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| The 2,2 Ford Ranger with an automatic box hits the sweet spot among workhorse pickups |
SO, you want a strong workhorse bakkie? Well, for a lot of low-down
power you need look no further than Ford’s single cab bakkie equipped with the
2,2 auto drivetrain.
At Wheels, we rate this
bakkie for its 385 Nm, which is more than you need to pull a boat or carry a
load, and its sweet 118 kW power delivery makes highway driving a
pleasure.
Alas — we hear you say — you can’t afford the R321 900 recommended
retail price of the auto Ranger? Well, then your obvious choice is either of the
hardworking Indians — Tata’s Xenon Fleetline with its 300 Nm at R163k; or
Mahindra’s Bolero with its 238 Nm at R169k.
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| Mahindra's Bolero and Scorpio pick-ups all do double duty. |
Aah, but now you ask: “what about looks?”. Such snobbery taks us
back to the Ford, but not a Ford-Ford — the Ford-Mazda as in the BT-50 — and
then not the original BT-50 either, but the clone built by China’s Jianling
Motor Corporation, (JMC).
Bear with me, it only sounds complicated. For what Ford don’t
really want us to tell you is that JMC has been building their bakkies and
Transit vans in China since 1997 and that the Vigus bakkies we can buy here has
previous generation Ford’s Duratorq engines under the hood of that (we like to
think) prettier BT-50-inspired nose.
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| The range of JMC Vigus bakkies as to ahem, ford, deep waters to catch up with other brands. |
As for price, Pietermaritzburg’s Metro Cars (which is one of SA’s
biggest JMC dealers) is selling the new 2,4 single cab Vigus petrol for just
under R200k and the diesel for some R210k, while sales manager Elvis Naidoo is
always willing to talk trade-ins.
So how good are the Chinese-built previous generation Duratorq
engines? Back in 2014, I took the Vigus double cab 4x4 to Diesel Works in
Pietermaritzburg and that 2,4 Duratorq turbo-diesel engine tested 83 kW at
3 363 rpm and 286 Nm at 2 003 rpm — as close to the official 88 kW and 290 Nm as
a hot day in KZN would allow.
The 4x4 also went up our axle-bending slope easily and then felt
planted on the rough. With the 4x4 turned off, the its stiff suspension just
begged to be drifted through corners.
With the same engine but less mass, the single cab Vigus makes
almost too much power and one has to be quick off the hair-trigger clutch not to
spin the rear wheels. Changing gears also requires slow-hand, old-style double
clutching to avoid grinding the gears in first and second.
With a load on it, the single cab Vigus performs as good as any
other workhorse bakkie, but it as no-charge bonuses it adds that nice warm glow
one gets from saving a tidy pile, and the reassurance of a well-reputed workshop
at Metro Car Sales to back the factory’s five-year or 60 000 km service
plan.
