Road Tests: Isuzu NQR 7.5 Easyshift

The compact Isuzu NQR is quite obviously designed for the urban jungle, and for use by those vocational operators who don't necessarily want a 'proper truck' but still have a serious job of work to be done. In fact, it joins its similarly dimensioned contemporaries in underlining how inefficient a 'proper' 7.5-tonner is. With its extra half-tonne of payload potential, this design actually does a more productive job, although it might be hard to persuade potential drivers. Which is where Easyshift comes in. If you're going to employ drivers for whom driving is not necessarily their primary role, why not make it easy? Not everyone wants to play at big truckers, and self-changing gears make it easier to concentrate on the job in hand. There's still a relative deficiency of automated or automatic transmissions at 7.5 tonnes, so we have a less-than-ideal databank for comparison. However, it's clear that Isuzu's offering does the job. Maybe not as quickly as it could, but without any major detriment to economy. If you're one of those tidy people who travels light, go ahead. But if you go through life with the normal amount of paraphernalia, the Isuzu's cab limitations might be the only deal breaker.