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The pick-up is the modern day equivalent of the workhorse. It does without compromise what other vehicles can't: haul and pull. Armed with a robust suspension, tough drive train and no-nonsense design, pick-ups have endeared themselves in the hearts and minds of automotive junkies the world over.

However, there's a change of guard ongoing right now. No longer can pick-ups exist merely as cargo haulers, but must be able to haul the family as well. With the Thai government embracing the light-duty pick-up truck as their "people's car", soon manufacturers found themselves a growing demand. So huge a demand in fact, that the ASEAN region is the world's largest pick-up truck market outside the United States (majority of which is because of Thailand). Car makers took notice quickly and soon engineered pick-ups to be equal parts daily driver, equal parts business partner. Soon, there was an exodus for the pick-up from its beast of burden origins to something more of a social animal.

For this test, the most significant pick-ups not just of the Philippines, but of the entire ASEAN region are pitted against each other in a mano-a-mano test where only one pick-up may be crowned king. On one side sits the Isuzu D-MAX, the perennial best-seller, perhaps best known as being the pick-up that started it all. On the other is the newest kid on the block, the Strada--a product that plays a key role in deciding the fate of the Mitsubishi brand worldwide.

Pick-ups are all about the power/economy balance. Surely any car maker can boast of an engine with 1,000 horsepower or a mileage of 49 km/L, but it's rarer to find a car that does both. In order to keep both power and frugality in check, Isuzu and Mitsubishi both chose to equip their pick-ups with turbo-diesel power. However that' s where the similarity ends.

Being already a couple of years old in the world market, the Isuzu D-MAX shoulders on with a 3.0-liter DOHC inline-4 with direct-injection technology. Without any sort of common rail technology attached to it, it merely puts out modest figures: 130 horsepower and 279 Nm of torque. However, you'd be surprised how the D-MAX still feels spirited from standstill, perhaps because of its close ratio 5-speed manual. As the speed increases, the Isuzu engine will find it hard to accelerate past 100 km/h. In fact, 80 km/h is already reached by fifth gear, and pushing beyond further may take a long, straight road to accomplish. It sounds and shudders like a typical diesel too. Perhaps smoother than those engines found in say, the Nissan Frontier, but the noise and vibration it generates are a bit too much for today's sophisticated buyer. During our battery of tests, the D-MAX sipped diesel at a rate of 10.56 km/L.

Utilizing the seasoned 4D56 engine (found also in the previous Strada and Adventure), Mitsubishi grafted on a new double cam, 16-valve head design along with common rail direct-injection technology. This gives the new Strada a huge leap over its predecessor and its rivals. Despite giving up 500 cc of displacement, the Strada still has 136 horsepower and 314 Nm of torque. Compared to the D-MAX, the Strada suffers a lot from turbo lag. Whereas the Isuzu pulls hard fast, the Strada requires some decent engine speed (around 2,000 rpm) to really get going. When it does though, it simply keeps on going. 120 km/h is no sweat for the Mitsubishi, and a long enough straight will see you going 130-140 km/h--a great feat for a pick-up. The 4D56 is also the winner here when it comes to refinement and sophistication. The engine's Euro-2 compliant (the first in the country) and there's almost no hint of diesel shudder. The transmission's equally good with nice and precise shifts and better-spaced ratios compared to the D-MAX's balky and awkward shift action.