2025 Mazda BT-50 review | CarExpert

The Mazda BT-50 continues to fly under the radar of most ute buyers in Australia, as evidenced by its position below the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux, Isuzu D-Max, and Mitsubishi Triton in the sales race.

That’s a shame, because the BT-50 makes a strong case for itself. In my humble opinion, few dual-cab 4×4 ute rivals come close to matching the BT-50 as far as appearances go, with its SUV-like design and premium cabin presentation.

The Mazda badge holds plenty of credibility, and the BT-50 is well equipped across the range, too.

That leads me to believe that this handsome ute deserves better, but I’m not sure if now is the best time to buy one. A facelifted model has been revealed, around 12 months after the updated version of its Isuzu D-Max twin, and it’s slated to arrive Down Under in the first quarter of 2025.

WATCH: Paul’s video review of the 2023 Mazda BT-50 LE

The refresh will bring a rounded set of upgrades, from exterior tweaks, infotainment improvements, as well as new safety kit. With that in mind, the argument to rush out and spec up a current model seems weak.

But perhaps a week behind the wheel of a loaded SP Pro will change my mind…

How does the Mazda BT-50 compare?

View a detailed breakdown of the Mazda BT-50 against similarly sized vehicles.

Mazda

BT-50

How much does the Mazda BT-50 cost?

The SP sits at the pointy end of the BT-50 range, below only the rough-and-ready SP Thunder off-road flagship.

That doesn’t tell the full story though, as our tester is equipped with both the Pro Enhancement Pack ($7668) and the Premium Infotainment Upgrade ($4948).

Those additions, plus optional premium paint ($695), bring the total price of this example to $79,975 drive-away in Victoria. And $80k is a lot of dosh for a mid-size ute.

4×2

4×4

To see how the Mazda BT-50 stacks up against its rivals, use our comparison tool.

What is the Mazda BT-50 like on the inside?

The BT-50 is a product of Mazda’s recent premium push, especially in SP trim.

Most utes are workmanlike inside, with cabins comprised of hard-wearing materials that offer little in the way of luxury. Not this one.

The interior of the BT-50 SP Pro is genuinely pleasant. It’s trimmed in a combination of black and light brown leather, and common touch points including the seats, door cards, steering wheel and centre console are premium in both look and feel.

Even areas exposed to relatively little traffic present well. For example, the dash top is finished in soft leather with contrast stitching.

As far as first impressions go, this ute nails it, particularly from the perspective of families and lifestyle buyers. Tradies might want materials that are a little more resilient to daily wear and tear, but Mazda already offers plenty of worksite-friendly variants further down the BT-50 range.

And the BT-50 SP backs up initial visual wow factor with genuine substance in the form of supremely comfortable front seats.

Trimmed in dual leather hues like the rest of the interior, the leather pews feel like your favourite armchair, with seemingly endless base cushioning.

The chairs could do with a little more side bolstering to hold you in place, especially when the tarmac runs out, but I can’t complain comfort-wise. Both front seats are heated for those cold winter mornings.

It’s easy to find the perfect driving position, as the driver’s seat offers electric adjustment and the steering wheel both tilts and telescopes.

Another selling point of our SP Pro test car is the optional ‘Premium Infotainment Upgrade’. The $5000 equipment pack includes an 11-inch Alpine touchscreen infotainment system, wireless smartphone mirroring, and an upgraded sound system with inbuilt amplifier.

I’ll cut to the chase though: the enhancements don’t justify the additional cost.

Don’t get me wrong, the upsized infotainment screen is impressive to look at – the system is seamlessly integrated into the dash, and boasts crisp graphics.

However, the unit itself is relatively basic, so don’t expect a swathe of features or customisation options. The software was laggy in our press vehicle too, resulting in delayed responses to touch inputs.

Wireless smartphone mirroring is a worthwhile addition, and Apple CarPlay worked flawlessly throughout my time with the BT-50. With that in mind, it’s best to avoid the native functions where possible and stick with mirroring.

I was also left a little underwhelmed by the Alpine sound system, which gets a B grading on the BT-50 school report.

All things considered, $4948 is a lot to pay for the infotainment upgrade and the base system is perfectly serviceable.

The package doesn’t address the instrument arrangement in the BT-50, either. Instead of a modern digital instrument cluster, you’re greeted by a pair of old-school gauges and a puny centre screen.

It’s not like Mazda can’t produce some decent tech, either. Take the dual-zone climate controls, which combine physical toggles with digital readouts. The setup is nice on the eye and easy to use… A+ on this front. Charging of mobile devices is taken care of by two USB-C outlets and a 12V socket, all situated below the climate controls.

Considering the size of the BT-50, I’d love a little more interior storage. Up front you get a shallow centre console, small glovebox and skinny door bins, as well as an extra cubby above the glovebox.

