The smaller 1.9-litre Mazda BT-50 is finally here - but with the money you save, should you just spend the extra and buy the 3.0-litre? Paul Maric takes the 1.9-litre Mazda BT-50 for a spin to see if it’s any good!
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Mazda content: https://www.CarExpert.com.au/Mazda
More Mazda BT-50 content: https://www.CarExpert.com.au/Mazda/bt-50
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 00:53
Interior 04:04
Infotainment 05:28
Safety Tech 06:38
Practicality 07:11
On the road 10:16
0-100 11:32
Off road 15:06
Verdict 19:18
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
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#mazda #bt50 #review
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Mazda content: https://www.CarExpert.com.au/Mazda
More Mazda BT-50 content: https://www.CarExpert.com.au/Mazda/bt-50
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 00:53
Interior 04:04
Infotainment 05:28
Safety Tech 06:38
Practicality 07:11
On the road 10:16
0-100 11:32
Off road 15:06
Verdict 19:18
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
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#mazda #bt50 #review
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. Now if you do want to save a little bit of money on a ute,
00:04 Mazda and Isuzu have rolled this out. So it looks just like a standard BT-50, but under the skin,
00:10 it's now powered by a 1.9 litre diesel engine and this will save you about three grand off the standard 3 litre version.
00:16 This right here is called the BT-50 XS and it's priced at a little over
00:21 $51,000. If that's too expensive, the entire range kicks off around that circa
00:27 $50,000 mark. Now this competes with a whole stack of competitors.
00:31 You've got stuff like the Ford Ranger, the Toyota Hilux, the Isuzu D-Max, of course. Today
00:37 I'm going to do a detailed review of this ute.
00:38 So if you do want to skip ahead to other parts of the review, you can use the time codes on the screen or if
00:42 you're on YouTube, scroll down and use the chapters down there.
00:45 And if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.
00:49 That way you will find out every single time we drive utes that are going to save you money.
00:54 Let's kick off with exterior. So you've got seven external colours to pick from and they are all free of charge.
01:00 So you have your choice of colours of the rainbow. Now down the front here, BT-50.
01:04 So I have mentioned this before in our BT-50 review previously that it looks different enough to the D-Max and it carries the
01:11 corporate Mazda styling. So it looks a little more stylish and it looks just a little bit more, I don't know, a little bit more
01:17 foreman rather than workman.
01:19 So it looks like the type of car that you're going to drive if you're not on the tools.
01:23 And I think that's a good thing because a lot of people still buy these even though they aren't doing any work.
01:27 And perhaps that's where they got the idea for this 1.9 litre from. If you don't really need the payload and the towing capacity,
01:33 but you still want a dual cab unit that looks respectable, they've saved you a little bit of money with it.
01:38 So big, big grill there with the Mazda logo up the top.
01:42 You've got the chrome garnishes there and then the black sections through the centre. Over here
01:46 you've got a set of LED headlights with more of that chrome garnish that continues along the side.
01:51 This doesn't have LED daytime running lights and you do just get halogen elements down the bottom here
01:56 because it is kind of an entry-level model to the Mazda BT50 range. Come around to the side,
02:02 you get 17-inch alloy wheels with all-terrain tyres.
02:06 So the standard wheel design here is pretty straightforward,
02:09 but I think it still looks classy enough and it doesn't look like you've cheapened out and not gone for the top model.
02:14 So that 17-inch wheel has kind of like a matte finish to it and big profile on that all-terrain tyre.
02:19 All-terrain tyres are going to be good for light off-roading and this is certainly a good balance between your highway driving and then a little
02:25 bit of that extra tread pattern there for off-road driving.
02:27 No wheel arch protection here,
02:30 they haven't tried to emphasize this as an off-road friendly four-wheel drive, even though it is four-wheel drive capable.
02:35 Up the top here, you've got an indicator built into that wing mirror with body colour at the top and a black section down the
02:41 bottom there. So it's pretty sort of standard looking design.
02:44 Let's come to the back of the car or when you're through the rear. Now around the back
02:48 it's a pretty straightforward setup, a full set of halogen lamps here.
02:52 They haven't gone down the path of LED. 4x4 badge signifying that this is indeed four-wheel drive capable.
02:58 BT50 and then a Mazda badge there. You get your reverse camera hidden in this section.
03:03 I'll run you through the tub specs.
03:04 So you've got a load length of a little over 1,500 mil, a load width of a little over 1,500 mil,
03:10 490 millimeters of load depth and then you almost have
03:14 1,200 kilos of payload. So that's one of the big advantages here of this ute.
