Exit Isuzu TFS, enter the much sexier-sounding D-Max Double Cab from the same maker. Well, a delayed entry, maybe, as the vehicle won't go on sale here until September, though it has had a very successful introduction to Asian and Australian markets over the past year.

And I was just lucky to get a turn in the only demo version so far in the country before it was snapped away by a dealer from Donegal, who probably has a few clients already putting down their deposits.

The boom is probably over in such machines, with the shift back to a heavier VRT penalty, and so only the best will sell in any numbers from here on.

The D-Max seems likely to be among that select number, if my experience is anything to go by. It will also be the first 'new-generation' Isuzu with the latest 3-litre turbodiesel. Full Irish specifications are not yet fixed as this piece goes to press, but it will be at the top end, and will include air-conditioning, and ABS with EBD. The price being talked about at the moment is around E34,000.

The D-Max is a pickup in the classic mould, and looks the high-steppin' part of what the Americans call a 'truck' and which they buy more for the macho image than for any working need. I've no doubt that this Isuzu is able to do the work as well as anything from the brand, but it also has the capacity to act as a surprisingly comfortable car for anyone wanting to carry the family rather than the work gang. But we'll get to that later.

The review vehicle was tricked out with all the chromed visuals: bull-bar, rear corner protectors, extended door sills, and the like. Which do make a difference to those attracted by the same macho thing that has the Yanks running up the world's biggest gasoline bill in 'trucks'. The front lights are a particularly neat feature, with a very distinctively American look.

Inside there's also a distinctly American market feel, though in a finish and fit better than the average US-built car. There's no flash about the instruments, which are simple and clear and pleasantly bereft of 'gimmick' information. The driving position is typical of these machines, high because of all the 4WD paraphernalia under the floor, which is also higher for the ground clearance. So sometimes in this segment I have a slight headroom problem, but it wasn't apparent in the D-Max.

The narrow style of the doors to the rear of the cabin boded poorly for space, again something I've found before. But even with the driver's seat set back to the limit, there was room for my knees and my feet behind without pressing into the seat back. And the straight run of the roof even gave me more headroom than I sometimes get in a D-segment saloon. And I reckon on adequate room for three across that back seat.

The rear load bed had, as the pictures show, a box top complete with sliding side windows and a flip-up rear window. It looked good, and depending on the workstyle or lifestyle would be a useful (temporary) storage for the toolboxes or the hound or the food shopping. (Not the latter two together, of course.)

Maybe it was the extra weight of the bigger cab, and the boxtop, but it seemed to me that the fidgety ride and handling characteristics one normally gets from this species - unless ballast-loaded with a sack or two of sand in the rear - were commendably absent. In fact, the whole on-road experience with the D-Max was as good as with most cars.

The ride is controlled without being hard, the steering positive without being tetchy, and the 3-litre 4-pot turbodiesel which has come a long way from the crude sound of yore from equivalent units. Isuzu is probably the world's biggest manufacturer of diesel engines, supplying to other GM companies and others outside the fold. This is an engine developed for the D-Max application, and pushes 88 kW of power at 3,500 rpm and pulls 245 Nm at 2,000 rpm. A 2.5-litre version available elsewhere is not in current plans for Ireland.

Drive options - 2WD, 4WDH and 4WDL - are all selected by electric buttons on the dash. A neat and fussless system. Brakes are disc in front and drum rears, while suspension follows traditional lines for this kind of vehicle, independent double wishbone in front with torsion bar springs, and semi-eclipse steel leaf at the back with gas pressurised shocks.

The overall length of the D-Max is 5020 mm and it is 1720 mm wide. Minimum ground clearance is 195 mm.

Overall, and subject to a further longer-term time with the D-Max, I suspect that this is going to be one of those 'must try' machines for the comfortably-heeled urban cowboy as much as it should be for the buyer requiring a real workhorse.