2021 Isuzu FSR 140-260 Tipper: Review

For any business that requires a tipper to hit the ground running, this 2021 Isuzu FSR 140-260 Tipper makes perfect sense. Landing in the Japanese brand’s ever-popular Ready-to-Work range towards the end of last year, it’s a turnkey solution you can drive straight off the showroom floor and put to work.

Isuzu offers seven factory-built, Ready-to-Work tippers – we reviewed the light-duty NMR 60-150 AMT Tri Tipper just last year – but the brand has an awfully good knack of finding and filling any gaps in the market.

That’s the case here, with this Isuzu FSR 140-260 Tipper offering a hefty 14-tonne GVM, well beyond the typical 10.4 to 11 tonnes usually found in this part of the medium-duty, factory tipper market.

That’s the highest GVM offered by an Isuzu Ready-to-Work tipper – the highest of any Japanese medium-duty factory tipper, says Isuzu – and with a maximum payload of 7.8 tonnes, a 5.2 cubic metre load capacity, and a 4.4m-long tipper body, the company says this FSR 140-260 Tipper is ideal for hauling things like medium-duty excavators.

We didn’t have an excavator handy, but we did have a decent load of gravel instead that took the truck up to around 70 per cent of its payload – certainly enough to give us a good idea of its capability.

Marking it apart from Isuzu’s four-cylinder F Series tippers, the 2021 Isuzu FSR 140-260 is powered by Isuzu’s 6HK1-TCC engine, a 7.8-litre in-line six-cylinder turbo-diesel that produces a claimed 191kW (256hp) at 2400rpm and 761Nm from 1450rpm to 2400rpm.

The model can also be derated on request to a 12-tonne GVM, technically making it an Isuzu FSR 120-260 Tipper. It’s the same truck, but if you can forego a bit of payload then you can avoid the requirements of a work diary (and a mandatory speed limiter).

That six-cylinder unit really lifts the truck’s towing capacity. This model has a GCM of 20,000kg, and if you look through our pics you’ll see it’s fitted with a Bartlett pintle hook tow hitch, which has a healthy nine-tonne limit. This ‘plug and play’ set-up is wired to facilitate ABS-equipped trailers, but it’s actually a prototype currently being trialed by Isuzu Australia. The company says it should be offered as a genuine Isuzu accessory by the end of 2021.

Continuing the accessory theme, our test truck is also fitted with an aftermarket pullout tarp, genuine slimline weather shields on the side windows ($190.64), rubber floor mats ($51.27), and genuine Isuzu seat covers ($282.62).

Available only in a 4x2 format, the truck also only comes with the sole choice of an Isuzu six-speed manual transmission. There is no automatic or AMT option, which does narrow the available driver pool, as reflected by the increasing prevalence of two-pedal models in the Japanese truck market.

The truck rides on a leaf-spring set-up front and rear, the former also aided by shocks, while the braking package comprises an air-over-hydraulic drum arrangement at all four corners backed by ABS.

Speaking of safety, this factory tipper comes standard with two airbags (driver and outboard passenger), the aforementioned ABS, traction control, an ECE-R29-compliant cab, a hill holder, reversing camera, reversing buzzer, and cornering lamps.

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At the business end, the ShinMaywa tipper body is an all-steel affair with 6mm-thick deck plates and 3.2mm-thick front, side and tail plates. Fitted at ShinMaywa’s facility in Japan, it comes fitted with an auto release body lockdown hook, an auto release two-way tailgate, a lockable toolbox between the tipper body and the cab, and safety-yellow grab handles and access ladders. It takes 20 seconds to fully raise or lower the body.

The doors open wide and there’s just one grippy step to climb up into the cab, also highlighted in safety yellow.

The driver scores an ISRI 6860 air suspension seat with a stack of adjustment – it really is a comfortable proposition for all-day driving. Add in a steering column that is adjustable for both tilt and reach, and it’s easy to find that perfect driving position, even for taller drivers (I’m 6ft 2in/188cm and I didn't have a problem).

The cab itself is utilitarian but highly functional. It’s the usual expanse of light grey, hard-wearing plastic, but everything is nicely put together and there’s a general feeling of durability – it should stand up well to years of use and abuse.

The dump bar for the tipper body is down on the right of the driver’s seat, near the seat adjustment controls. It’s easy to get to, without being in the way.

The traditional-looking instrumentation, with its big analogue speedo and tacho, has a green digital display in the centre that brings up a range of trip data, including the status of the diesel particulate diffuser and how close it is to its next burn. The dash looks a bit dated but all the info is there in a very clear, easy-to-read format, and anyone familiar with other Isuzu trucks will feel right at home.