Central cupholders also feature, but any serious ute needs tradie-style drink holders in the dash, right?

Further evidence that the BT-50 SP is targeted at adventurous families rather than work crews can be found in the second row.

For starters, I found my knees pressed against the seat backing when seated behind my standard driving position, and any passenger topping 6’3″ will struggle for headroom. That rules out cramming in a trio of well-built labourers, then.

But Mum and Dad shouldn’t worry, because kids will fit without issue. And regardless of your frame, ingress and egress is made easy by chunky side steps and ergonomic grab handles.

The seats themselves have the same plush feel as those in the front row, although the rear seating position is a little too upright to be comfortable for more than one or two hours.

Second row amenities include map pockets, adjustable air vents, bottle holders in the doors, and an armrest with integrated cupholders. Passengers are forced to fight over a single USB-A outlet, which will undoubtedly be the source of many charger arguments.

There’ll be no fighting over cargo space though, as the BT-50 has a spacious tub that will swallow plenty of stuff.

The tub comes with a spray-in plastic liner, and is equipped with a manual tonneau cover. It’s not the most secure ute, as the tailgate lock is operated independent of central locking. All it takes is for you to forget this quirk once and any valuables stored in the tray could quite easily be stolen.

What’s under the bonnet?

This Mazda BT-50 is fitted with the more powerful 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine. Some variants are offered with the smaller and more efficient 1.9-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine.

To see how the Mazda BT-50 stacks up against its rivals, use our comparison tool.

How does the Mazda BT-50 drive?

This ain’t no rickety horse and cart with an engine up front. Rather, the BT-50 SP Pro is a refined lifestyle ute designed with comfort front of mind.

From the front, it looks like an SUV and it rides a lot like one too, soaking up bumps around town with ease. The SP Pro comes standard with upgraded Nitrocharger suspension, which includes springs and dampers that can be configured to your needs by the dealer pre-delivery.

By default, the Nitrocharger suspension kit brings a 40mm suspension lift, as well as a 12mm track increase.

My experience with the uprated suspension setup was a positive one, as the BT-50 SP was soft and supple without ever feeling floaty.

Around town it’s an easy beast to drive, with plenty of lowdown torque to get you rolling from a standstill. That’s supported by the specs – the BT-50 produces 450Nm from 1600rpm.

It’s not quite the 600Nm you get from a V6 Ford Ranger or Volkswagen Amarok, nor even the 500Nm offered by equivalent four-cylinder turbo-diesel versions of Australia’s two most popular utes, but I found the BT-50 to have more than adequate shove at urban speeds.

In addition to a tractable engine, the BT-50 has light and direct steering that makes it easy to pick gaps in traffic and navigate tight suburban streets and carpark. Despite its substantial dimensions, this Mazda is comfortable sharing the road with much smaller vehicles and you never feel like you’re driving a bus.

I found parking easier than expected, too. All variants come with a reversing camera (albeit one that’s a bit grainy in resolution) as standard, and the SP adds front parking sensors.

Both are handy devices, but Mazda is shaded by Ford in this regard as the similarly priced Ranger Wildtrak is equipped with a surround-view camera that adds plenty of value for vehicles of this length.

Once you get out onto the highway, the BT-50 SP transforms into a comfortable cruiser with all the tools needed for extended stints at high speeds.

Even in the absence of a loaded tray it takes a while to get up to speed, but once you back off the throttle and let momentum and that generous low-end torque do the work, the diesel racket settles down.

Automatic variants including our tester offer adaptive cruise control, which is intuitive and reactive to changes in traffic conditions.

As with other Mazdas I’ve experienced, it’s safe to set and forget adaptive cruise in the BT-50 – you’ll very rarely encroach past safe braking distances, and changes in speed are silky smooth.

The ADAS suite also includes a lane-centring feature that does its best work on clearly marked motorways, as the system can lose its bearings. The great thing about the system in the BT-50 is that it can be turned off with the press of a button conveniently located on the steering wheel.

A driver monitoring system is also included as standard and the best sign that it works properly is that I never noticed it. Take notes, Mitsubishi Triton.

I have mixed feelings about the forward collision warning system. On one hand, the warnings are unnecessarily common.

On the other, they come in the form of an effective flashing light on the windscreen, instead of a disconcerting shuddering through the car which is dangerous in itself.

Finally, as we’ve noted in previous reviews of this model, the BT-50 has excellent LED headlights that are assisted by a Lightforce LED light bar positioned behind the grille on the SP.

What do you get?

