Mazda’s range of lifestyle and workhorse bakkies have always enjoyed good market success, and as such have found themselves in happy homes and businesses all over the country. And this is a trend that is set to continue with the introduction of the latest Mazda BT 50 models onto our roads.
Completely new on the outside and the inside, with the greatest news being the move up to an all new 3.0 litre turbodiesel powerplant that sees the Mazda push out a very respectable 115 kW of power at 3 200 rpm and 380 Nm of torque at 1 800 rpm.
Mazda BT 50 3.0 litre turbodiesel
But only respectable it is in this tough as nails class, where there are 120 kW and 390 Nm offerings available from the competition. And the, on the road value of this extra grunt is evident when you put the Mazda against the competition and the clock.
0-100 km/h comes up in a sluggish 14 seconds, almost two seconds slower than its nearest 3.0 litre turbodiesel rival, the Isuzu, and four seconds slower than the class leading Toyota Hilux, the 1 km sprint passes by in 35 seconds, and top speed is just over 160 km/h, again the slowest of the bunch on both accounts.
But flat out sprinting is not the only criteria to judge a vehicle by, almost more importantly, how well does it perform when it comes to overtaking? Here again the Mazda performs respectably with the 60-100 km/h dash in 4th taking 9.45 seconds and the 80-120 km/h segment in 5th taking 14.44 seconds, but still slower than the competition by a few seconds again.
But this all changes in an instant with the fitment of an SAC Power Plug. From the moment you drive off in your vehicle you will be amazed at the difference a R6 900 power upgrade can make. No cutting of wires, no doing away with the manufacturers safety parameters, just plug it in and go. Your Mazda now with 128 kW of power and 422 Nm of torque comes alive and simply claws its way back to the top of the pile.
The competition cannot touch it anywhere, except on top speed, where 168 km/h is just not enough to take the class, but the 0-100 km/h time is down to 11 seconds, the 1 km sprint is quicker too and the overtaking is almost in another league with the 60-100 km/h dash in 4th now only taking 7.45 seconds and the 80-120 km/h segment in 5th taking a mere 10.83 seconds.
| Performance Data – Mazda BT 50 3.0 litre turbodiesel – |
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| Sprint Times | Standard | SAC | ||
| ACCELERATION: | ||||
| 0 – 60 km/h: | 5.59 secs | 4.27 secs | ||
| 0 – 80 km/h: | 9.02 secs | 7.26 secs | ||
| 0 – 100 km/h: | 14.07 secs | 11.09 secs | ||
| 0 – 120 km/h: | 20.16 secs | 15.46 secs | ||
| Quarter mile: |
19.06 secs @ 116.98 km/h | 17.57 secs @ 127.26 km/h | ||
| 1 km: | 35.29 secs @ 145.89 km/h | 32.55 secs @ 157.22 km/h | ||
| 60-100km/h (4th): | 9.45 secs | 7.45 secs | ||
| 80-120 km/h (5th): | 14.44 secs | 10.83 secs | ||
| True Top Speed: | 163.61 km/h | 168.17 km/h | ||