STORAGE KING

WE FIT OUT THE BACK OF THE ISUZU MU-X WITH AN MSA EXPLORER DRAWER AND FRIDGE SLIDE

- MATT RAUDONIKIS

WHEN we took delivery of the Isuzu MU-X as our new project car, we knew we’d be faced with some challenges for cargo space compared to the utes we’ve built in the past.

The MU-X is a relatively small wagon and the back of the car is also compromised by the third-row seating. In my opinion, third-row seating has no place in a 4x4 vehicle and should be limited to buses and people movers allowing us to maximise the usability of the rear of the car, both inside and underneath it.

The MU-X also has a measly 625kg payload and 2800kg GVM, so anything we added to the back of the car or on the roof would need to be carefully considered. This is in no way a criticism of the Isuzu directly but just highlights the challenges of prepping a mid-size wagon for a touring 4x4.

The easiest way to improve your payload is to lose some weight, and ditching those rear seats helped save a few kilos there. This allowed us to plan a more usable cargo space incorporating a travel fridge.

Again we partnered up with our mates MSA 4x4 Accessories to help with a system but they were yet to develop one for the MY22 MU-X and needed our car to do the R&D. This allowed us to get an in-depth look at what’s involved in designing and building a cargo system that is both secure and safe, while maximising the available space.

MSA is the only manufacturer of rear cargo systems that we know to have actually crash-tested its designs to ensure they stay secure in the event of a road accident. Think about it for a minute – that fridge full of cold cans or drawers stocked with recovery gear could be deadly if it were to come adrift in an accident and some methods we’ve seen of attachment don’t give a lot of confidence in their security.