Mazda BT-50 XS and XT highlights:

• 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system
  • Wired Android Auto
  • Wireless Apple CarPlay
  • DAB+ digital radio
• 4.2-inch instrument cluster screen
• Cloth upholstery
• Carpeted floors
• Air-conditioning
• Power windows
• Cruise control (Manual)
• Adaptive cruise control with Stop & Go (Auto)
• Reversing camera
• LED headlights
• Rain-sensing wipers
• Automatic headlights
• Automatic high-beam
• 17-inch wheels (alloy on XT)

XTR adds:

• 9.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system
• Satellite navigation
• Dual-zone climate control
• Rear air vents
• Leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter
• Auto-dimming interior mirror
• Rear seat centre armrest
• Power-folding exterior mirrors
• Keyless entry and start
• Tyre pressure monitoring
• LED headlights with auto levelling
• LED front fog lights and daytime running lights
• Side steps
• 18-inch alloy wheels

GT adds:

• Brown leather upholstery
• Eight-way power driver’s seat
• Heated front seats
• Remote engine start (automatic only)
• Front parking sensors
• Heated chrome exterior mirrors

SP adds:

• Dark grey roof rails
• Black grille
• Glossy black exterior mirrors
• Gloss black door handles
• Black 18-inch alloy wheels
• Dark grey side steps
• ‘Driftwood’ leather and black synthetic suede trim
• Manually-operated black roller tonneau cover
• Tub liner
• Gloss black sail-plane sport bar
• Front bumper lower decoration trim
• Gloss black wheel flares

Options

Our SP tester is fitted with two option packages.

SP Pro enhancement pack ($7668) adds:

• 18-inch alloy wheels
• Nitrocharger suspension upgrade kit (40mm lift)
• Lightforce LED light bar
• SP Pro decals

Premium Infotainment Upgrade ($4948) adds:

• 11.0-inch Alpine touchscreen infotainment system
• Wireless Android Auto
• Tidal music streaming
• 2x USB-C ports
• HDMI input
• Auxiliary input
• 300W 6×9-inch Alpine front-door speakers
• 2x Alpine front tweeters

Is the Mazda BT-50 safe?

The Mazda BT-50 has a five-star ANCAP safety rating with a 2022 date stamp, based on tests conducted on the related Isuzu D-Max. This rating applies to all variants bar the BT-50 Thunder.

The utes were reassessed despite having already received five-star ratings in 2020, as the D-Max and BT-50 received a design change to the driver’s knee airbag and instrument panel.

All Mazda BT-50 models come standard with the following safety features:

• Autonomous emergency braking
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Lane-departure warning
• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Turn assist
• Driver attention monitoring
• Front, front-side and curtain airbags
• Driver’s knee airbag
• Front-centre airbag
• Traffic sign recognition

Automatic models gain lane-keep assist and adaptive cruise control.

How much does the Mazda BT-50 cost to run?

The Mazda BT-50 is covered by the Japanese brand’s five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty with roadside assistance for the same period.

Servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first. Service prices vary depending on the model. 

To see how the Mazda BT-50 stacks up against its rivals, use our comparison tool.

CarExpert’s Take on the Mazda BT-50

The Mazda BT-50 SP Pro is a classy ute that you’ll never dread driving, but it’s a hard sell for $80,000 as tested.

Yes, it’s lovely to look at, both inside and out, thanks to a handsome front-end design that’s in line with Mazda’s huge SUV range, and cabin materials that put Ford and Toyota to shame.

The BT-50 SP also does its best to keep up with the pack as a driving machine – we have no complaints about the upgraded Nitrocharger suspension, and Mazda’s array of driver assists are all refreshingly user-friendly.

However, at $80k, the SP Pro (with premium infotainment) is playing with the big boys. You can take your pick of the HiLux range for that money, or pivot to a Ranger Wildtrak. If comfort and refinement top your list of priorities, the Volkswagen Amarok Style meets the brief with the added benefit of a beefier turbo-diesel V6.

Speaking of engines, all the aforementioned vehicles offer more grunt than the BT-50, which can feel laboured when overtaking on the highway.

What’s more, updated versions of the BT-50 will land in Australia early next year.

That settles it then. We can put a line through this handsome ute and move on… right? Not quite.

Now in runout, the BT-50 SP is a far more tantalising proposition if you resist temptation and leave option boxes unticked. Without the Pro and Premium Infotainment packages the BT-50 SP comes in at a far more competitive $65,990 drive-away, pricing it in line with the Ranger XLT and HiLux SR5.

Now we’re talking. After all, neither option pack adds must-have equipment, and you’ll get better value out of a few choice aftermarket upgrades.

As a lifestyle ute, a bare-bones SP is the better value play, although I’d still lean towards a Ranger for trips to and from the worksite.

Interested in buying a Mazda BT-50? Get in touch with one of CarExpert’s trusted dealers here

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