Mazda BT-50 Thunder review 2021 Perfect for off-road driving
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00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So Mazda has finally rolled out the special edition of the BT-50 that we spoke
00:05about last year. It's not quite as hardcore as what we predicted it would be, but it's close
00:10enough. This is called the BT-50 Thunder. So it's priced at around $69,000 for the automatic,
00:18the manual can be had for around three grand less. This is going to compete with things like
00:21the Ford Ranger FX4 and Toyota Hilux Rugged X, so picture those cars that have some of these
00:28mechanical changes on the outside, but are still very much the same beneath the skin.
00:33Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this car. If you want to skip ahead to other
00:36parts of the video, use the time codes up on the screen, or if you're on YouTube,
00:40just scroll down and use the chapters below. And if you haven't done so already, make sure you
00:44press the bell icon and subscribe to our channel so you can find out every single time we drive
00:48a new dual cab ute. Let's talk exterior. Before I run you through the external changes, what about
00:54the colors? So seven external colors to pick from, they're all free, which is great news. Now,
00:58what actually changes here with the Thunder? Well, it all starts down the front here with this
01:02single hoop steel bull bar. You can hear that is very much solid. You've got a light built into the
01:08side there along with the indicator. You've also got this dual row light force LED light bar,
01:13so this is going to give you really nice projection at night time, so you can see
01:16straight down the road there. It's quite an aggressive looking steel bar. I actually really
01:21like the look of it, especially from side on. It cuts in nicely, so this is going to be good if
01:25you're doing any off-road driving, any bumps and things like that. You're not going to damage any
01:30of the plastic panels on the car. The rest of that is all fairly straightforward. Over here,
01:34you've got your standard headlights, full LED arrangement there. The thing I don't love about
01:38this setup though, they've got this rubber here that protects damage from the car as it flexes,
01:42but behind there you can see all the plastic molding for where the bumper normally joins,
01:47so I think they could have concealed that a little better. Now, down here you have 18-inch alloy
01:52wheels and this is a dark coloured wheel. You can get this as an accessory on the BT50 as it is,
01:57but it comes standard on the Thunder. There are wider wheel flares here, so you can see they stick
02:01out a whole lot more than the standard setup. Not really a huge fan of how that just starts there.
02:06Would have been good to have a little lip or something there to stop it looking like it was
02:09just bolted on, which it kind of was. All of this work was done here in Australia. This is a
02:14pre-production car, so this may not look exactly what the final car looks like, but all the work
02:19that they actually did to create this was done in Australia, and there's a chance they might even
02:22sell this overseas eventually as well, which is pretty cool. Around the side of the car,
02:26you have your indicator built into that wing mirror there, the chrome section on the top.
02:31These side steps are new, so plastic side steps. They're going to prevent you from damaging things
02:36when you go over rocks. They feel nice and sturdy as well. Big side bolsters there,
02:40they match the front there in terms of how much they stick out. The Thunder decal, and if you
02:45didn't know it was Thunder, you could just have a look behind there because they've got clouds and
02:49stuff, which is cool. Sports bar. This looks interesting, so this gives it a really aggressive
02:54stance. It sticks up a little higher than the car though, which is interesting. I would have
02:59thought it would sit flush with the roof, but it's raised a little bit, and I think it's because
03:03it's attached to this rail here as opposed to the body of the car. Then you've got these little
03:08flares on the side as well. Now come around to the rear, I'll show you what else has changed.
03:12So similar to the Hilux Rogue, you've got this electric tonneau cover. So one push of that
03:17brings it forward and clicks it into position. It's also an LED light off to the side. This is
03:22a pre-production car, so granted this probably isn't what it's going to look like when it's
03:26delivered to the customer, but have a look at all the cables that are just sitting there exposed,
03:31and over on that side as well. It's the same story under the bonnet with the battery terminals.
03:35Just looks a bit thrown together and doesn't really look like a proper installation. So
03:39let's hope that's fixed when they do have the production vehicle and it's not a pre-production
03:43model. Now in terms of dimensions, you've got about 1500 mil of load length, around 1500 mil
03:48of load width, almost 500 mil of load depth, and 11-20 millimetres between the wheel arches.
03:54If I close this up, you've got a step here to retrieve things from the tray and you also get
03:58a three and a half tonne braked towing capacity. So we're inside the BT50. Let's start off with
04:04the key. Here it is here. You have lock, unlock, and then a remote start function,
04:09which will turn the car on and run the heater or the air conditioning, which is a handy feature.
