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http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/motoring/5736208/New-Ford-Ranger-is-a-corker
The new Ford Ranger has arrived, Rob Maetzig travels across the ditch to test it out.
It could be said the new Ford Ranger was born in the modernity ward at Ford Australia's Melbourne headquarters.
That's because although the new ute was conceived in USA, its gestation has been very much an Aussie project. And the Ford Australia people are very proud of that - which perhaps explains why the word modernity seems to have become the in-house buzz word among the Aussie designers.
This pride - and confidence in the product - also no doubt explains why, over the past couple of weeks, Ford has been hosting the Australian and New Zealand motoring media at a series of very comprehensive events that have seen the journalists firstly spending an entire day at Adelaide sitting through various presentations on aspects of the Ranger, before being flown way inland to spend another full day driving the ute.
Ford Australia calls these sorts of media occasions 'deep dive', because they really do delve way down into the nitty-gritty of the vehicles being introduced. But, up until now, they have been restricted to launches of uniquely Australian product such as the Falcon and the Territory.
Now, it's been the turn of the Ranger, which is scheduled to be released in New Zealand in a couple of weeks.
In fact, the ute is very much an international vehicle that under the One Ford strategy will eventually be built in three countries and sold in 180 markets around the globe. But it is also true that its development was undertaken by a global team headquartered in Melbourne, and it was patently obvious at last week's New Zealand media event in South Australia that the Ford Australia people consider that to be quite enough for them to take ownership of the end result.
And if I were them, I would too - because this new Ford Ranger is impressive. Bigger in every dimension except vehicle height than its arch-rival the Toyota Hilux, it is a good-looking and spacious new ute that offers high levels of comfort and excellent performance.
While Ranger is being launched in Australia with choice of one petrol and two turbo-diesel engines, Ford New Zealand is initially restricting the Kiwi selection to the most powerful of the engines, a 3.2-litre in-line five- cylinder turbodiesel.
That's an inspired choice. This engine, which already powers the Transit van in the northern hemisphere, gives the Ranger tremendous performance potential. Power is 147 kilowatts, and the top torque is 470 Newton metres from just 1500 rpm, which translates to real pulling power.
In fact, the engine offers so much torque that that, during our turn with Ford last week, my driving partner and I had loads of fun motoring through slow-speed intersections in fifth or even sixth gear and letting the ute simply pull itself back to speed.
Ad Feedback During their opening-day presentations, the Ford people happily proclaimed that, thanks to a combination of all that torque, installation of new six-speed automatic and manual transmissions with low first gears, and a chassis that is two times stiffer than that on the Ranger it replaces, this new ute can tow up to a class-leading 3350 kg and carry up to 1500 kg.
Then they loaded 700 kg payloads onto our utes and let us loose over both seal and shingle, all of which was a breeze. And then, on the second day they went a long way further - flew us way inland aboard a chartered plane to the wild landscape of the Flinders Ranges and sent us out on a 4WD excursion, tough enough to give both utes and their drivers a real workout.
The countryside out there is unlike anything in New Zealand. The plains are covered in red dust, and the surface on the hillsides is made up of piles of purple-red shale and sandstone that is said to be 580 million years old and which had the Rangers scrambling for purchase in 4WD Low and with every electronic traction aid operational.
But the utes completed their uphill tasks impressively well. Going downhill was easy too. I've always been a real fan of Hill Descent Control, which is an electronic aid that automatically controls braking to help the driver on steep downhill grades, and with the Ranger we took turns turning the system on, putting the big ute into neutral, and leaving it up to all the electronic wizardry to creep us back down some very steep and unstable slopes.
Among the Ford Australia hosts was vehicle stylist Pete Jones, a youthful and enthusiastic country boy whose first car was a Zephyr ute, and who obviously has relished the chance to help design and build a brand-new pickup truck right from the start.
He recounted how, in an effort to establish what a 21st Century ute should look like, his team researched the efficiency of design of all sorts of items ranging from power tools, to snowboard bindings, to G-Shock watches.
That helped them design the Ranger that - here we go again - features all the keys to modernity, he said. I hit the dictionary, and established that the word relates to qualities that are current or of the present. In the Ford sense, I suppose that means that Pete Jones was saying the Ranger is a modern-looking ute.
