuzu claim of great fuel efficiency, the MU-X promises exactly that. I had set out on a journey to Manek Urai, Kelantan (ground zero of the December 2014 floods). Manek Urai is roughly 355 kilometres away from KL and I had already clocked in 125 kilometres even before leaving KL.
In total, upon reaching Manek Urai, I had clocked in 480 kilometres and the fuel gauge showed that I had only used less than half tank. “Impressive!” I thought to myself.
What’s more impressive was that I had another 420 kilometres left on my tank. Just to give you some perspective: in my convoy, there were two other pick-up trucks (one, a D-Max and the other, a premium Japanese brand), a premium SUV (of the Bavarian breed) and an MPV (a Japanese 8-seater).
On the return leg, everyone else had to re-fuel… except me. I gloated and told the rest, “KL is less than 420km, I should be able to reach home in one tank”. So I thought…
On the way back to KL, we were told the Karak Highway was jammed. We then decided if we took the Simpang Pulai way home, even if the NKVE was jammed, there were many alternative routes that we could take back home. The drive up to Kg. Raja (Cameron Highlands) displayed many characteristics about the MU-X that I found rather strange:
There wasn’t enough torque to climb.
Even switching to manual gear didn’t produce any difference… in fact it struggled so much, I had to switch back to auto.
Because it struggled for such a long distance, the fuel gauge dropped at a rapid rate.
Upon reaching Simpang Pulai, the on-board computer indicated that I only had 170km left to the tank. For sure I wouldn’t have enough to reach home.
To be fair, it was quite a long hill climb and to expect the vehicle to provide the same fuel consumption as it did when I drove to Manek Urai just wasn’t realistic. Also, I still had the bragging rights as most of the other cars from the convoy had to re-fuel again at Simpang Pulai… all except the D-Max (commercial break).
Apart from the fuel consumption, there were a few things which I liked about the MU-X.
Space. I’m a 6-footer. Space is a luxury that not many vehicles can afford to offer me. However, headroom was amazingly adequate. Leg room behind was also sufficient, even with me in the driver seat. And as my daughter put it very aptly, “This car doesn’t look as big from the outside but when I’m inside…whoah!!”
Smooth Acceleration: No matter how you floor the pedal, whether starting off from the lights, crossing the junction or even overtaking on trunk roads, there was never any jerking or a sudden boost of unexpected power. That I liked very much.
However, it’s not all a bed of roses as there were certain things about the MU-X which really bugged me:
If 320Nm from a 2.5lit VGS Turbo Intercooler engine was insufficient to climb up to Cameron’s, taking this off-road would be a futile exercise as I know for sure there would be certain stretches the vehicle would have to climb short trails that would be steeper than 30 degrees. OK… maybe the real customers of this SUV would never take it off-road. But isn’t that something that the brochure claims it can do?
136hp to power a 2075kg vehicle… really? If they already have the 3.0lit (which comes with 380Nm and 177hp) variant available in the trucks, couldn’t they have used it for the MU-X as well?
If a buyer can afford a RM165,000 vehicle, wouldn’t they expect all the bells and whistles that come from this price category? Key-less ignition, auto-dimming rear view mirrors, auto headlamps, rain sensors, USB points in the front and back, the works… the best that the MU-X had to offer was an electronic seat adjustor and a touch screen multimedia player.
A DVD player in the car? Come on… get with the programme, man. Kids have their tablets these days. I’ve always found it very distracting as the driver, to have a movie playing whilst I’m driving.
Something about the suspension that didn’t feel right. The car was floating all through the journey to Manek Urai and back. Perhaps I’m too used to the firmer suspensions on my truck.
My final verdict, if I had the money would I get the MU-X? Hmm…