03:18 You can actually stick a lot in here. The sportier you get in the ute range, the less payload that you have.
03:24 So at least this still can be used as a work ute.
03:26 It is disappointing that there is no torsion bar in here,
03:29 because that makes this tray just a little heavy to open and close and then you get these metal hinges on the side.
03:35 So they could have gone for that torsion bar to ease things up a little bit.
03:39 But in the tray you do get hooks in there to tie down any items that you have.
03:42 The other big change as well is that instead of a three and a half ton brake towing capacity,
03:47 you only have a 3,000 kilo brake towing capacity. And then down the bottom here,
03:51 you've got a step to retrieve things from the tray. Now, let me know in the comments section below,
03:55 do you think BT50 looks a little bit too corporate and not enough, I guess, tradie? I'm keen to get your feedback.
04:02 Let me know down there. So we are inside the BT50.
04:06 This is what the key looks like, literally a key. You have lock and unlock and then the physical key on the back.
04:12 You've got the Mazda logo. That just goes straight into the key slot and I'll switch that on now.
04:16 So we have some power here. Look, I know that is the base model, but it'd be nice to have a proximity sensing key.
04:23 Now, what about the rest of the interior? So the first thing I noticed is this steering wheel. It's not leather wrapped,
04:28 so it's all entirely plastic.
04:30 I don't love these things because they scream cheap and I would think that even if you wrapped it just in a fake leather,
04:36 it would be enough to just give it a bit more of a premium feel because the rest of the cabin actually doesn't feel too
04:41 bad. You've got these soft touch finishes along the dashboard there and for the most part,
04:46 it actually looks like someone's put a bit of effort into designing this and making it feel a little nicer than just a workhorse
04:51 hute. So that's why I reckon this just lets it down ever so slightly. Now, what about your touch points?
04:57 Well, this here is absolutely solid. There's no padding on that at all. On the door though, it is a little softer.
05:03 How soft is it? Well, we've got our durometer.
05:06 We've tested the main
05:07 surfaces in this cabin. If you want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before, have a look at the link in
05:13 the description.
05:14 What about build quality?
05:16 That is pretty loose and wonky just there, but the rest of this feels not too bad. And finally, our door test.
05:24 Door sounds good. Let's talk about infotainment.
05:30 So you've probably seen the big 9-inch screen on other BT50 and D-Max products. Here on the entry level,
05:35 you're only getting this 7-inch display. Functionality is pretty much the same though with the exception of inbuilt satellite navigation.
05:41 So you have radio. AM/FM/DAB+ radio covers you off there. That includes a six-speaker sound system.
05:48 Sound system's okay. It's nothing too special. But you do get smartphone mirroring. Now you get Apple CarPlay, which is wireless.
05:54 Love that. And that is a big screen.
05:59 Kill that music. Big screen and fairly quick and easy to use as well, which is good news.
06:05 I'll show you what Android Auto looks like.
06:07 So it is a full-size screen. Nice and snappy as well. So pretty impressive setup there.
06:15 That's about it for the infotainment system. There isn't a great deal more going on there. Ahead of the driver though,
06:20 there is a small LCD display. I'll quickly run you through that. So that screen gives you all of your critical system information.
06:26 It's able to tell you your warnings. It also has the trip computer and all of the car's safety settings.
06:31 Now they have included a software update in this that allows us to switch Lane Keeping Assistant off.
06:36 And I'll run you through that when we go for a drive. Let's talk safety technology. So you have autonomous emergency braking.
06:42 There is a center airbag. So this is required to get a five-star safety rating.
06:47 So that deploys to prevent your front passengers hitting each other in a side impact when they get thrown towards each other.
06:53 You have blind spot monitoring built into the wind mirror. The lane departure warning system that I mentioned earlier.
06:58 You also have radar cruise control. And in terms of parking, you have rear parking sensors and a reverse view camera.
07:04 I'll show you what that looks like. Quality is reasonable. And then you have line markers just there. It's a pretty straightforward setup.
07:10 Let's move on to connectivity. So down here, we'll get rid of that.
07:14 You have one USB-A port, one auxiliary outlet and then a 12-volt outlet. Really would be nice to see more USB connectivity here.
07:22 But it is what it is. You've got phone storage down the bottom there. No wireless phone charging.
07:27 But it is a good slot to store your phone. You can also pop it in these enormous cup holders.
07:31 Now speaking of cup holders, where is your little coffee gonna go?
07:35 Well, it's gonna disappear right into there and you will lose your lid.
