The D-Max would be a pretty good choice of vehicle for this task. The three-litre engine is well regarded in the trade and because it’s a little larger (in capacity) than some of its competition, it also has a bit more torque which is great for towing. With a 3.5-tonne towing capacity, it’s also up with the best of them.

As far as fuel consumption goes, you need to bear in mind that even though it’s a four-cylinder diesel engine doing the work, you’re actually asking quite a lot of it when you’re towing a caravan at highway speeds. With that in mind, you can forget about the official combined figure of 7.8 litres per 100km. Bank on at least double that and maybe a bit more, especially if the caravan is a bigger one.

Car-makers tend to like to keep information like this a bit of a secret until the vehicle is officially launched, Michael. And since I can’t even find out when in the next 12 months the new D-Max is due to hit showrooms, it’s a bit tricky to answer your question. Word around the campfire, though, is that the new D-Max will indeed have an electronically locking rear differential, where previous models didn’t even have a limited-slip rear diff. So that’s good news.

Generally, you can’t engage a rear diff lock without engaging four-wheel-drive, but when it comes to what happens with traction-control at that point, the various manufacturers tend to go their own ways. Some will leave the traction-control active with the rear diff locked, others don’t. The former arrangement is generally regarded as the superior system for off-road traction, but it does potentially place more stress on the driveline. But which way Isuzu intends to jump in this regard is still anybody’s guess.