Manufacturers know that when producing a ute or other commercial vehicle they are making something that is going to have to under go some serious amount of work, strain and in some cases abuse. As a result of this most of them are very good vehicles with the advise only to avoid The Colorado, D40 Navara, the Rodeo and the Great Wall range.
It is also advised to avoid the Commodore and Falcon utes. Not because there is anything wrong with them mechanically but we see these vehicles don’t cope with the pressures of the worksite as well as some of the others.
What are the best utes on the market currently? In our opinion, solely based off what we have witnessed coming though our workshop and only based off mechanical faults we have witnessed. It has nothing to do with driver comfort, fuel mileage or its ability to climb a rock face at full throttle.
In all cases we advise getting a Diesel ute. The only one downside to diesel systems is an issue that may arise with a part called a DPF. More information on that can be found by clicking here.
The best thing currently on the market is the Ford Ranger. The Mazda BT50 is effectively the same vehicle so you can include that in our number one preference too. You can read our review on this by clicking on this link here.
We also recommend the Toyota Hilux and the Isuzu D Max. Both are a strong truck with very few faults in the Diesel models, with lower kilometres on them. However later in life these trucks do give troubles with diesel injectors and DPF filters.
If you are after a cheaper truck with less bells and whistles the D22 Navara is a very good ute. The D22 has very few known faults and has the advantage of being a basic set up. Very few fancy gadgets allow for a ute that rarely gives trouble, can go underwater and recover and will handle the treatment most tradesmen give them.
The Mitsubishi Trition is a good truck too, however watch out for common faults of EGR valves blocking up and the inlet manifold building up excess carbon forcing the MAP sensor to not get a reading.
Finally the VW Amarok is on this list but only just. Its not much chop but its not too bad either. The Amarok is comparable to your mother in law. You can handle it but if you can avoid it you should. We have covered this vehicle in a review you can read here.
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