There isn’t a lot of extra room in the cab for anything apart from two adults and a coat or two.

This problem apart, the cab is chunky and well built.

It features big comfortable seats and even four coffee cup holders (how many cups of coffee can two people deal with at once?), along with four handy grab rails and plastic wipe-clean flooring.

In the back, the load area looks massive, the tailgate is chunky and solid and there are 12 tying-in points to keep loads in order – four inside and eight outside – along with a frame behind the rear screen to stop loose items flying forwards
into the cab.

The engine fires up with a meaty growl, but the noise is well dampened so under way its hardly audible.

There is plenty of power available to give this truck a good turn of speed, but the gearchange is slightly rubbery, thanks partly to a curious gearstick which is about a foot in length.

Although this two-wheel drive model wouldn’t have the go-anywhere ability of a 4x4 version, it is still capabile of a variety of terrain thanks to its ground clearance.

At the launch last year we drove the four-wheel drive version and found that ot will cope with a lot more than the average driver will ever dare throw at it.

Verdict

A great truck with high build quality, a low price and ESC as standard, which always scores a big round of applause from Fleet Van. Just watch the D-Max steal sales from its rivals this year.