Regardless of whether you refer to them by the homegrown term or “’pick-up” as the rest of the world does, they are invaluable as they make the transition from workhorse to leisure/family vehicle in a heartbeat.
Towards the end of June, we welcomed our newest member to the team, the recently updated Ford Ranger in flagship four-wheel-drive Wildtrak guise, powered by the all-new 2.0-litre bi-turbocharged diesel engine hooked to the 10-speed automatic gearbox.
As Road Test Editor Mark Jones pointed out, the Saber Orange Wildtrak will be in our long-term test fleet until February and straight from the off it’s proven itself to be capable despite having spent the first few weeks cooped-up in the urban jungle. That changed at the beginning of this month when it ferried yours truly to the Free State, for a weekend family rendezvous.
As South Africans tend to travel long distances, even over weekends, the 280km trek to Bethlehem in sub-zero temperatures presented the ideal opportunity to try out the advances made to the twin-blown Wildtrak. Heading out of Johannesburg, the initial surprise factor was the ride.
With buyer demand seeing bakkies becoming more SUV-like, Ford has relocated the position of the rear anti-roll bar to behind the suspension and fitted all around dampers to improve the ride quality.
On the N1, the ride was indeed comfortable and the big Ford felt composed at the national limit. However, in spite of the Wildtrak receiving what Ford refers to as Active Noise Control that is claimed to reduce engine volume inside the cabin by 5%, a fair amount of clatter was still noticeable.
Out on the back roads around Sasolburg and Heilbron, the deteriorating surface often festooned with potholes didn’t upset the Ranger much as the new suspension provided sufficient damping to iron-out imperfections.
As good as the damping setup is, the majority of buyers will focus on the Wildtrak’s spec sheet where, apart from the Ebony Black inserts and Saber Orange stitching, the front seats are now heated, the ignition barrel replaced by a starter button and a steering wheel symbol showing on the previously blacked-out switch in front of the gear lever.
Whereas the latter represents Ford’s semi-automatic Park Assist system, the Wildtrak now comes with Auto High Beam Assist, Lane Keeping Aid and Alert, and Adaptive Cruise Control with Forward Collision Alert. This builds on the safety repertoire already made up of Roll Mitigation, Hill Start Assist, Hill Descent Control, Electronic Stability Control, ABS with EBD and six airbags.
Sadly, while the Lane aids proved their effectiveness, the persistent pothole dodging and the sensitive systems wanting to keep the Ranger between the lines eventually resulted in them being switched off when not on the highway. The Drive Fatigue Alert also flashed numerous times as the constant darting to avoid ruts had resulted in the system identifying a sleep deprived driver. This was, however, bypassed by pressing “OK” on the steering wheel.
Most effective was the Adaptive Cruise Control. Although not the slickest compared to Subaru’s EyeSight system, for example, it does what’s asked of it perfectly, slowing automatically when the vehicle in front does and speeding up again when said car accelerates. Crucially, neither action occurs abruptly or so suddenly that it takes the driver by surprise.
Along with the new safety tech, comfort in the Ranger is still high with the heated front seats being especially welcome, while the eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system comes with Ford SYNC3 software that includes satellite navigation, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Tracks4Africa, Bluetooth and dual USB ports.
A big talking point of the Wildtrak is that engine producing 157kW/500Nm. As strong as it is, its frugal nature showed at the pumps with the indicated consumption for the trip dropping from 9.5l/100km to 8.4l/100km, while the overall average was 9.9l/100km. To put this into perspective, a similar undertaking with the five-cylinder Wildtrak netted a best trip consumption of 9.8l/100km.
Next month, the Wildtrak gets its drivetrain and performance put to the test at Gerotek Proving Grounds.
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