 So the first thing you'll notice with the new 2021 Maxis is the front grille here. When we come to the side, there are a few minor changes here as well. The big change though is up here, but you can see what I mean. It just sucks, right? Hey guys, Alex here from AlexFigus.com and behind me I have the new LTV T60 Maxis. This is the 2021 version. I've had this for about a month or two now. I've done 2,000Ks on it and I wanted to give you a quick review, first impressions, feedback. If you have been following my stuff for a while, you may have seen my 2017 LTV T60 review, which was also red and you may be thinking, is this the same vehicle? No, it's not. I just got the new one also in red, but I did use that for about three years. So what I wanted to do in this video is compare this new version with the old one and let you know whether it is worth going with the new version or if you're better off just getting a second hand older version. And I also wanted to run through the key differences between this version and the other version and my thoughts in the last month or so of use. All right, let's go have a look around the vehicle. All right, so before we get into my review, let's run through the key specs and features of the LTV T60 Maxis. Now it comes in two versions, a base model and a luxury model. I have the base model. The luxury model is a little bit better inside. It has nicer seats, electric adjustments, electric heating, pushed up button. It's also got the electronic diff lock, which probably is the only reason I would consider spending the extra $3,000 or $4,000 on New Zealand to get the luxury model, but I couldn't really justify it. Otherwise, mechanically, they're the same. Looks wise, they're all the same, I believe. No, they're not. I think looks wise, the luxury has a sports bar, the thick chunky bar on the back. I'll show you that when we get around to the back later on. It comes in six speed auto and a six speed manual. I have the automatic. It has a 2.8 liter turbo diesel engine, putting out 110 kilowatts and 360 nanometers, which is on the lower end of power for today's utes. But if you look at utes over the last 10, 20 years or so, it is just plenty fine. And again, check out my other video, which I done a month or two ago, where I go into a deep dive about the ute performance. I want to keep this one more on the differences between the Maxis and the Maxis 2021 vision and the original T60 2017 video. It has a part time four wheel drive. So you've got two wheel drive, four wheel drive high, four wheel drive low. It isn't an all wheel drive vision that say the Mitsubishi has, or I think the Amarok has as well. So it is just your old school select for four wheel drive. Otherwise, stay in rear wheel driving. It has all of the modern safety features that you would expect. I'm going to rattle some of these off here because I just suddenly couldn't remember them. You've got ABS, EBD, EBA, traction control, stability control. You've got driver and passenger ear bags, side ear bags, full length kidney ear bags, and it got a five star rating, safety rating. Now, once the rating came out, that was why I decided to buy this all this years ago because I was always concerned about safety ratings in some of these Chinese lower cost vehicles. When LDV got the five star, in fact, they had a score better than some of the high end utes I was sold. I mean, and again, I don't want to go into all of that because I did in that other video. So go check that out first if you want to. Oh wait, let me come back here. It has a 1,188 litre rear tray. We'll go and have a look at that soon. It is one of the neat features of these utes and comes with a five year or 130,000 K warranty, which is great, especially if you're a little bit nervous about buying these utes. They are reasonably new to the market. They're saying that three, four, five years now, they've probably been out. It's part of the reason why I traded in my 2017 one because the warranty was coming about to run out. And I did have a few technical issues, which again, check out that other video to see all about that. Finally, it's currently available at the time of recording in New Zealand for about $31,000, $32,000 plus just an on-road cost for the base model, which is your standard T16, not the luxury. I think that might be a manual order. I can't remember exactly, but you're looking around the 32, 33, low to mid 30s to get started with the T60. I paid, by the way, they also do a 2% or 1.9% interest rate financing rate at the moment as well, which is pretty good. I paid $42,000, including just that's New Zealand price. I ordered that in February 2021. For $42,000, that got me tense. It got me the bonnet protector on the front. It got me a tow bar installed. And I don't know what the deal was with the wheels and the tires, but I did get the slightly more gruntier all terrain was. I think that was part of the Maxis promo that is running at the moment. I think they were part of the price. Anyway, $42,000, you could easily get it for under $40,000. Of course, if you're getting it for farm or commercial purposes, you're going to get that GST saving as well. One final thing is I did order it at the start of February. I didn't pick this up until late April, so it was about three months waiting. And I think those wait times have got even worse given what's going on in the market these days. So expect to wait three to six months for a new year. You might be able to pick up a second hand one a lot quicker. So the first thing you'll notice with the new 2021 Maxis is the front grille here. You'll see