04:13Then the Mazda logo on the back. It's a proximity sensing key, so you just leave that in your
04:17pocket and then you have a push button start. Now let's talk styling. One of the things I like
04:21about the BT50 and the D-MAX is that they've gone to a bit of effort to make it feel nice and
04:25premium inside. Now this car's nudging $70,000, which is a whole bucket load of money, but I feel
04:31that it looks classy enough to justify that price tag. So you've got these soft sections along the
04:35top with the stitching. You'll notice that the D-MAX has storage up here, whereas the BT50 doesn't,
04:41and the other difference is the BT50 doesn't get cup holders under the air vents, but for the most
04:45part, this looks the same. I like the brown highlights in between here and also on the seats
04:50and the padding on the sides. This is all unique to the BT50 and it just gives it that air of
04:55luxury to it as well. Now what about all your touch points? They are nice and soft. We have
05:01tested them all with our durometer. If you want to see how this car compares to other cars we've
05:06tested before, click on the link in the description. Now what about build quality? It feels okay. A
05:12little bit of movement there on the sides and around that center console, but for the most part
05:16this all feels well put together. Let's talk about infotainment. So 9-inch infotainment screen. You
05:22have shortcut buttons down the bottom too. This is one of the better ones in the segment simply
05:27because it comes with some pretty advanced smartphone mirroring features. So if you do want
05:30to have a detailed look at this infotainment system, click up here to watch one we recorded
05:34previously. I'll take you through just some of the basics here. So satellite navigation.
05:39You can turn those annoying beeps off by the way. There it is there. It's an okay satellite
05:43navigation system. It can be a tiny bit laggy, but it does the job. Where it really shines though
05:49is with smartphone mirroring. So I'll show you Apple CarPlay. There it is there. So wireless,
05:54which means every time you jump into the car it just connects on its own. Big screen integration
05:58there. It's good. The only thing to keep in mind though when it is wireless, it drains your battery
06:03pretty quickly. So you kind of have to plug your phone up anyway because there's no wireless phone
06:07charging. So it's just something to keep in mind. And this is what Android Auto looks like.
06:12Click on that one there. So connected with a cable and then again full screen integration,
06:17smooth scrolling. Then on the radio front you have AM, FM, DAB plus digital radio,
06:23and that's all sent through an eight speaker sound system with live surround sound. Ahead
06:29of the driver is another LCD display that has your trip computer details, your fuel levels,
06:34engine temperature, the works. That's also where you enable and disable some of the safety functions
06:39as well. It's good, but I just wish there was a shortcut on the steering wheel or somewhere else
06:43that allows you to disable some of the safety features because it takes a while to rifle
06:48through that menu and you can't do it while you're on the move. In terms of safety, some of the
06:51notable highlights include autonomous emergency braking. There's a lane keeping assistant,
06:55a lane departure warning, a semi-autonomous steering function, blind spot monitoring built
07:00into the wing mirror. There's an auto dimming rear vision mirror, radar cruise control. You've
07:04also got a junction assist, which basically prevents you from driving across an intersection
07:09when other cars are coming. And finally, you have rear cross traffic alert. It's also front
07:14and rear parking sensors and a reverse view camera. I'll show you what that looks like.
07:18Pretty decent reverse view camera. And then you've got guidelines there as well.
07:22Okay, I'm going to stop for just one second. I'm going to ask you guys a question. So $3,000,
07:26I mentioned at the start that that is how much extra you pay for the automatic transmission.
07:31So many people buy the autos. Why are you not buying the manual? Is it just because you're
07:35in the car all day long? Tell me what the appeal is of an auto over a manual, especially for $3,000.
07:41Let's talk practicality and we'll start with connectivity. So you have one USB port,
07:45one auxiliary input, a 12 volt power outlet. Then on the storage front, you have storage for your
07:51phone down the front here. No wireless phone charging, but you can see it slides in easily
07:55down there. You can also pop your phone in there if you want. And what about your coffee cup? Now,
08:01I mentioned before that this doesn't have the cup holders in front of the air vents like the
08:06D-MAX does. That means when you have a me-sized coffee, it literally just can't even touch the
08:13bottom of that because it's far too deep. So you've got to wedge it up with a key or
08:17durometer or something like that. So yeah, not a great design. And I wish they had
08:21the cup holders inside the doors. What about bottles though? So you can see there,
08:24the bottle fits fairly easily. You've also got storage for the bottle inside the door.
