Remember the Australian Bicentenary celebrations in 1988? The flags, street parties, parades, endless barbecues and many more activities that kept us enthralled for weeks that culminated on that stunning summer’s day of January 26th 1998. It seems like a long time ago - it was a long time ago.

Isuzu Australia remembers 1988 well, but for another reason. Because 1988 was the last time the Japanese truck specialist wasn’t number one in the Australian truck sales charts. That’s right, since 1989 Isuzu has dominated the truck market here. While Holden, Ford and Toyota have all taken turns at the top spot in the passenger car arena, Isuzu has remained alone on top of the podium in trucks.

 Australians are amongst the most demanding of people, our no-nonsense approach and the harsh country in which we live demand that. Few Aussies are tougher than those in the transport field and Isuzu works hard and works smart to satisfy them.

We were reminded of this during the two days we have just spent with the Australian engineers who work with the Japanese head office to tailor Isuzu trucks to suit our needs. The event was organised to introduce trucking journalists to the so-called ‘Euro 5‘ engines designed to meet the tough emission control regulations that come into play on January 1st next year.

Australian Design Rule (ADR) 80:03 for exhaust emissions from trucks is actually stricter than that for passenger cars. We won’t go into details on the complex demands of ADR 80:03 or the different ways that the various Isuzu diesel engines have been modified to meet it, your local Isuzu truck dealer can assist with that.

The dealers can also help with critical information on the servicing needs for the latest engines as they are already in the throes of the comprehensive training needed to keep the engines clean and performing at their best.

Our extensive test drives in eight different models in the Isuzu N and F Series trucks over the last 24 hours have shown that power and torque are at least the same as on the outgoing Euro 4 engines and that fuel consumption has remained the same or actually been reduced slightly.

Drivability feels good and the engines work well in the loaded conditions we experience in the hills behind the coast in south-east Queensland. And the Isuzus had no problems cruising at the speed limits on the motorways.

The only drivability problems we did experience were from the automated manual transmissions (AMTs) on the N Series Isuzus aimed at the drivers on car licences, particularly those trucks aimed at the rental fleet. Though Isuzu’s engineers assured us the AMTs have been improved since we last sampled them a couple of years back we still found them frustratingly slow in their actions.

As well as having cleaner engines, Isuzu model year 11 trucks have numerous other changes. These vary from model to model, but include the fitting of dual airbags to more variants than previously, smoother suspensions on some models, the use of a keyless entry system to some topline N Series and other detailed changes.

New models include an NLS 200 six-seat crew-cab, an NLS 200 Tipper and an FVR 1000 with automatic transmission. Again, we suggest you contact your local Isuzu dealer for details.

Having spent a lot of time and effort in improving its engines the guys at Isuzu trucks Australia expressed their frustration to us on the lack of incentives from the Australian government to persuade truck operators to buy new, cleaner vehicles. The average age of trucks in this country is a staggering 14.3 years and the older vehicles, even those in good condition, are putting out far more pollutants than the new generation engines.