It is, too. Sculpted and chunky in its appearance and with a lovely chamfered edge running from beneath the side windows right around the wellside, it has a greater door-to-glass ratio than the previous Ranger to help give it a substantial look.
Ranger is also efficient in design. During its development, the ute was closely benchmarked against Hilux, Nissan Navara and Volkswagen Amarok - in fact, all three utes were on display at the media event so the Ford people could point out the good things about them. The design strategy was to make the Ford better in every regard.
Naturally, it will now be up to the motoring public and their chequebooks to decide whether the company has achieved that aim. But it is a fact that the benchmarking has resulted in several distinctive design elements that contribute to the Ranger's excellence.
One is the location of the B-pillars (the pillars that hold the back doors) on the double-cab versions, which have been moved forward by 100mm, not only to improve access to the back seats, but also to make the rear spacious enough to accommodate very tall men. Another is the absence of any division bar on the rear side windows, in the interests of good passenger visibility.
Yet another is stiffening of the door framing and installation of extra cabin sealing, which has helped reduce cabin air 'leakage' by 50 per cent. And another again is extra effort that has gone into to water-protecting the lower portion of the ute, which has given it a wading depth of 800mm.
Ranger will initially be offered in two cab styles - double-cab, and a cab and a half which is called super - and there will be cab- chassis and pickup body styles. The first models to be launched in New Zealand will be 4WD double- cab models in XL and XLT levels of specification, both powered by the 3.2-litre in-line five turbodiesel.
The remainder of the Ranger range will be released in subsequent months.
Unfortunately, Ford NZ has continued a recent frustrating tradition of not being able to announce the pricing of the Rangers destined for this country - it is frustrating because, while it might be all very well benchmarking the ute against opposition product during its development, pricing is perhaps the most important benchmark of all when it's time to introduce the vehicle to the public.
Ford NZ boss Neale Hill said pricing had not been finalised, but he promised it will be competitive. We'll just have to wait and see whether the pricing will offer the same modernity as the brilliant new truck itself.
The new Ford Ranger has arrived, Rob Maetzig travels across the ditch to test it out.
It could be said the new Ford Ranger was born in the modernity ward at Ford Australia's Melbourne headquarters.
That's because although the new ute was conceived in USA, its gestation has been very much an Aussie project. And the Ford Australia people are very proud of that - which perhaps explains why the word modernity seems to have become the in-house buzz word among the Aussie designers.
This pride - and confidence in the product - also no doubt explains why, over the past couple of weeks, Ford has been hosting the Australian and New Zealand motoring media at a series of very comprehensive events that have seen the journalists firstly spending an entire day at Adelaide sitting through various presentations on aspects of the Ranger, before being flown way inland to spend another full day driving the ute.
Ford Australia calls these sorts of media occasions 'deep dive', because they really do delve way down into the nitty-gritty of the vehicles being introduced. But, up until now, they have been restricted to launches of uniquely Australian product such as the Falcon and the Territory.
Now, it's been the turn of the Ranger, which is scheduled to be released in New Zealand in a couple of weeks.
In fact, the ute is very much an international vehicle that under the One Ford strategy will eventually be built in three countries and sold in 180 markets around the globe. But it is also true that its development was undertaken by a global team headquartered in Melbourne, and it was patently obvious at last week's New Zealand media event in South Australia that the Ford Australia people consider that to be quite enough for them to take ownership of the end result.
And if I were them, I would too - because this new Ford Ranger is impressive. Bigger in every dimension except vehicle height than its arch-rival the Toyota Hilux, it is a good-looking and spacious new ute that offers high levels of comfort and excellent performance.
While Ranger is being launched in Australia with choice of one petrol and two turbo-diesel engines, Ford New Zealand is initially restricting the Kiwi selection to the most powerful of the engines, a 3.2-litre in-line five- cylinder turbodiesel.
That's an inspired choice. This engine, which already powers the Transit van in the northern hemisphere, gives the Ranger tremendous performance potential. Power is 147 kilowatts, and the top torque is 470 Newton metres from just 1500 rpm, which translates to real pulling power.
