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By
ALISTAIR KENNEDY
12 February 2007
Rarely has a new Australian vehicle had as much pre-launch
exposure as Ford’s new Ranger light commercial. Throughout Australia’s
golden summer of cricket with its record crowds and television ratings,
the Ford Ranger name has never been far from view around the grounds.
This season it’s also on the trophy for the Australian domestic
one-day cricket competition.
Ranger is the replacement for Ford’s long-serving Courier
light commercial, the name change bringing Australia into line
with the global name for the vehicle. The use of what is seen as a
stronger nameplate is part of Ford’s push to grab a larger share
of the growing recreational ute market.
As is the trend with passenger cars, light commercials have
steadily grown in size with each new model. And so it is with the
Ranger being noticeably larger than the Courier. It also has a
tougher, more rugged frontal appearance that seems sure to appeal
to both commercial and recreational buyers.
In line with another trend Ford has decided to offer the Ranger
only with turbo-diesel engines, one of 2.5 litres, the other 3.0.
At this stage the company has no plans to offer petrol engines and
having driven the diesels we see no need for petrols. Both engines
use the latest in twin-cam, common-rail design.
As well as the choice of engines, Ranger buyers can select
between 4x2 or 4x4, pickup or cab chassis, and three cab sizes:
single, extended (Super Cab) or dual (Crew Cab). Not all
combinations are available, for example the 2.5-litre engine is
only offered as a 4x2 with single cab.
The 2.5-litre engine generates 105 kW at 3500 rpm but, more
importantly, gets up to 330 Newton metres of torque at just 1800
rpm. Given that, without 4WD, it’s unlikely to have any off-road
duties this is likely to be more than enough for most commercial
users.
The Ranger 3.0-litre engine has 115 kW and 380 Nm, the latter
at 1800 rpm.
The 3.0-litre Ranger comes with the choice of five-speed manual
or five-speed automatic transmission, the 2.5-litre only comes as
a manual.
Apart from extra torque, diesel power means reduced fuel
consumption. The 2.5-litre Ranger manual is rated at 8.3 litres
per 100 kilometres over a combined city/highway cycle. The
3.0-litre manual’s figures are 9.2 L/100 km and the automatic
10.4 L/100 km.
Although Ranger has being going on sale progressively since
December 2006 we’ve only just been able to put the vehicle
through its paces during a recent media launch in rural Victoria.
Much of the testing was over a mixture of bitumen and moderate
gravel roads where the improvements in noise, vibration and
harshness (NVH) levels almost gave it the feel and comfort of a
large passenger car when cruising.
A stretch of rough bush tracks severely upset the 4x2 2.5-litre
(unladen) cab chassis we drove, frequently bouncing us around
inside the cab. On the other hand the 3.0-litre 4x4 utility
handled similar conditions with ease, the body feeling strong and
dependable.
Ranger sees a big jump in towing capacity, whereas the Courier
could only manage to tow up to 1800 kg, the Ranger 2.5-litre can
take up to 2250 kg while an automatic 3.0-litre Ranger can tow up
to 2500 kg and a manual up to 3000 kg.
For many years Ford and Mazda have had a model-sharing
arrangement which saw the closely-related Ford Courier and Mazda
Bravo models competing against each other. This situation
continues with the Ford Ranger and the Mazda BT-50.
The full Ford Ranger range with prices (excluding on-road
costs) is:
4x2 Single Cab Chassis XL 2.5 litre turbo diesel: $20,990 (manual)
4x2 Single Cab Pick Up XL 2.5 litre turbo diesel: $23,990 (manual)
4x2 Single Cab Chassis XL 3.0 litre turbo diesel: $29,990
(manual), $31,990 (automatic)
4x2 Super Cab Chassis XL 3.0 litre turbo diesel: $31,490 (manual),
$33,490 (automatic)
4x2 Super Cab Pick Up XL 3.0 litre turbo diesel: $33,490 (manual),
$35,490 (automatic)
4x2 Crew Cab Pick Up XL 3.0 litre turbo diesel: $34,490 (manual),
$36,490 (automatic)
4x4 Single Cab Chassis XL 3.0 litre turbo diesel: $33,490
(manual), $35,490 (automatic)
4x4 Super Cab Chassis XL 3.0 litre turbo diesel: $36,990 (manual),
$38,990 (automatic)
4x4 Super Cab Pick Up XL 3.0 litre turbo diesel: $38,990 (manual),
$40,990 (automatic)
4x4 Super Cab Pick Up XLT 3.0 litre turbo diesel: $44,990
(manual), $46,990 (automatic)
4x4 Crew Cab Chassis XL 3.0 litre turbo diesel: $37,990 (manual),
$39,990 (automatic)
4x4 Crew Cab Pick Up XL 3.0 litre turbo diesel: $39,990 (manual),
$41,990 (automatic)
4x4 Crew Cab Pick Up XLT 3.0 litre turbo diesel: $45,990 (manual),
$47,990 (automatic)
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Marque Publishing Company
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