JMC Vigus – Best value double cab bakkie in South Africa?

A fully kitted JMC Vigus Outdoor Edition is coming soon. Picture: Supplied New vehicle sales have been on the rise for the past 18 months in a row, with a quarter of all these new vehicles sold being bakkies. And half of the bakkies sold were double cabs.

Bottom line is that one in eight cars sold today in South Africa is a double cab bakkie. South Africans are switching to bakkies when their budget allows and for good reason. Our roads are bad.

Bakkies offer space, convenience and perceived safety from hijackers. They are jam-packed with luxury and tech. And they drive more like cars now than ever before.

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So, having a range of bakkies in your product portfolio is vital if you want to be successful in a market which is not only growing, but also, in a market where new bakkies arrive almost every day. Not new to the motoring scene,JMC (Jiangling Motors Corporation)traces its origins all the way back to 1947. The company began as a small repair workshop in Nanchang before evolving into one of China’s major commercial‑vehicle manufacturers.

The Vigus nameplate has been around for 25 years already, believe it or not. The bakkie you see here is the all-new sixth generation version that slots in above the Vigus Pro that debuted locally in January. It comes in with just three model derivatives – the manual transmission 4×2, the auto transmission 4×2 and the auto transmission 4×4.

Pricing is set at R399 900, R459 900, and R499 900. TheJMC Vigusis here to compete on the budget side of the market. Think more Mahinda Pik-Up, JAC T8, Foton Tunland and GWM P300 as an alternative to targeting the bottom end of say Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux and Isuzu D-Max.

But this is not to say the JMC Vigus offers nothing. Getting to the best part first. The drive from the all-new 2.5 litre turbodiesel powerplant, which offers 123kW of power and 430Nm of torque, combined with an eight-speed auto box, was surprisingly smooth.

And the on-road urge is more than up to the task of hustling from A to B. The only criticism I had was that there was some scuttle shake from the chassis on bad roads in and around the Magaliesberg. You could feel this come up through the steering wheel.

But there were none of those annoying throttle calibration, dull throttle response and jerky gear change issues that plague so many of the vehicles from China. Which also made for an easy bakkie to take off-road too.

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