08:29There's also this storage down here. There's a center console here that's fairly deep. So you
08:33can see in there, plenty of room. You also have two glove boxes. Well, one glove box down here
08:39that you can't really fit much else in once you have your manual in there. Then you have another
08:43one up the top and slide a bottle in there fairly easily. And then finally, you have a sunglasses
08:50holder at the top of the cabin. Moving on to comfort. So you have dual zone automatic climate
08:54control. You also get headed seats for the first row. In terms of the seats themselves, I really
08:59like this design. They hug you in nicely. Got the perforations on there as well. So if you do get
09:03sweaty in summer, you're not going to get permanently stuck to the seat. The driver's
09:07seat is electrically adjustable as well. Steering offers both tilt and reach adjustment. And then
09:14finally, all of these controls are easy to reach. Okay, back seat, let's have a look at it. So
09:19before I hop in and show you how it all works, I want to show you a secret hiding spot. So
09:24under here, you have two secret hiding spots. They are pretty generously sized so you can pop
09:29your little bits and pieces in here so no crooks and thieves see them from the outside. And then
09:36behind here is where you'll find a jack and also two top tether points. Hop in, got a grab handle
09:44for grabbing. All right, so this is how much room I've got back here. Knee room is okay, not
09:51amazing. Toe room is okay, but not amazing as well. Headroom is pretty decent where we are.
09:58Now, what about storage for your bottles? So you have a center armrest here with two cup holders
10:03so you can pop your bottle there or there. You've also got storage inside the door. You have rear
10:09air vents, USB charging, a little slot for odds and ends, a hook there for your groceries and
10:15probably other stuff that you've bought that you don't need, two mat pockets,
10:18then you also have two ISOFIX points on the outboard seats as well. So we've hit the road
10:24in the BT-50 Thunder. Now, this is probably not going to be all that much of a revolutionary
10:30review because this is effectively the exact same car as the regular BT-50 which we've already
10:35reviewed, but I'll take you through it all anyway just in case you haven't seen that review.
10:39Powering this is an engine shared with the Isuzu D-MAX. It's a three litre turbocharged
10:44four-cylinder diesel, produces 140 kilowatts of power and 450 newton meters of torque,
10:50and that's made it to a six-speed automatic transmission. Now, what does all that feel like
10:54behind the wheel? Yeah, it's good. I like that it's eager to respond, but it doesn't have to
11:01dive back through gears. Often fine with some of these diesels that they have to snap back through
11:06gears, especially in the Fords with the 10-speed autos, whereas this with the six-speed, it's
11:10confident enough to lean on the torque band when it needs to, and then other times when you do need
11:14a bit of poke, you just bury your foot, it slingshots you forward and away you go. But it would be nice
11:19to see a 500 newton meter option available. Our understanding was that this vehicle that they
11:23were developing would actually come with more torque as well, but it looks like they've just
11:28stuck with that original arrangement. In terms of fuel economy, Mazda claims an official figure
11:32of eight litres per 100 kilometres. We're currently sitting on 12.8, which is considerably higher.
11:37I wonder if all of the components they've bolted onto this have affected this. We have been doing
11:41a lot of low-speed driving, so obviously that figure will be higher, but that seems unusually
11:46high for something like the D-MAX or the BT-50 that we've tested previously. Mazda doesn't provide
11:51an official zero to 100 time, but we thought we'd put it up against the stopwatch to see how it goes.
11:58Now let's talk about road noise. It's pretty quiet in here. The thing I am noticing though
12:13is wind noise, and it appears to be coming from the wing mirrors and potentially at the front
12:18there. So obviously a very different front end to the standard car, and you can notice that as
12:23you're travelling along sort of 80, 100 kilometres an hour, you can feel it sort of infiltrating
12:27slightly. Keep in mind as well that that sports bar sits slightly higher than the roof as well,
12:30so that will be catching some of the wind also. So what's the ride like? Given they haven't
12:34changed any of the suspension tuning, the only difference is the weight over the front there
12:39with that steel bar. It feels pretty much exactly like the BT-50 felt previously, so it is nice and
12:45smooth, but it has a little bit of sharpness over bumps, especially here at highway speeds.
12:50You can hear the sort of jitteriness in my voice there, but it does feel a little more settled at
12:54the front end. So having the weight so far forward means that you're trying to distribute
13:00that a little further to the front, and obviously the rear is unchanged. So yeah, I think it does
13:05feel a little better, but there isn't a great deal of difference between this and a standard BT-50.
13:09Let's talk handling for a second. So yes, I understand this is a dual cab ute, but let's see
13:16how it goes through our corners here. Tip it in, a little punch. Yeah, look, it's fine.
