Dual-cab ute family features explained

Occupying four of the top 10 best-selling vehicle slots for 2022, and ranking highly month-in-month-out, dual-cab utes are fast becoming popular family haulers as much as they are a typical tool of trade.

But should they be? We've taken 11 of the latest top contenders and examined how family-friendly they are – looking at space, comfort, safety and how easy it is to fit a child seat.

Now, fitting child seats in dual-cab utes is a very tricky business. The three types of seat we had available here – a rear-facing capsule (for babies up to six/12 months), a convertible (0-4 years old), which can be used front- or rear-facing, and a booster (four to roughly seven) – did not have ISOFIX anchors, instead just using seatbelts and top tether straps to hold them in place.

ON TEST

• Ford Ranger XLT 4cyl
• Ford Ranger Sport V6
• GWM Ute Cannon-X
• Isuzu D-Max LS-U
• LDV T60 Max Luxe
• Mazda BT-50 GT
• Mitsubishi Triton GLX+
• Mitsubishi Triton GSR
• Nissan Navara Pro-4X
• SsangYong Musso XLV Ultimate
• Toyota HiLux SR5

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Before we even got started on our testing, we consulted the good folks over at Baby Bunting about how these vehicles differ from passenger cars and SUVs – because crikey do they ever.

The most obvious way is that they have a tub instead of a boot, which is great for transporting everything you own for a driving holiday – but almost useless if you just have the normal daily essentials, such as a pram or shopping bags. Because they just don’t tie down easily, the result is that they get thrown around, bashing up both them and the paintwork.

More importantly, in terms of fitting child seats, the lack of access to a boot to adjust a top tether is a nightmare because it makes the entire process incredibly difficult, frustrating, time-consuming and – in some cases – almost impossible to fit safely for the average person.

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Getting the leverage to pull the strap tight enough is harder in some than others due to factors including the second-row seats’ positioning in relation to the door frame, tight spaces that make it easy for the top tether strap to get twisted when it should be flat, and whether or not the second row is split or comes forward as one.

The only ute in this pack to have a split rear row was the GWM Cannon-X, which divides 60:40 as many cars do, a huge plus because it means that you don’t need to unhook or adjust one child seat to be able to put in or take out another. Then depending on the ute, you’ll find either two or three top tether anchor points – but their location will not always be immediately obvious.

Some, as in the Toyota HiLux and Mazda BT-50, have fabric ‘webbing’ loops above each outboard seat, through which the tether needs to pass to reach a metal hook in the middle. Once you have found them, the rest is pretty straightforward (by ute standards of course; a car would still be much simpler).

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The Nissan Navara has three such loops to pass the top tether strap through and no metal fixture at all. While Nissan says this means three child seats can be fitted, Baby Bunting disputes this and would not recommend installing more than two. The only vehicle in our pack to have three metal fixtures was the SsangYong Musso.

Most of the vehicles on test have two metal top tether anchorages hiding behind the second row, requiring the whole backrest to be brought forward to access them, which is a pain in practice. It is worth noting that only the Musso did so using a lever – the rest just had a little fabric strap to yank.

In fact, during testing we had to consult the user manual in three vehicles just to make sure we absolutely had found the right place for the top tether to attach.

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Some also have built-in or non-adjustable headrests, so you couldn’t put the top tether strap through or around it if you tried.

The good news though is that all dual-cabs tested here are fitted with ISOFIX anchor points in the second-row seats. However, they can, as with cars, be hard to locate.

Baby Bunting recommends that you always seek professional advice when travelling with children. Making the correct judgments around what is the most appropriate way to protect the most precious of cargo is vital.

To find out more about which types of child seats are available, visit Baby Bunting here.

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THE VERDICT

Our winner for family duties was the HiLux SR5 because, quite simply, getting the child seats in it was the easiest and they felt most secure. It also had the largest amount of space for an adult sitting in the middle between two child seats, a decent amount of room in the door for drinks and toys, and our test vehicle was fitted with easily wipeable optional leather upholstery.

Its only letdowns were a slightly high transmission tunnel that robs some space in the footwell and that those fabric webbing loops could be subject to wear over time since they’re not as robust as metal.

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Offering a split rear row was one of the reasons the GWM scored so highly in second – as well as offering lots of space in the doors, USB ports and pockets for rear passengers, and as well as good legroom, while the LDV T60 was just behind it for similar reasons, minus the divided seat.

Mazda and Isuzu’s BT-50 and D-Max twins were capable all-rounders but rear legroom was a little more snug and door space was restricted to just a drink bottle only.

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The two Rangers sat in the middle of the pack because, although they excel in many other fields and had some handy features like decent space in the door cards, there were a few let-downs, such as a lack of rear legroom (including a high transmission tunnel making things a bit more cramped in the middle), and restricted door space – with the most problematic issue being how awkward it is to fit child seats due to difficult-to-reach top tether anchorages.

It was almost impossible to fit a rear-facing seat for a newborn securely enough without getting a professional to do it each time. Also, the XLT doesn’t get pockets on the front seatbacks and its very basic cloth interior wouldn’t be wipe-down friendly.

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Similarly, the Triton pair had a high transmission tunnel with only satisfactory rear legroom, with the front seats needing to come fairly far forward to accommodate rear-facing child seats. The door cards too didn’t offer much space, and again the top tether anchorages were hard to reach.

While the GSR was the better of the two with softer leather seats compared to the basic and cheap-feeling fabric trim of the GLX+, both felt quite uncomfortable to sit on as an adult passenger in the middle of the second row and gave a feeling of being squished when child seats were fitted either side.

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Bringing up the rear was the Navara Pro-4X, in the main because the top tether anchorage system was so user-unfriendly. Room for tightening was poor, awkward adjustment meant the straps got all twisted up and having solely fabric loops made it more likely to wear over time. We also couldn’t get a rear-facing seat in securely enough at all.

It won points for a good door aperture, low transmission tunnel and space in the doors.

An honourable/dishonourable mention has to go to the Musso, which was the only vehicle with three metal top tether anchors, a lever-adjusted back row, a sunroof, large doors that both open wide and fit lots in, and features like heated rear seats, leather upholstery and map pockets on both sides.

But, and it’s a big but, the middle seat comes only with a lap belt, which in our mind felt both unsafe and outdated.

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The upshot is that, if we were to buy any of these dual-cabs, we’d opt for an ISOFIX-compatible seat because, if fitted correctly, it offers us peace of mind over having to constantly ensure a seatbelt is tight enough, or to be absolutely sure we’d have it installed by a professional.

The friendly and experienced team at Baby Bunting offers an accredited installation service at all its stores across Australia and New Zealand.

Find out more at babybunting.com.au/car-seat-installation