the word Maxis along the front. It's complete. Well, I don't know if it's completely redesigned, but it is a new look. The old one didn't have that sort of aggressive looking grille. Otherwise, lights, everything else is pretty much standard from the front. I do like the new Maxis. It makes it stand out when you're driving around and you see these ones. You don't see the badge, the LDV badge, which used to confuse people. I guess now people will start seeing Maxis and associating this ute as a Maxis ute rather than maybe LDV. But yeah, that is nice. Otherwise, nothing really to report on here. When we come to the side, there are a few minor changes here as well. So again, these are quite minor, but I will point them out. The little T60 badge up the front here, I believe that used to be silver. Now it's black, slight difference. I think there's some color changes with the side mirrors here. This used to all be black. Now you have the red coloring, which is cool. The roof rails up the top here, the previous model, they were black right through, or at least my model, which was red and black as well, had the same coloring system going on. This one's silver. I personally, I don't like that. I mean, it would have been nicer if that was all black. The footstep here on the side, again, maybe it doesn't matter with the silver and silver, but I don't know, silver, black and red, I think doesn't go that good. It would be really neat to see this all black and see all that all black, especially with the wheels and that. But hey, it is what it is. At the back here as well, this window guard, real window guard. This is what I was talking about before. When you get the luxury model, you get the big chunky window protector. They call it the sports bar. Personally, I don't like that because I find it's funny because someone saw this and they're like, this version is ugly. The big sporting ones just look so much better. And I'm like, yeah, maybe it does, but I'm a practical man at heart, I guess. And these are so much more practical because you do get the crossbeams in the middle there to protect the window. And you get more anchor points if you're using tie downs or, you know, like I had to pick up a washing machine or a dishwasher the other day, you can strap it to the back and tie it in. And it's easy to do. Whereas the other one, sure you can do it, but there aren't as many tie points. The straps can slip and all that. And I can put things on the back as well. All right, so the wheels here are from BGW Wheels Black. You've got some all terrain ties on there as well. All right, here at the back, we have the same design as the previous model. Nothing really interesting to talk about here. The only thing that I did notice to be different was the tow bar comes with a little shin saver on there, which is, which is neat. The other one didn't have that. Not that I've ever had to use it. The big change though is up here. So come up here and have a look. And this is a bit of a gripe that I do have with this new Ute. So let's take a look. So the deck tray or deck liner comes standard in the price, which is, which is one of the pluses that LDV has. I know, you know, when I was looking at a Mitsubishi Trident and some other Ute, you have to pay extra for this. And by the time you add on your tow bars and your tents and all that, it starts adding up. So that was, that was a nice feature of the LDV T60. And I explained that in the other video. I, this new model again comes with the tough liner. However, I got a bit of a shock when I picked it up. And if you, if you've used Ute's or watched my other video, you probably know what I'm going to mention. The tough deck liner, whatever you call it, doesn't come over the edge here. So you have a middle exposed edging, which if you're someone that is using this Ute for around town, putting sports equipment in the back, or perhaps you're going to put a canopy or a hard cover on the back for lockup, probably doesn't bother you. But if you're someone like myself who's going to use it for putting poles in for fencing or firewood or gardening products, whatever, it's soon going to bother you because it's more likely to scratch. You're going to dent it. You're just going to damage it. It's going to look ugly. And you're always going to be paranoid about it, which is something I wasn't worried about with the other Ute. I wasn't saying I was rough with it, but I used it like a Ute. And it took some knocks, but hey, it was pretty heavy duty. However, with this, I mean, it sucks. Like it really does suck. In fact, let me show you this. I've used it for some firewood just recently. And already there's a dent in here. Fortunately, it didn't take any of the paint off, because otherwise, you know, you've got a rust issue there. But you can see what I mean. It just sucks, right? So when I purchased it, I actually asked him, I said, hey, can you get that as an aftermarket add-on? He wasn't aware of it. The dealer, my local dealer, he wasn't aware of anything. He said, try your super cheap and ripped on that. So I went into super cheap, asked them. They looked in their system, had all the parts and whatnot for LTV aftermarket. And unfortunately, it wasn't an option as well. So that's a bummer. Someone said, you know, you just put some heavy duty plastic on there. And another guy said, get some nice, you know, checkered sort of metal covering around it, which is, yeah, something I'm going to have to do. I'm going to have to do one of those, because it's just going to take a beating otherwise. And I don't want this ute to be something that I'm