Sucked of its life force to wither and die somewhere over western Queensland, Cyclone Alfred left crippling heartache and deep scars that will cost billions to heal.
But the sun is shining in our neck of the woods, and thousands of cars, undercover for days, have filled the roads and streets again.
Happily, for us, this included a short run in the Mazda BT-50 Thunder utility for four passengers that brought cause to hum loudly a verse from the Rudyard Kipling-inspired song: “On the road to Mandalay/Where the flyin’ fishes play/And the dawn comes up like thunder/Out of China ‘cross the bay” … and so on.
We took the Thunder to Mount Coot-tha, a forested mountain suburb and popular bushland tourist destination.
Around Brisbane, many roads are still covered with broken branches, with potholes looming every kilometre or so. So, it was great to know that the BT-50 was loaded with all the modern safety features usually fitted to passenger cars.
This includes eight airbags, auto emergency braking with pedestrian, cyclist, and intersection assist, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, lane keep assist with lane trace assist, forward collision alert, auto high beam, driver fatigue detection, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go functionality, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, and an alarm.
The BT-50’s 3-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine produces 140 kW at 3600 rpm and 450 Nm at 1600-2600 rpm. Those power and torque figures represent a decrease of 7 kW and 20 Nm from the previous BT-50’s five-cylinder engine.
The new model is much better equipped than the previous model with a lot more technology. Also, the popular ute ditches manual transmission and goes auto only after major update to the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max.
Thunder comes equipped with 18-in. alloy wheels with a full-sized spare wheel, a 9-in. touchscreen with satellite navigation, digital radio, wireless Apple CarPlay and an eight-speaker sound system.
There’s dual-zone climate control, brown leather upholstery, an electric driver’s seat with lumbar adjustment, heated front seats, keyless entry with push-button and remote start, automatic LED lighting, rain-sensing wipers, heated and power-folding exterior mirrors, side steps, a steel bull bar, fender flairs, roll bar and mud flaps – all now standard.
A range of measures include more foam, improved carpeting, and extra quietness.
The Thunder gains a tub liner, fender flairs, black side steps, a black steel sports bar (roll bar), black 18-in. wheels and an LED light bar all for an extra $6000 over the previous top-spec BT-50 GT.
An electric roller cover made from durable, weather-resistant aluminium fully integrates with the BT-50’s remote central locking.
The tray on this pick-up measures 157 1 mm long, 1120 mm wide between the wheel arches, 1530 mm wide at the top, and 490 mm deep. The payload varies from 1379 kg for the XS single cab to 924 kg for the XTR dual cab.
Now, starting from $36,400, plus on-roads and topping out at $71,500, the new BT-50 is between $550 and $3470 more expensive.
Mazda claims the utility uses eight litres for every 100 km covered under a combined (urban, extra-urban) cycle test with the 3-litre engine and an automatic transmission. Bringing a 76-litre fuel tank, which calculates at a mean range of around 950 km.