All the buttons for the various controls and functions are large, easy to find and easy to use, and there’s a reasonable 6.2-inch colour touchscreen for the infotainment unit. Pairing a new phone is easy and the safety and convenience of handsfree communications shouldn’t be understated, although these days it would be nice to see Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, as well as integrated controls in the steering wheel.

In-cab storage is reasonable, especially if you add in the ADR42-compliant sleeper (a squeeze for larger drivers for a nap, but handy at least for storing extra gear), but there’s not a lot of concealed storage. This is limited to the laptop tray on the back of the centre seat, and the two overhead shelves.

Still, you can throw a heap of stuff on the angled dash, there are skinny door side pockets (fine for a clipboard or papers), and – importantly, especially on those early starts – there’s a slide-out twin cupholder in the centre of the dash.

At just over seven metres long from tip to tail, I was genuinely surprised by how easy this Isuzu FSR 140-260 was to drive and to manage in general – it’s really not too much more to handle than your average dual-cab ute or large 4WD.

For starters, the vision from behind the wheel is excellent. The expansive glasshouse and skinny A-pillars combine with the effective side mirrors and the standard reversing camera to give a top view all around the truck, enhancing safety not just on the road but especially in tight work sites too.

A further note on safety… Unlike some rivals, this Isuzu misses out on stability control and other recent safety advances like autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, and active (radar) cruise control. Isuzu’s take on it is that this sort of tech isn’t too far away.

“In this case we’re not first to market but one thing I can say to you from what I’ve seen is that we will be best in market,” Les Spaltman, Isuzu’s National Sales Manager, told me. While this cutting-edge tech appears more popular with fleet buyers than retail buyers, the sooner all this gear is standard on trucks – like it mostly is on passenger cars – the better.

The 6HK1 engine is a willing performer, and I found I rarely strayed outside the green ‘eco’ zone marked on the tacho, between 1000rpm and 2000rpm. I may have revved the truck out to around 2500rpm on a couple of fast starts from the lights (redline is indicated at 2800rpm), but it took the weight in the back in its stride.

It’s a smooth and refined unit, with very little vibration detectable in the cab along with only a modest amount of engine noise. Sound suppression is good; you can still hear what the engine is up to but it’s a dull, muted rumble, and not enough to really interfere with a conversation in the cab, whether it be in person or via the handsfree system.

Our test truck came to us with just a few hundred kilometres on its clock and the six-speed manual transmission was perhaps a little tight, but far from being difficult to manage.

We only drove the Isuzu FSR 140-260 while loaded but the truck was in the sweet spot as far as handling went. Sure, there was a little body roll through the bends, but it soaked up the bumps and potholes well and generally felt nicely composed.

Isuzu quotes a kerb-to-kerb turning circle of 15.6 metres for the Isuzu FSR 140-260 Tipper and, while it’s no hatchback in terms of manoeuvrability, it’s nimble enough for a vehicle of this size and weight. Guiding it around our test site posed no problems, while the reversing camera’s large and clear display is also a big help.

The market impact of COVID-19 rages on and Isuzu tells us customers are currently looking at a five- to six-month lead time to secure a tipper like this out of Japan.

But if you’re happy to wait – and you’re happy to stick with more traditional safety tech and a manual ’box – the Isuzu FSR 140-260 Tipper is a robust, practical, and supremely capable medium-duty tipper with excellent payload, capacity and towing potential.

Add in the convenience of its Ready-to-Work status, and it’s easy to see why Isuzu has made such a name for itself in this factory tipper niche.

Engine: '6HK1-TCC' 7.8-litre in-line six-cylinder turbo-diesel
Power: 191kW (256hp) at 2400rpm
Torque: 761Nm at 1450-2400rpm
Emissions: ADR 80/03 (Euro 5)
Transmission: Isuzu six-speed manual
Configuration: 4x2
Front suspension: Taper leaf springs
Rear suspension: Multi-leaf springs
GVM: 14,000kg (12,000kg available on request)
GCM: 20,000kg
Front axle limit: 5000kg
Rear axle limit: 9000kg
Towing limit: 9000kg
Wheelbase: 4360mm
Fuel capacity: 200lt
Brakes: Air over hydraulic drum, front and rear
Safety: Driver/passenger airbags, ABS, traction control, ECE-R29 compliant cab, reversing camera
Price: $136,993 (plus GST and on-road costs)
Warranty: Three years, 2500 hours or 150,000km (extendable to five years, 5000 hours or 300,000km)
Web: www.isuzu.com.au