LDV T60 and Terron 9 in South Africa: should you buy one?

Here is the pitch. For about R630,000 you can drive out in a new LDV T60 Max with 500 Nm. That is the same torque as a Ford Ranger bi-turbo. A new Ranger with the smaller single-turbo asks more, about R660,000. The LDV also gets an eight-speed ZF gearbox. Spend about R640,000 on the Max Luxe and you add leather, heated seats and a 360 camera.

Then here is the catch. You have probably never seen one on the road. You don’t know anyone who owns one. And if you live in Cape Town, the nearest LDV dealer is in Humansdorp.

So the T60 is a good bakkie on paper. The real question is whether you can live with a brand that has been here since 2024 and has 15 dealers.

The short answer

• Is it worth it? It is a lot of bakkie for the money. The risk is the brand and the back-up, not the bakkie.
• What should I pay? A new T60 Max asks about R630,000. A 2025 one with about 15,000 km asks about R500,000. Don’t pay list.
• What goes wrong? Nobody knows yet. The one detailed local complaint is about limp mode and slow repairs.
• Is there a dealer near me? Only if you live near one of 15 towns. There are none in the Western or Northern Cape. The list is below.
• What else could I buy? A GWM P300 or a JAC T9 costs the same or less, and there are far more of them for sale.

Prices are asking prices from October 2026, taken from every LDV listed for sale in South Africa. They are what sellers ask, not what bakkies sell for. The live numbers are on the LDV listings page and the LDV market page.

Who is LDV?

LDV belongs to SAIC Motor, China’s state-controlled carmaker. SAIC also owns MG and Maxus. It bought the LDV name in 2010. The letters stand for Leyland DAF Vans, a British van maker whose vans the Royal Mail used. They don’t stand for light delivery vehicle, which is what most people guess.

In China and Britain the same bakkies are sold as Maxus. Here, as in Australia and New Zealand, they are LDVs. LDV South Africa opened in May 2024 with the T60. The bigger Terron 9 came in August 2025.

It has been a slow start, and LDV admits it. Its chief executive said so at the Festival of Motoring in August 2026. He also promised more than 55 dealers and service centres by the end of 2026.

The range

There are two T60 engines, and they matter more than the trim names.

• The single-turbo 2.0 has 120 kW. It goes in the Utility, Elite and Pro. The automatic version uses a six-speed gearbox made by Punch, not the ZF.
• The bi-turbo 2.0 has 160 kW and 500 Nm. It goes in every model with “Max” in the name, and its automatic is the ZF eight-speed the reviews praise.

Look at the gap between the list price and what dealers ask. When the T60 launched in 2024, a Max Luxe automatic listed at R790,000. That put it close to a Hilux, and one road tester said so. LDV’s own promotions page now shows it at R693,000, and dealers ask about R640,000. A new Max Pro automatic launched at R710,000 and now asks about R620,000. Apart from the Utility, no dealer is asking list for a T60. Start your offer from what dealers ask, not from LDV’s price.

Every T60 tows 3,000 kg braked. The 4x4s have low range, and the Pro and Max Plus list a rear diff lock. Watch the payload on the Max Luxe. LDV rates it at only 750 kg, where the Elite and Pro carry about 930 kg. If you load lucerne bales, cement or a canopy full of kit, that matters.

What an LDV costs right now

There are 97 LDV listings in the country. Two thirds of them, 65, are new or demo bakkies with under 5,000 km. Only 32 are used.

The typical used one is a 2025 with about 15,500 km, asking around R470,000. The oldest is a 2023, and the highest mileage on any of them is 71,000 km. There is no such thing as a high-mileage LDV yet. If you want one under R500,000, a list of every bakkie under R500,000 shows what else that money buys.

Prices are moving down, not up. Since mid-September there have been 23 price cuts on LDV listings and 6 rises.

The dealer question

This is the part that decides it. LDV’s own dealer finder lists 15 dealers in South Africa in October 2026. Each one is listed for sales, service and parts.

There is no LDV dealer in Cape Town, Joburg itself, Polokwane, Bloemfontein or Kimberley. In the Free State it is Bethlehem or Welkom, so a farmer in Bloemfontein or Harrismith has a drive. LDV’s chief executive says the brand has 30 dealers and more on the way. But the list on LDV’s own website is the one to trust, because that is where you will book your service.

So what happens when it breaks? LDV’s warranty page lists 24-hour AA roadside help for five years or 200,000 km. That covers things like a flat tyre, a flat battery or running out of fuel. It does not shorten the drive to the workshop. A bigger fault still has to go to an LDV dealer, so work out how far that is before you buy.

The network is also still moving. In 2024 a forum member test drove a T60 at a new LDV dealer in Centurion. That dealer is not on LDV’s list today.

You will notice something in the adverts. Most LDVs for sale sit on the floors of other brands: Hyundai, Nissan, Suzuki and BYD dealers, and big multi-brand groups. That is fine for buying. It does not mean that dealer can fix it under warranty. Before you sign, ask which LDV workshop will do your warranty work, and drive there.

What goes wrong

The honest answer is that nobody knows yet. The T60 has only been here since 2024, and almost every LDV on the road is still under warranty. On the country’s biggest 4x4 forum there is no owner thread at all. In October 2025 a member asked if anyone had bought one. Nobody answered.

