LDV T60 2020 review: Trailrider 2: off-road test

The five-seat dual-cab Trailrider 2 is available with a six-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed automatic transmission. 

The manual variant is priced from $39,990 driveaway and $37,990 driveaway for ABN holders. 

The Trailrider 2 has a smaller engine than before, but it has more power and torque.

The auto variant, which we tested, is priced from $42,095 driveaway and $39,990 driveaway for ABN holders.

The auto’s standard features list includes a 10-inch touchscreen, Apple CarPlay (but no Android Auto), 19-inch black alloy wheels, selectable four-wheel drive, an on-demand rear diff lock, rear parking sensors, reversing camera and a 360-degree view camera. 

The Trailrider does not have front parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, or AEB.

The auto’s standard features include a 10-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay (but no Android Auto).

It also gets a nudge bar, black alloys, side steps, roof rails, sports bar and ‘Trailrider’ branding on the tailgate.

The cabin is spacious and comfortable with a premium budget feel to it.

The cabin is spacious and comfortable.

It’s big and roomy in the back row, and there's plenty of head, knee and leg room across the seats. 

There's a fold-down centre arm rest with two cup holders, air vents and a 12 volt power socket. 

The back row has two top tether points and two Isofix points.

Upfront that premium budget feel becomes even more pronounced: the steering wheel is leather wrapped; the comfortable front seats are leather trimmed and they’re power-adjustable; and it all feels pretty well laid out and well put-together too. 

The back row has two top tether points and two Isofix points.

That big 10-inch touchscreen dominates the centre console. We hooked up AppleCarplay no problem – but remember there's no Android Auto. (I only realised that after trying for ages to connect my Android Auto smartphone with no success.)

The Trailrider 2 does pretty well.

Steering is quite light and responsive and that’s handy at lower speeds and in low-range, four-wheel driving when you have to manoeuvre this substantial unit around in the bush. It has a 12.6m turning circle so it can be a handful.

Its new 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine does a good job; it’s is not the torquiest thing around in this slice of the market, but there's enough there to get the job done. 

Low-range gearing is decent, as is the traction control system, and there’s an on-demand rear diff lock, that self-engages when required at speeds under 30 km/h.

Steering is quite light and responsive.

Engine braking is good. Hill descent control is surprisingly smooth; it’s really even and fair in its delivery going down steep hills.

Its leaf-spring suspension at the rear is pretty firm and jittery over harsher corrugations, but that's what you'd expect in a ute. 

In terms of off-road angles, the Trailrider 2 has a 27-degree approach angle, 24.2-degree departure angle, and a 21.3-degree rampover angle. 

The Trailrider 2 does pretty well off-road.

All-round it's okay off-road, but there are a few trade-offs: it feels quite low – ground clearance is listed as 215mm – and it’s a lengthy ute with a long wheelbase so it often scraped its belly, even while traversing innocuous ruts or minor obstacles.

The Trailrider’s road tyres – Continental ContiSportContact 255/55 R19* – don’t do you any favours off-road either. If you're thinking about using this ute as a work or touring platform, throw on a decent set of all-terrains. (* Note: the spare is a 245/65R17 on a steel rim.)

Visibility out of the cabin is good and, if you need to see more, then you can always use that 360-degree view camera to show the view of the front, the rear and down either side of the vehicle.

And you've also got that approximation of a bird’s-eye view so you can check out how you’re going on the track. That big screen is impressive, but the functionality is less so; I struggled with it a bit and, please note, the image depicted on that screen is quite dark in anything other than perfect light – forget it if you’re parked or driving through mottled light (which is always the case in the bush) or a bit of cloud cover or there’s an overcast sky. 

If you're thinking about using this ute as a work or touring platform, throw on a decent set of all-terrain tyres.

In general terms, the Trailrider 2 never feels as comfortably capable as a similarly priced Triton, and it’s never as refined or as stress-free, but you tend to have to pay more for those. But at this price point, the Trailrider 2 is solidly decent.

As for its touring suitability, the tub is 1525mm long, load height is 820mm, and it is 1510mm wide, but 1131mm between the wheel arches and it's 1430mm wide at the rear. 

There are four tie-down points in the tray, one at each corner, and the surface area is covered in a sturdy tub liner.

There are four tie-down points in the tray.

It has a lockable Mountain Top roller cover, and while that does provide improved security, it reduces the versatility of the load space. At least the roller cover drum at the front end of the tray is compact and doesn’t take up so much load space.

The Trailrider 2’s official payload is listed as 865kg (on this occasion, calculated by the vehicle manufacturer as GVM minus tare weight); the original Trailrider has an official payload figure of 765kg (on that occasion, calculated by the vehicle manufacturer as GVM minus kerb weight).

It has a towing capacity of 750kg (unbraked) and 3000kg (braked), and a gross vehicle mass (GVM) of 2900kg and a gross combined mass (GCM) of 5900kg. 

All Trailriders have a five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing in August, 2017.

Safety gear includes six airbags, blind spot monitoring, lane departure warning, hill descent control, hill-start assist system, tyre-pressure monitoring, and that 360-degree view camera. 

The Trailrider 2 does not have front parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, or AEB.