07:38 So you'll need to prop that up with something to prevent it from spilling. Unlike the D-Max,
07:44 this doesn't have cup holders in front of the air vents, which means you can't really put it in a more convenient location.
07:49 But in terms of your bottles themselves, you can see that's neatly stored in there. And then this also fits inside the door.
07:55 Let's try our big bottle.
07:57 No, it doesn't quite fit into there. I'll see if it fits into the door.
08:02 Yes, it does. Excellent. That is good news. Now additional storage just next to the driver's knee.
08:07 You've got a slot there for little odds and ends. You have a center console here with a bit of storage.
08:11 You have a glove box down the bottom, which is entirely consumed by your enormous manual.
08:17 You have a storage slot just above that where you can keep drinks and bits and pieces.
08:22 And then finally you have a sunglasses holder up the top. And now comfort. There is no automatic climate control here.
08:29 It is just basic blower controls and temperature controls with an air conditioner. Your seats, the seats actually look pretty cool.
08:36 So they've got that wraparound design like the more premium models.
08:39 And I think the cloth finish actually looks quite nice with this sort of center padded section.
08:43 The seats are fully manually adjustable. So forwards, backwards. You can do your backrest forwards, backwards and lift the base as well.
08:51 The steering wheel offers both tilts and reach adjustment.
08:55 And then on our reach test, all of this stuff is easy to reach while you're driving.
08:59 Now before we talk about the back seat, I want to run you through some storage options.
09:03 So under the seat you have storage down here. Have a look at that big cavity. That actually reminds me, this has no carpets.
09:10 It's all just this vinyl stuff and then you get floor mats that cover it up. So it should mean that it's easier to keep clean.
09:16 Over here we have more storage. Look at that. You can hide your valuables in there.
09:21 And then finally this back comes forward as well. That's where you'll find your two top tether points and also the jack.
09:28 Righto, time to hop in. We'll use our grab handle.
09:32 Okay, so what's it like back here? Look, legroom is actually really reasonable.
09:37 My seat is pretty far back and I've got decent knee room. Toe room is good and headroom is good as well.
09:44 In terms of your creature comforts, you've got a little hook here for, you know, storing shopping and that kind of thing.
09:49 Air vents, a USB-A outlet. You have mat pockets just back here.
09:54 Those two ISOFIX points that match the top tether points.
09:58 And then your bottle can also go inside the door. Fits in there nicely.
10:02 And now our window test.
10:05 We're on a roll here. Excellent, that goes down as well.
10:08 So pretty impressive back seat area and plenty of room to stretch out.
10:13 So we've just hit the road in the 1.9 litre BT50.
10:19 Now the big difference here is obviously the engine. It's no longer a 3 litre, it's a 1.9.
10:24 So there is a big difference there in terms of capacity.
10:27 But in terms of power and torque numbers, it produces 110 kilowatts of power and 350 newton metres of torque.
10:34 So that's about 100 newton metres of torque down on the 3 litre, which is around that sort of 20% mark.
10:39 So it is a bit of a big difference there.
10:41 But what does it feel like behind the wheel? Let's give this a little nudge here.
10:45 Yeah, look, it does feel much slower if I slow down a little bit, actually.
10:52 I'll just go from a slower speed. Give it a little kick.
10:55 Oh, look, it's not terrible.
10:58 Yeah, look, it is pretty leisurely at the moment.
11:01 I've just got me and Sean in the car, but I suspect if you did load this up with a few mates
11:05 or perhaps some payload, it is going to feel much slower.
11:08 But in that regard, if you're not carrying any of that stuff
11:11 and you don't really have that many people in the car all that often,
11:14 it's probably not going to be a terrible option when it comes to, you know, a fuel efficient engine.
11:18 Now, it's all mated to a six speed automatic transmission,
11:21 and the transmission is actually pretty responsive.
11:23 Once you get stuck into it, it is ready to sort of rumble,
11:26 gives you the torque that you need, and it doesn't sort of sit around
11:29 waiting or hunting through gears all that often.
11:32 Mazda doesn't have an official zero to 100 time, but this is how it went up against our stopwatch.
11:37 Now, what about your fuel economy?
11:57 So Mazda claims 6.9 litres per 100 Ks.
12:00 We are currently sitting on 8.8.
12:04 So this has been a mix of city and highway driving.
12:06 Look, it's overall not a bad figure, and it's not too far away from the official claim,
12:10 but it is still a little bit off there in comparison to what they officially claim.
12:14 And it's also not that far off what we normally get with a D-MAX.
12:18 So it doesn't feel all that more efficient than the three litre version.
12:22 So what's the ride like?