13:23Remains fairly flat and settled there. It's not going to be a sports car anytime soon,
13:27but in terms of handling, it's perfectly fine. Let's talk visibility. It remains virtually
13:31unchanged from standard BT-50. You can't actually see that bull bar at all down the front there.
13:36The other good thing as well is that because these components were, I guess, engineered by
13:41the manufacturer, the front parking sensors and all the safety systems still work perfectly fine.
13:46If you do go aftermarket, often a lot of those things either need to be recalibrated or they
13:50just don't work at all. So the advantage of buying this package is that this has all been fitted to
13:56work with all the standard safety systems. And then in terms of rear visibility, the vision
14:00is good out the back there. You don't really have any blockage from those headrests. The wing
14:04mirrors are also massive as well with blind spot monitoring, so you get good vision down the side
14:09of the car. Turning circle, 12.5 metres. So it is on the bigger end of turning circles, but it is
14:16sort of pretty standard for a dual cab ute with all-wheel drive. So it's tight, but you should be
14:22able to make your three-point turns. Okay, let's do a little bit of light off-roading. Now, because
14:28this is effectively the exact same as the BT-50 with the addition of all these little bits and
14:33pieces on it, the off-road credentials are the same. So that means a ground clearance of 240
14:38millimetres. You have an approach angle on the standard BT-50 of 30.4 degrees, but here,
14:43because of that different front end, it is reduced to 25.8 degrees. The departure angle remains the
14:49same though, and that's 24.2 degrees. Now, in terms of the four-wheel drive controls themselves, this
14:53is a full-time two-wheel drive, and then it also has four-wheel drive high range, four-wheel drive
14:58low range, a rear differential lock that only works when it is in low range, and a hill descent
15:02control. Now, if none of that makes any sense, have a look at our four-wheel drive controls
15:06explained video, where I give you practical examples of where you should and shouldn't use
15:10some of these features. So let's try a log mountain. So what I'll do, I'll put it into
15:14four-wheel drive high range. It is really muddy around here at the moment, so normally they walk
15:18up here without any dramas at all, but I'll be keen to see what happens today as we approach.
15:23I'm going to kill that parking sensor as well. All right, because it doesn't have all-terrain
15:27tyres, the standard highway terrain tyres are just going to be filled with mud, but it is walking up
15:33here pretty effortlessly. We have the traction that we need. I'll turn this corner to head down
15:40our hill. Okay, so we don't have any extra ground clearance, but you will notice the front bull bar
15:46that they've added actually has a protective plate there for the underbody of the car, and we've got
15:51a rock right in the centre here that we're going to nudge on the way down. There it is, just there,
15:56I can hear it scraping on that plate. So that's going to be handy if you do go off-road or if
16:00you add a little bit of extra lift to these because it should mean that you get more protection
16:05for the underbody. All right, crawling down here, let me pop the hill descent control on as well,
16:10we'll give that a little shot. There it is there, that is active. Let go of the brake.
16:18That's not too bad, it's not running away too much, but like I've said in the other videos,
16:23I think I just prefer to do that myself, but there you go, not too bad. Doesn't feel any
16:27different to the BT-50, but you have the extra protection under the front there to keep things
16:32safe. Okay, so Mazda BT-50 Thunder, what do we reckon? Look, I'm in two minds, I think it looks
16:41really cool, they've done a good job with the styling at the front there, I think the flared
16:45wheel arches kind of give it a bit of presence, but it's like they ran most of the marathon and
16:50then just stopped right near the end. It really should have all-terrain tyres, maybe have a lift
16:55and also a snorkel, and I really just am not a fan of the wiring and how sort of unfinished it
17:01looks, but like I said, this is a pre-production car, so I'm going to reserve judgment until I
17:05actually see a production car, and hopefully by that point the wiring will all look nice and neat
17:10and finished. So let me know what you think in the comments section below. Yes, you do get a lot
17:14of value with the extra stuff that they've bolted onto it, but do you think it's complete? Do you
17:17think it could do with just a couple more bits and pieces to help it have that image? So let me know
17:22what you reckon in the comments section below. Have you ordered one? Are you going to order one?
17:26And if you aren't going to order one, what are you going to order instead? I always like hearing
17:30from you guys and the people that actually buy these things. So if you did enjoy this video,
17:34make sure you share it with your mates, hit the like button, and if you haven't done so already,
17:37subscribe to our channel. But until next time, take it easy.