There is one detailed South African owner story, posted in June 2026, and it is not a good one. A Durban owner bought a T60 Elite in February 2025. At 6,800 km it went into limp mode (the engine cuts power to protect itself) and the diesel particulate filter had to be cleaned. That is the filter in the exhaust that traps soot. It happened again at 12,400 km. The radio screen failed twice and the brakes squealed for months. Some of the work was done at another brand’s workshop, because the dealer did not have the equipment. The owner took it to the motor ombudsman. After a “final” repair, a new engine noise appeared. The owner lives an hour from the dealer.

That is one owner, not a pattern. But it shows what a thin dealer network looks like when something goes wrong.

Australia has a longer record, so use it with care. The T60 Max with the same bi-turbo engine has been sold there since 2021. On Australia’s biggest owner review site, the T60 Luxe page scores 2.6 out of 5 from 51 reviews. That page covers 2017 to 2022, so it mixes the bi-turbo with an older 2.8 engine that South Africa never got. The common complaints are slow dealers and warranty repairs, electronics (cameras, the screen, warning lights) and limp mode or power loss.

South African testers liked the bi-turbo’s pull and the kit. They did not like these things:

• The ride with an empty bin. Two testers called it bouncy over bumps.
• Engine noise. A diesel drone at highway speed.
• The driving position. The steering wheel adjusts for reach but not height.
• The camera. CAR found the 360 camera blurry, and The Citizen had the reversing camera glitch.

No LDV recall has been published by the National Consumer Commission.

What it is worth after a year

This is the table to look at if you are thinking of buying new. It compares what a new double cab 4x4 automatic asks today with what a 2025 one asks.

The LDV drops the most, by a long way. It loses about a fifth of its price in the first year and 15,000 km. A P300 or a Ranger loses about a seventh, with twice the kilometres. That is based on only 11 used T60 Max bakkies, so treat it as a sign, not a law.

It cuts both ways. If you buy new, that R130,000 is yours to lose. If you buy a 2025 Max at about R500,000, someone else has paid it for you, and you get JAC T9 money for a bakkie with 35 kW more. You still have three to four years of warranty to go.

What nobody can tell you is what a five-year-old LDV will be worth. There are none for sale yet.

The T60 Utility: the cheap one

In August 2026 LDV added a work version. The Utility single cab is R299,900 and the double cab R389,900, with 4x4 versions for more. It uses the 120 kW engine with 410 Nm and a six-speed manual. A single cab carries 1,100 kg (1,170 kg for the 4x4) and the double cab carries 1,000 to 1,060 kg. All of them tow 3,000 kg.

Read the warranty before you get excited. The Utility gets five years or 100,000 km, half the distance of the other T60s. And it gets no service plan at all. A fleet bakkie doing 50,000 km a year is out of warranty in two years, with every service paid from your own pocket. LDV is chasing fleets with this one, so get a fleet deal on services in writing.

The Terron 9: the big one

The Terron 9 is a different, bigger bakkie, not a T60 with a new face. It has a 2.5 turbodiesel with 164 kW and 520 Nm, the ZF eight-speed, low range and diff locks front and rear. It tows 3,500 kg and carries 850 kg. It has a five-star ANCAP rating (the Australian crash test). The AA’s chief executive called it the safest bakkie in the country, but the AA has been an LDV partner since 2025, so it is not a neutral voice.

New ones ask close to list: about R780,000 for the Premium and R850,000 for the Flagship. That is D-Max 3.0 money, where a new one asks about R850,000. There are only nine Terron 9s for sale and only two are used, so there is nothing to say about resale yet.

For the same money

Here is what a new double cab 4x4 automatic asks in October 2026, against a new T60 Max.

The LDV wins on power for the money. It loses on everything around the bakkie: dealers, resale, and the number of people who can tell you what it is like at 150,000 km. The JAC and the P300 are the closest fight, and both have far more bakkies for sale. Our Chinese double cabs guide covers them in detail.

Before you buy one

• Find your LDV workshop first. Check LDV’s dealer finder, then phone the workshop and ask how long a service booking takes.
• Get the warranty and service plan in writing, and ask whether they move to the next owner if you sell.
• On a demo, ask on what date the warranty and service plan started. If it was registered months ago, some of both may already be gone.
• Ask for two parts prices. A headlight and a windscreen, and how long each takes to arrive. LDV does not publish its parts prices.
• Get an insurance quote before you sign.
• On a used one, ask for the service printout and whether it has ever been in limp mode or had the particulate filter cleaned.
• Drive it on gravel with an empty bin, then on the highway, and listen.

Who should buy one

Buy an LDV if you live near one of the 15 dealers, want the most power and kit for your money, and plan to keep the bakkie for five years. If you farm near Bethlehem, Welkom or Rustenburg, that box is ticked. The best buy is a 2025 T60 Max with low mileage at about R500,000. Someone else has taken the first-year hit, and the warranty runs for years yet.

Don’t buy one if you live in the Western or Northern Cape. Don’t buy one if you will sell in two years, because the resale is the weak point. And don’t buy the Utility for a high-mileage fleet without a service deal in writing.

If that rules you out, look at the P-Series, the JAC T9, the Tunland or the D-Max. If it doesn’t, the LDV listings show every one for sale next to the going rate.

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