12:25 Well, this is the most interesting thing.
12:26 It actually feels different to other BT50s that we've driven and other D-MAXs that we've driven
12:32 as well.
12:32 So, and that's in the sense that it feels much softer out on the road.
12:36 So we're on our country road here, and as you pick up bumps and potholes,
12:39 it actually really just soaks it all up nicely.
12:41 And if you drop a wheel off the edge here and catch some of these corrugations and then a pothole,
12:46 it's just nice and smooth and progressive.
12:48 It does get a little bit jittery over corrugations when you do sort of have a consecutive set,
12:53 and you do kind of hear it in my voice as well as we hit some of those bumps,
12:56 it can be a little fidgety.
12:58 But for the most part, you're getting the benefit of the payload,
13:01 and you're still getting a really smooth ride.
13:02 Normally, when you have big payload like this, you punish the ride and you end up really not
13:08 enjoying the car unless you have a load in the back.
13:09 So this feels like a really good compromise between the two.
13:12 One thing I did notice though, is this engine, it is pretty noisy,
13:17 especially at low speeds.
13:18 You can hear that sort of diesel clattering inside the cabin,
13:21 and it does tend to make a fair bit of noise.
13:23 And then when you get up it, it's making a bit of noise there as well.
13:27 So there's probably something worth keeping in mind that it doesn't feel as quiet as the
13:32 3-litre in the regular BT50.
13:34 It has a little bit more noise that produces into the cabin.
13:36 On tyre noise though, it's actually pretty quiet in here.
13:41 So you don't get a whole bunch of roar from those all-terrains.
13:44 Normally, all-terrains give you a whole bunch of noise inside the cabin,
13:47 not a great deal of wind noise either from the wing mirrors.
13:49 So if you are doing a longer distance drive, once the engine settles,
13:52 it's a pretty quiet place to be seated.
13:53 All right, let's punch it through our corner here, dial up the speed, let's get going.
13:57 Let's see how this feels.
14:00 Yeah, look, it's fine.
14:03 I mean, it's inoffensive, I think you could say.
14:06 It's not really sort of quick enough to get you into any dramas,
14:08 and it sits sort of fairly flat when it comes to cornering.
14:11 So yeah, a tick there in terms of handling.
14:14 Let's talk visibility.
14:18 So at the front there, it's great.
14:19 I can see all the way down the front of the bonnet.
14:21 The wing mirrors are huge.
14:22 They have a blind spot monitor built into them.
14:25 You can also clearly see out the back.
14:26 I love the fact that they've now allowed us to disable the lane keeping assistant
14:30 by pushing and holding this little icon here,
14:32 and then comes up with that note down the bottom saying it's disabled.
14:35 You used to have to do that through the menu when the car was stationary,
14:38 and that was really frustrating.
14:39 So it's good to see that change has come as part of this little refresh.
14:42 In terms of your low-speed driving, the steering is really light.
14:45 Even at higher speeds, it stays light.
14:47 So, you know, it makes it easy to park because the steering is obviously much easier to control.
14:53 Perhaps it could be a little heavier.
14:54 It just doesn't feel like there's a great deal of feel coming through that rack.
14:58 But with a turning circle of 12.5 metres and a very light steering system,
15:02 it's pretty easy to place this in and around the city.
15:04 So let's do a little bit of light off-roading.
15:09 I'll run you through the four-wheel drive specs first.
15:12 So we have an approach angle of 30 degrees.
15:14 That's the angle of the face you can approach before you hit the front of the car.
15:17 And a departure angle of 23.9 degrees, which is the same but in reverse.
15:21 Ground clearance is almost 240 millimetres.
15:24 And in terms of weighting depth, 800 millimetres, which is pretty impressive for this segment.
15:28 We also have a low-range transfer case.
15:31 You have the ability to switch into four-high.
15:33 So keep in mind, this is a permanent two-wheel drive.
15:35 You can use four-high on unsealed surfaces and then four-wheel drive low range as well.
15:39 It also has a rear differential lock and hill descent control.
15:43 Now, if none of that makes any sense to you,
15:44 click up here to watch a video we shot previously on four-wheel drive controls,
15:48 where I ran you through what each of those little bits and pieces mean.
15:51 But what we'll do, we'll attack our logs first.
15:53 I'll pop this into four-wheel drive high range.
15:55 I'll leave traction control and all that sort of business on.
15:58 And then we'll test hill descent control on the way down.
16:00 Has been raining a lot here.
16:02 So this is all pretty sketchy at the moment.
16:05 We will see how it goes on our logs with our all-terrain tyres.
