Serijas! This bakkie is for serious farming

BEFORE Ford started building the 23 all new Ranger models at their Pretoria plant, their engineers took a clean page to four corners of the world to ask bakkie users what they wanted from a workhorse. In Thailand, where three-metre high loads are the norm, the couriers wanted tie-hooks outside the load bin. The new Ranger’s hooks each carries half a ton. 

In KZN, farmers wanted to pull a shifting trailer full of heavy cows up a muddy incline. With 470 Nm from 1500 rpm, the 3.2 Ranger is now the strongest bakkie in SA and it comes standard with trailer sway control.

In Brazil, three adults wanted comfort in the rear. Ford’s engineers moved the B-pillar forward, creating a long rear door, more leg room and space for angled back rests.

Down Under, the immigrant miners from South Africa wanted a large fuel tank and  ice cold drinks. The Ranger has an 80-litre tank, and the elbow-rest between the front seats chills a couple of bottles. The rear window also has a sliding hatch that opens just big enough to allow, say, a pet ewe to push her head into the cab. Presumably this was a requirement in Alice, although the Ranger’s Ozzie designer, Peter Spence, claims the hatch is actually for fresh air.

Jo’burg city slickers wanted a bakkie with everything except 4x4, and for them the Wildtrack Ranger even offers front seat warmers.

Ford’s new bakkie also promises a higher safety rating than any other pick-up. Ford conducted hundreds of actual crash tests and a further 9000 computer simulations so advanced that their white coats could tune individual parts to the point where the new Ranger sends impact around all five occupants. Even the doors have crash sensors to help deploy the bakkie’s seven airbags faster.

So is the new Ranger South Africa’s New Best Bakkie? As a trucker, I certainly rate Ford’s stump-pulling 3.2. This bakkie offers a more complete package than even the pretty Nissan Navara: The Ranger pulls 3350 kg, packs 550 kg, is safe, sips fuel and offers a comprehensive four year, 120 000 km warrantee.

Ford does, however, want R426 900 for this class-leading double cab – some R51000 more than Nissan wants, and R32000 more than Toyota asks for the much weaker Hilux 3.0 D4D Raider 4x4.

And when it comes to smaller-engined single cab 4x4 diesels, the VW Amarok 2.0 4Motion Basic is some R35000, cheaper, 115 Nm stronger and its 2.0 turbo diesel engine is more fuel efficient than the Ranger’s polished 2.2 oil burner.

For the really price sensitive-buyer, the double cab 4x4 Tata’s Xenon and Mahindra’s Scorpio have by now also earned the right to have their wheels kicked.