Test drive Ford Ranger 1992 - 2010 compartment
New Ford Ranger: new squint
The new Ford Ranger has become worse, more expensive and more burden, but he cannot win the Finnish army. Pickup with the proud name Ranger, a machine tested in the most ruthless conditions. The heat and dust of the uninhabited Australian areas, the extreme temperatures of the Nepali Himalayas ... .... Vandals from Zhulebin and enthusiasts from pickup club are just some examples of his harsh operation. This car, like its copy of the Mazda BT-50, is hardy, durable and reliable in any situation. Even the motor compartment and the fuel tank are protected by real iron.
Road clearance of 207 mm, depth of overcoming ford 750 mm, maximum roll angle of 49 degrees, 34 degrees entry angle: all this allows us to talk about good off -road abilities of Ranger. And if you add a carrying capacity of one ton and the permissible mass of a trailer of three tons, then we will get a universal SUV.
And cunning people from Ford did not put a full -time gasket in their pickupa, but solved the problem radically. They made him look like a Chinese so that they would probably not be stolen.
If today, then the Japanese
The update overtook Ford Ranger in an interesting time. I can report three news. First: the pickup market in Russia added 4%. Second: according to the results of the half year, the prerestyled Ranger overtook the sales of the main competitor Mitsubishi L200. Perhaps the success of the Ford more utilitarian concept was fueled: about 15% of them were sold to telecommunication companies for servicing cellular towers in hard -to -reach areas and regional banks for subsequent reservation as collection vehicles.
The third news is bad. Duties for pickups are raised from 10 to 25%. Now the cheapest Ford Ranger with a double cab is 1,200? 000 rub. This is perhaps the most expensive offer in Russia. With the clarification: Ford has ABS, airbags and belt -pretexts in the basic configuration. In addition, competitors are still selling last year and, by the way, they will do this even in 2010. And Ford has already got rid of commodity residues and sells new cars. Therefore, if today you need a pickup, rush to the Japanese! And he will see a Ford, there is a good credit program: 2.9% per annum for 3 years, the first fee 30%. You can save on the body: Ranger with a half -of -half cabin is available from 978? 000 rubles. For this money, you will receive a freight platform with a length of 1753 mm against the usual 1530 mm.
Apparently, as an apology for the fact that Ranger has become much worse and more expensive, Ford increased the service interval from 5 to 10 thousand kilometers. In this light, the expediency of diesel has become a little more obvious. On the recommendation of Ford, air and fuel filters should be changed after 60 thousand kilometers, and the replacement of the coolant and the main components of the brake system, as well as its maintenance, are performed after 200 thousand kilometers.
So far only a version with a mechanical gearbox is available
Automation with automatic transmission is promised only after the new year
It was shaking mercilessly
For a test drive of an updated pickup, the Ford specialists chose an unsuccessful road. On this highway in 1939, one Finnish fighter shot all the tanks available to the Red Army for several months, and when he was tired, he went into the forest. Since then, the road has never been repaired. How will an empty truck with a rigid suspension on a canvas, consisting of armor fragments, slightly fastened with asphalt? After five kilometers of such a ride, I was ready to buy from peasants any cargo weighing 200300 kg to reduce the agility of the springs. What a smooth course is there! It was shaking mercilessly.
Plus, the whole road consisted of wild turn. At the very top of the rise, when you still see only the sky, suddenly a sharp turn began, blind, and even with the slope of the profile. Now to the right, then to the left. And so fifty kilometers. I would love to ride here on some soft, but obedient and receiving SUV. But the truck is too hard and too many rally.
A good idea to throw at least some kind of burden in the body in advance, excuse me, ballast
Then we went to the forest, and it became easier on soft ground. But the empty body again tossed it on each bump. On the off -road, I recalled that the only technical change in the design is optimized gear ratio of the first and second transmission to the manual transmission. They were reconfigured for better traction: the first was changed by 10%, and the second by 7. Previously, the pickup was scolded for the absence of bottoms, it was not easy to move in difficult conditions. Only now the picture has not changed much.
Need a chandelier
I would buy a Ford Ranger with an automaton (after the new year the issue with the automatic transmission will be resolved) and a three -liter diesel (it has not yet been promised for Russia). I would return the old radiator grille and headlights. I would have raised above the seat. I would put ballast in the body, and I would have attached a chandelier to an iron arc.
Perhaps this is exactly such restyling to my liking. And what the Americans suggested as Feyslift looks far -fetched, fussy and generally superfluous. What a pickup was, so in reality remained.
Author: Dmitry Leontyev, photo of Alexander Ortnova-Baranov
Source: Magazine 4x4 [January /2010]