16:09 Yeah, this is feeling really good and really comfy as well.
16:14 It's actually not too firm, which is great.
16:16 All right, come along the top here.
16:18 All right, we'll set ourselves up for the descent.
16:22 Put hill descent control on.
16:25 That is active.
16:26 We'll line it up.
16:28 There's a lot of exposed rocks here now because of the rain.
16:31 See how this goes.
16:33 And look, it's moving a little too quick for my liking with hill descent control.
16:39 So I'm going to take over and drive it down on my own.
16:44 A little bit of a clobber the GoPro.
16:45 Yeah, I just, I wish there was just a little bit more configurability.
16:49 We've seen with the new Ford Ranger,
16:51 they actually have an ability for you to adjust the descent speed
16:54 with hill descent control active.
16:55 And I'm hoping that's across all the models,
16:57 because that is just a useful feature that means
16:59 the car isn't going to run away from you unnecessarily.
17:02 Now, next up is our seesaw and our offset mogul.
17:05 What I'm going to do is switch back to two-wheel drive.
17:07 What I like to do with utes here in two-wheel drive
17:09 is wait till we get to the offset mogul at the end
17:11 to see how the traction control system copes with a tyre being
17:15 completely lifted off the ground.
17:17 But first up, we have our body rigidity test,
17:19 which happens around midway through here
17:22 where we have the body at full flex,
17:24 which is around about there.
17:27 See if we can open and close that door.
17:30 Yep, no dramas.
17:32 So it is a strong old shatty.
17:35 All right, we'll move over to our offset mogul.
17:38 A little dip here.
17:40 All right, here we go.
17:41 We're coming up to it now.
17:42 What we're going to have is that wheel come completely off the ground,
17:45 and then when it gets off the ground, there it is, it's free spinning there.
17:49 I'm just going to ease off the brake and into the throttle.
17:51 So right now we can see the traction control light flashing.
17:55 We'll gradually apply more and more throttle,
17:57 and we'll see if it's enough to move the car.
17:59 All right, my foot is now flat to the board.
18:04 And you can see we're not getting a great deal of movement there.
18:08 It is slowly getting there, but I don't think it's going to be enough to get us out.
18:14 So what I'll do is kill that switch traction control off entirely.
18:18 Traction control is now completely off.
18:21 I'm going to get back onto the throttle there.
18:23 It's now spinning freely.
18:24 And we're getting a little bit more movement.
18:27 And there we go, it's enough to go.
18:30 So this is the issue that we had with the D-Max as well.
18:33 It just kind of, the traction control isn't very good.
18:37 They kind of need to employ some people from Ford or something like that
18:40 to figure out their traction control system.
18:42 So let's do that one more time.
18:44 This time around we will have four-wheel drive active.
18:46 Okay, take two.
18:48 Let's give this another shot.
18:50 So in theory now with four-wheel drive active,
18:53 it should be smart enough with traction control on to send torque to the front axle.
18:57 That should be enough to move it out of the position that we're in.
19:00 Keep in mind, one of the front wheels is still going to be off the ground as well.
19:03 So there we are, we're off the ground,
19:05 and off the brake, and then onto the throttle.
19:07 I can feel it pulsing torque to the front axle, and then we're free of that.
19:13 So the Mazda BT-50, what do we reckon?
19:21 Look, it's an interesting one because I actually quite like the BT-50.
19:24 It's really nice to drive,
19:25 and the interior has everything that you need for an entry-level ute.
19:29 My concern is though that if you want to go the three-litre,
19:33 it's actually cheaper to get the manual three-litre
19:36 than it is to get the automatic version of this.
19:37 So you kind of make all these compromises with the 1.9-litre to save money,
19:42 but then I think the compromises are outweighed by the fact
19:44 that the three-litre isn't actually that much more expensive.
19:46 So look, to me, I think it is worth just investing in the three-litre.
19:50 It's a superior engine.
19:51 It really gives this a whole heap of punch,
19:53 and it makes it just far easier to drive,
19:54 especially if you are planning on loading it up.
19:57 So yeah, that is my take on the BT-50 1.9.
20:00 Let me know in the comments section below,
20:01 have you bought one of these, and why did you buy this over the three-litre?
20:04 I'm really curious.
20:05 And have you bought a BT-50 just in general?
20:07 Let me know how it's going for you and whether you are enjoying it.
20:11 Now, if you did enjoy this video, please make sure you share it with your mates.
20:13 Hit the like button, and if you haven't done so, subscribe to our channel.
20:17 But until next time, take it easy.