A quick look at the Isuzu Alterra – The couch potato’s SUV

I’ve always had a soft spot for Isuzu’s Alterra, particularly the range-topping 5.1 Surround Sound-equipped, DVD-playing model. Few vehicles can match its sheer road-gobbling ability, what with its comfy (for a ladder-frame SUV) ride, torquey yet economical 3.0-liter CRDi engine, spacious 7-seat cabin, and that superb subwoofer-equipped dual headrest-mounted 7-inch LCD monitor 11-speaker (!) AV entertainment system.

Sure, its styling is a bit too derivative of the D-MAX pickup’s, but a recent facelift was performed to move its styling cues a bit more upmarket. I like the new vertical "stacked" look of the new projector-type headlights, which remind me of those from the Cadillac CTS used in the second Matrix movie. I wish I could say the same thing about the wide chrome grille, however. I just find it too tacky; and that it somehow makes the front end of this otherwise minimally embellished truck over-decorated.

The other styling strong points – the sloping roofline that describes the rearmost side window as well as the vertical tail lamps – were thankfully retained. The rest of the changes (new foglamps, rear chrome license plate garnish) are too subtle to even mention. Save for the grille and headlights, it’s hard to tell a 1st-gen Alterra from this face-lifted one.

Even the dashboard (the instrument panel now has those cool Lexus-originated Optitron gauges), console, seats, and the rest of the interior look pretty much the same—which is just as well, because it was a well-built, spacious, and versatile cabin to begin with.

I also applaud the creamy (in both color and texture) leather seats. Despite their light color, they don’t seem to stain easily, even with my three rambunctious kids jumping up and over the 2nd- and 3rd-row seats repeatedly and eating (and spilling) everything in sight.

We never went off-roading in this Isuzu. (Who does in these multimillion-peso trucks anyway?) Suffice to say that the Alterra will never take the place of the legendary Trooper. But as a flagship to Isuzu’s commercial vehicle line and as an alternative to the popular Toyota Fortuner, Ford Everest as well as any number of car-based sport-utility vehicles in its price class, the Alterra is always worthy of a close look.

Price-wise, the 2007 Alterra 4x2 starts at a reasonable P1,475,000 for the manual and P1,530,000 for the automatic. Tack on all the options as fitted on our automatic-equipped 4x4 test car, however, and you’re looking at the high side of P1,658,000 – definitely not cheap, but still reasonable for what must be the most feature-packed SUV in its class.

THE GOOD

• Comfy ride, for a truck-based SUV

• Spacious, versatile cabin

• Thundering 5.1 DVD entertainment system

• More cupholders than you can shake a coffee stick at

THE BAD

• Wallflower styling (and a facelift that doesn’t really do much)

• High and unrefined noise levels from the engine

THE VERDICT

• Go for the all-singing, all-dancing Surround Sound 4x4 model and you (or at least your passengers) will never be bored on – or off – the road again.