In fact, the engine offers so much torque that that, during our turn with Ford last week, my driving partner and I had loads of fun motoring through slow-speed intersections in fifth or even sixth gear and letting the ute simply pull itself back to speed.
Ad Feedback During their opening-day presentations, the Ford people happily proclaimed that, thanks to a combination of all that torque, installation of new six-speed automatic and manual transmissions with low first gears, and a chassis that is two times stiffer than that on the Ranger it replaces, this new ute can tow up to a class-leading 3350 kg and carry up to 1500 kg.
Then they loaded 700 kg payloads onto our utes and let us loose over both seal and shingle, all of which was a breeze. And then, on the second day they went a long way further - flew us way inland aboard a chartered plane to the wild landscape of the Flinders Ranges and sent us out on a 4WD excursion, tough enough to give both utes and their drivers a real workout.
The countryside out there is unlike anything in New Zealand. The plains are covered in red dust, and the surface on the hillsides is made up of piles of purple-red shale and sandstone that is said to be 580 million years old and which had the Rangers scrambling for purchase in 4WD Low and with every electronic traction aid operational.
But the utes completed their uphill tasks impressively well. Going downhill was easy too. I've always been a real fan of Hill Descent Control, which is an electronic aid that automatically controls braking to help the driver on steep downhill grades, and with the Ranger we took turns turning the system on, putting the big ute into neutral, and leaving it up to all the electronic wizardry to creep us back down some very steep and unstable slopes.
Among the Ford Australia hosts was vehicle stylist Pete Jones, a youthful and enthusiastic country boy whose first car was a Zephyr ute, and who obviously has relished the chance to help design and build a brand-new pickup truck right from the start.
He recounted how, in an effort to establish what a 21st Century ute should look like, his team researched the efficiency of design of all sorts of items ranging from power tools, to snowboard bindings, to G-Shock watches.
That helped them design the Ranger that - here we go again - features all the keys to modernity, he said. I hit the dictionary, and established that the word relates to qualities that are current or of the present. In the Ford sense, I suppose that means that Pete Jones was saying the Ranger is a modern-looking ute.
It is, too. Sculpted and chunky in its appearance and with a lovely chamfered edge running from beneath the side windows right around the wellside, it has a greater door-to-glass ratio than the previous Ranger to help give it a substantial look.
Ranger is also efficient in design. During its development, the ute was closely benchmarked against Hilux, Nissan Navara and Volkswagen Amarok - in fact, all three utes were on display at the media event so the Ford people could point out the good things about them. The design strategy was to make the Ford better in every regard.
Naturally, it will now be up to the motoring public and their chequebooks to decide whether the company has achieved that aim. But it is a fact that the benchmarking has resulted in several distinctive design elements that contribute to the Ranger's excellence.
One is the location of the B-pillars (the pillars that hold the back doors) on the double-cab versions, which have been moved forward by 100mm, not only to improve access to the back seats, but also to make the rear spacious enough to accommodate very tall men. Another is the absence of any division bar on the rear side windows, in the interests of good passenger visibility.
Yet another is stiffening of the door framing and installation of extra cabin sealing, which has helped reduce cabin air 'leakage' by 50 per cent. And another again is extra effort that has gone into to water-protecting the lower portion of the ute, which has given it a wading depth of 800mm.
Ranger will initially be offered in two cab styles - double-cab, and a cab and a half which is called super - and there will be cab- chassis and pickup body styles. The first models to be launched in New Zealand will be 4WD double- cab models in XL and XLT levels of specification, both powered by the 3.2-litre in-line five turbodiesel.
The remainder of the Ranger range will be released in subsequent months.
Unfortunately, Ford NZ has continued a recent frustrating tradition of not being able to announce the pricing of the Rangers destined for this country - it is frustrating because, while it might be all very well benchmarking the ute against opposition product during its development, pricing is perhaps the most important benchmark of all when it's time to introduce the vehicle to the public.
Ford NZ boss Neale Hill said pricing had not been finalised, but he promised it will be competitive. We'll just have to wait and see whether the pricing will offer the same modernity as the brilliant new truck itself.
