Isuzu I-Venture Club: 4WD Training in the Kimberley

Recently, Unsealed 4X4 was invited out to the Kimberley region of Western Australia with Isuzu’s I-Venture Club. Unfortunately, Editor Jess was unable to make the dates work, so she asked me if I wanted to go. I let out quite the feminine squeal before cooly replying that sure, I guess I could make it.

You see, the Kimberley is a bucket-list destination for just about everyone who enjoys 4WDing. There’s rocky terrain, red dirt, iconic waterholes, indigenous rock art and the sheer scale of one of Australia’s most spectacular landscapes.

This. Is. Australia.

In fact, they filmed the movie Australia out here, and Hollywood never gets anything wrong.

What’s the I-Venture Club?

Run by Isuzu, the club is open to anyone with a D-MAX or MU-X. They predominantly run short trips in near-to-major-city areas of the country and focus on teaching new owners just what their vehicle is capable of and showing more experienced people parts of the bush they may never have experienced with a good bunch of people and with the safety blanket of having professionals along for the ride.

It’s kind of a tag-along tour meets a driver training course. The aim is to have fun and enjoy a couple of days off the beaten track while maybe learning a thing or two about your rig and expanding your own capabilities at the same time.

This particular one was a bit longer, running for several days, and was much more remote than usual. It’s what Isuzu calls a “long-form trip”, which requires participants to be able to travel to the remote location, have been on at least one previous I-Venture Club trip before, and have enough supplies on-hand to be self-sufficient.

Who goes on an I-Venture Club trip?

In general, Isuzu extends the invitation to the members of the I-Venture Club, with places and availability strictly limited. On this trip we had a great group of owners (one couple having travelled from the central coast of NSW to be there) who varied in experience level and vehicle set-up. However, they were all there to have fun and see this phenomenal slice of the globe.

Then we had the media, who, funnily enough, were not necessarily the 4WD-y type. They too had a wider range of off-road experience and vehicle familiarity, but much like the owners, they all knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and grabbed it with both hands.

Finally, the Isuzu team, who made this trip an absolute blast. To a person, they were bright, upbeat, capable and hard-working without ever giving off the “I’m at work, leave me alone, d-bag” vibe. Legitimately top people. They had the routes, the destinations, the lunch stops, the dinner locations and the accommodation sorted.

After a quick meet-and-greet over breakfast, it was time to get wheeling.

Why professional 4WD training matters

Look, I’ve been driving off-road for twenty-five years, which is pretty spectacular given I’m still in my early twenties (ahem). Surely I can’t learn anything from a beginner training course, right?

Insert aggressive buzzer noise here. Not only did I learn a bunch, but the team at Isuzu had elite-level driver training. We nerded out over dinner about spring rates, anti-dive and the differences in loading the suspension for a corner or an obstacle. The point is: these guys know their shit.

As someone with full confidence and experience with heading deep into the bush solo with too many trips to count, if I can come away from something like this with a sense of having learned something, I’m also confident that most people will.

Even if you’ve been driving on-road for years and want to dip your toe into the double-diff pool, a 4WD training course would be the first recommendation. More than one of the couples in attendance came away from the first day’s drive saying, “huh, I didn’t know my car could do that.” Says it all, really.

What we learned over four days

One of the alluring things about the Kimberley is that there’s a bit of everything. Sand, rocks, water crossings, mud, climbs, descents, you name it. The instructors walked us through everything from gear selection to which off-road modes to select, ideal vehicle speed, and line selection. Nobody got stuck, there was no real vehicle damage and every car made it back to civilisation under its own steam.

Did I mention we were on Highway Terrain tyres? Isuzu wanted to make the point that their D-Max and MU-X are capable right out of the box, and I have to say they did just that. It’s not like we drove stuff I’d be nervous to in my own heavily modified 4WD, but there weren’t too many times where I was wishing I was in a twin-locked rig on muddies either.

The Isuzus simply ate everything up. It really highlighted the basic importance of tyre pressures, maintaining a sensible speed and why throttle control is one of the most under-taught skills in off-road driving.

The gear that genuinely proved useful

Having an Isuzu-trained mechanic along (shoutout Jake) sure made life easier. My recommendation would be to take one with you wherever you go. In the unlikely case that’s not feasible, it came down to the usual suspects.

Tyre pressure, particularly on HTs, was paramount, so a quality gauge and compressor are no-brainers. From there it’s recovery gear (not that it was needed) for cheap insurance, and then it’s whatever flavour of accessories you like. A front bar, lights, winch, battery set-up, fridge and some tyres would be my go-to for a capable build, which the D-Max Blade model already had most of.

Noice.

Does the I-Venture Club build real 4WD confidence?

Yes, absolutely. Again, this is a show run by professionals with a high level of driving knowledge and skill. The main guy, Matt, was a stunt driver on the latest Mad Max film and can swing off a steering wheel better than most.

The proof was in the pudding. After the first day, the less-experienced people were saying they were surprised by their vehicle’s capability. By the last day, they were planning their own solo trips into the wilderness. If you don’t see that as a huge amount of built-up confidence, earned through experience, I don’t know what to tell ya.

Is Isuzu’s I-Venture Club worth doing?

If you already own a D-MAX or MU-X and want to learn more about what it can do off-road, the I-Venture Club offers something you don’t get from simply buying the vehicle and heading bush on your own.

You get professional instruction, the chance to drive terrain you might not tackle alone, and, perhaps just as importantly, a group of people with the same interest in getting off the blacktop.

For beginners, that means learning good habits before bad ones become ingrained. For experienced 4WDers, there’s still the opportunity to pick up new techniques and learn more about how the vehicle behaves.

And after watching owners progress from cautiously approaching obstacles on day one to discussing their own future trips by day four, it’s hard to argue with the value of a little extra knowledge and experience.

The Kimberley wasn’t a bad classroom, either.