always, you know, trying to protect. I just want to use it, right? So yeah, that is something I'm going to have to do. Unfortunately though, it's an extra cost. You know, I wouldn't surprise me if that's 500 bucks, maybe even more. And, you know, you're trying to, a lot of people are attracted to these utes because of the price point. It is, there's good value and comes with a lot of beaches and the rain's coming down. So we're going to take a quick pause there. Now, the other problem I had with the previous ute was all the material getting stuck down here. Unfortunately, nothing's changed with this setup, which is a bummer because that was quite a bad problem. You'd get a build up of compost, wood chip, bark mold, all the things I was transporting in here, and it would just get stuck down in that tray. And just looking at it now, yeah, it's exactly the same system, which is, which is just silly. And I think that impacted the rear parking sensors on my previous ute. So I don't want that to happen again. Now, a few of you guys gave me some excellent recommendations about putting some rubber down there or rubbing something on here. So when I take this in to sort this out, I'm going to ask you about that. Otherwise, I'll just do something myself. As well as not having the top covering on the deck liner with this, we've also lost two anchor points. So in the previous model, you had one two at the back, two at the front, and actually two on the side in the middle here up top. Now, those side ones weren't that strong. They were bolted into the deck liner itself, so they had a bit of pull in them, but I ratcheted it a few of them up quite tight and they were strong enough that you'd use them. Now, we've lost those middle ones in this new model with this new deck liner, which is a bummer because they were handy. They weren't great those ones because they weren't bolted into the frame, but you could still use them. So now you've only got four, which again is a bit of a blow, but that's why I do like the rear window protector because you do have those other anchor points in the middle there and on the top. You've got the flip up roof racks. I've got one up over there. You can anchor more things to that, which makes it a little bit more practical. But losing those other anchor points is a bummer. The design in the tray here is a little bit different as well, to be honest. It's probably a little bit better because it's square and flat. The other one had a lot of curves to it, so you couldn't really sit things on it, especially over the wheel guard. Otherwise, there's nothing really us to report on here. Now, this change is quite a big change and you may be wondering why I've left it to the end. So what exactly is it? It is the new walk and shore tune suspension that this vehicle has. So the previous one, in my previous video, I talked about how the suspension was very, very soft, very bumpy and you really, if you didn't have a load in the back, it was ridiculous how bumpy it was. So to give you an example about that, remember this is the previous Gen 1 2017 version. There was a piece of road that I'd travel on. You'd come down a hill and then you'd hit a bridge and then it would sweep and come back up. And there were some roadworks that were done poorly, which is the case here in New Zealand. And you'd hit that at 100Ks and you'd start bouncing and then you'd go over this bridge, which was a little bit narrower. And of course you're bouncing and it's curved and then you'd come up the hill. And every time I'd come up to that piece of road, I would, I'd slow down and I'd be two hands on the wheel, you know, full focus on the road because you'd be bouncing, bouncing, bouncing all the way through that curved bridge. And if you were passing a big cattle track or something on that bridge, it was a little bit nerve-racking. That was with the previous one. It was ridiculously bouncy. A lot of people talked about it. It was a common fault of the LDV T60. Now, LDV have partnered up with Walkinshaw and they have tuned the suspension in the New Zealand and I believe Australian vehicles to improve it for New Zealand and Australian roads and conditions. So that was one thing I was really excited about when I picked up this vehicle. So what do I think of it? Well, I think they've gone too far. They've gone from being too soft and too bouncy to too firm and too rigid. In fact, I've had some BMWs. One of them was quite a nice, like, M Sport tuned little hatchback with one series there and it had some big wheels, run flat tires and that thing was ridiculous. It was, you feel every little bump on the road and it was very stiff. It handled amazing when you were driving but it wasn't really a comfortable passenger car, let's say, like that. But it was a great driving car. This is, I'm not going to say it's comparable, handling-wise, but in terms of that rigidity and stiffness and feeling every little thing on the road, this is similar. Maybe not quite as bad. You do have quite thick tires here. Obviously, we don't have run flat tires on the Ute but it is, yeah, it's hard. It's a hard suspension. So now going back to that sweeping bridge with the bumpiness that the previous Ute had. This one here, I still tense up when I get to that point because of our hard, I hit that little ridge that the road workers haven't smoothed out. You hit that pretty hard. It's like a really solid jutter. Obviously, you're not getting the ongoing bouncing as you go through that corner but it has a bit of a jolt. So it's not perfect. It's better than the previous model and I think it's safer and of course it's going to handle a lot better but it's not perfect. All right, so inside the Ute, nothing has changed from the previous model. Same look, same feel. Everything works exactly the same way. I was kind of hoping there'd be some changes but yeah, there isn't. You still got your large 10-inch touch screen console with Apple CarPlay and Android CarPlay. I think that's what it's called. Previously, I did have a few issues with that one software-wise. This is being pretty good. I can't fault it. It's still not super smooth like say, you know, BMW entertainment system but hey, it does the job. Most of the time I just use CarPlay and it's all good. Not perfect but it's good enough. I haven't had any issues with the battery. I haven't had any issues with the Aircon which were, you know, big issues I had with the other model so that is all good. And again, that's what I was hoping for with the new and improved model. You hope all those bugs from the first gen have been ironed out. There's still plenty of space in the back. Again, nothing's changed. So, you know, it's great for storing the children or gear or whatever. So, one of the things that has changed with this vehicle is improved radio reception. So, this has a new and improved antenna for radio reception and it is a million times better. So, previously, even in town, I couldn't get a stable quality radio signal. It was just ridiculous to the point where I just didn't even bother using it because it would just get too frustrating. And we did try some things at the mechanics, you know, trying to improve it. In fact, I just think it made it worse. So, the new one is amazing. Out here in quite a rural area, lots of hills and whatnot, it's still crystal clear, which is great. And what I've done is I've actually mounted the antenna onto the windscreen here. You can just see that in shot. So, previously, there was nothing up there and that is why I can now get a nice crystal clear reception. So, that is great. As you can see on the dash here, it is a semi-electric system, which is neat. And you will note system failure in the middle there and the engine light flashing, which it was quite concerning. This kicked in when I was driving home, having to pick up the vehicle. Turns out it's related to the tyre pressure monitoring system. So, I don't think the previous vehicle had that. So, when I saw this one had it, I was like, oh, that's a cool feature. And then, yeah, it's given out. So, I called the dealer and they said, I'll bring it in and we'll just cut the sensors. And I was a bit puzzled by that. And they said, oh, it's something to do with the tyres, being a different time at all the wheels. And thus, the system doesn't work. And I don't know. I mean, that's a little bit of a frustration because, surely, you can just program it to account for the different size. Otherwise, yeah, I'm just going to have this system alert error, which is going to come up all the time and get a bit of a bummer. And you can see down the bottom there, 2,229 Ks. If I flick through the mid-menu here, average fuel economy since I've had it, leaving 0.1, which was higher than the previous one. I guess maybe that's just how I've been driving it lately. I'm not too sure, a little bit higher than I'd expect. But, you know, it is what it is. All right, I think that's everything. If there's something I've missed or you want more clarification on, please leave a comment below and I'll do my best to answer it. Yes, I've only had this for two months or so. I've only done a few thousand Ks out of it. So, this isn't a full review. I did own the previous T60 for three years. So, check out that other review. I'll put a link to that below and at the end of this so you can check that out. Overall though, what are my thoughts? I mean, hey, it's very similar to what I said at the end of the last video. It's a great, valued, well-priced for what you get. Sure, it's not going to have the performance and the towing capability as, you know, the Ford and the Toyota and some of the other youths on the market. But for the price point, what you're getting, it's pretty good, especially with the included features and the safety rating, et cetera. Whether you should buy this or the Audigen, it's really up to you and what sort of price you can get. I mean, there is such a delay on new youths at the moment. Here in New Zealand, we have new taxes coming in, I think next year as well, which is going to bump prices up even more. But the secondhand market is really ridiculously overpriced as well. So, it's a hard one. I mean, the new one, you are getting the slightly, you are getting the better suspension, but you seem to lose out on the deck liner, which is a bummer. So, maybe you could get the old one and use a little bit of money to upgrade the suspension and do it that way, rather than giving this one and then having to fix up the deck liner, and then you still don't have the best suspension. But again, it's a bit tricky as to what the market's doing and prices and everything like that. If you do have any other questions again, please leave them below. If you have liked this, give me a thumbs up. If you do want me to do any other videos with youths or compare this to another one, let me know as well. Again, I'm not a car review guy. I review other products. Check out all my videos on my channel. Be sure to subscribe. I may do another full review in a year or two years time after I have put some true case through this. So, be sure to subscribe for that as well. All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed this. See you later.