Ford Ranger SuperCab’s new Wildtrak side styles-up the daily grind

Although very much enshrined as South Africa’s second best-selling behind the Toyota Hilux, the Ford Ranger has long been known to feature above its rival in the lucrative double cab segment.

Top double cab…

An accolade held by the now previous generation T6, which has month-after-month also been the most sought-after pre-owned double cab according to reports by AutoTrader, the T6.2 Ranger has now taken over the mantle by an admittedly small margin.

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While the Isuzu D-Max has kept station in third place, sales figures provided by the Blue Oval at the launch of the Wildtrak X last month revealed it has sold 13 892 double cabs between January and August this year.

By comparison, its arch rival moved 12 272 examples, and Isuzu a significantly less 6 125 D-Max double cabs based on the same details reported by IOL Motoring.

… but seemingly not cab-and-a-half

Not recorded in the same detail, however, is how the Ranger has been fairing in the equally significant workhorse space, a segment well-known to be the bread-and-butter for both Toyota and Isuzu.

What’s more, pricing for the single cab and SuperCab models only emerged in January, followed by actual sales commencing much later, which makes the pair’s contribution to the overall Rangers sold this year a bit harder to deduce.

Double cab no longer needed

Always resplendent with suicide opening rear doors similar to the Mitsubishi Colt ClubCab, which effectively revived and reinvited the “combination” workhorse segment at the turn of the century, the T6.2 Ranger SuperCab’s reveal came with the surprise of a first-time Wildtrak derivative as its flagship.

Only available with the part-time four-wheel-drive system and minus the option of the 3.0-litre Lion turbodiesel V6 that remains exclusive to the double cab, the SuperCab retains the same visual enhancements as its sibling, plus the same specification items—some never before offered on a non-double cab.

The arrival of the Wildtrak for the customary seven-day was therefore an eagerly awaited one, especially as single cab and cab-and-a-half bakkies are seldom availed for testing.

Despite the tester’s less than visually appealing Frozen White colour, the F-150 inspired design, in this writer’s opinion, somehow works better than on the double cab now that the rear doors have been replaced by the backwards opening suicide items.

Hard worker

Somehow more purposeful in appearance than the double cab Wildtrak, the SuperCab remains a work truck at heart, as apart from it being illegal to transport passengers in the rear based on the lack of seats and seatbelts, the loadbed is also longer at 2 305 mm and the payload five kilograms short of one-ton versus 946 kg.

Still with the same 800 mm wading depth and 237 mm ground clearance ratings as the double-cab Wildtrak, the SuperCab also offers the choice of 20-inch alloy wheels, although in the case of our tester, the standard, and more application-suited, 18-inches were fitted.

A further inclusion in the Wildtrak’s heady R788 300 price tag is a variant of the Power Onboard system from the F-150, made-up of a 400-watt inverter and a pair of outlets integrated into the wall of the loadbin. 

Along with the standard roof rails and side-steps, plus the C-shaped LED headlights, Wildtrak specific gloss black grille and mirror caps, the SuperCab appears both striking and still work ready in spite of its new bling.

Plush worker

The most un-workhorse aspect remains the interior. Besides space behind the seats being impressive, the Wildtrak receives the same spec items as the double cab, namely the 12-inch SYNC 4A infotainment and 12.4-inch digital instrument cluster, the electronic e-shifter for the 10-speed automatic gearbox, wireless smartphone charger and the 360-degree surround-view camera system to name a few.

Specific to the Wildtrak, though, are partial leather-and-cloth electric seats with Wildtrak embroidered headrests, Code Orange inserts and a Wildtrak decal on the passenger’s side.

A layout while easily the most modern of any bakkie on-sale today, along with upmarket fit-and-fit considering its intended target market, the tablet-style infotainment system isn’t as easy to fathom from the start as the old eight-inch SYNC 3 system in spite of being boasting more features.

Ergonomically sound and with physical dials and buttons for the dual-zone climate opted for, comfort inside leaves little to criticise, with the same applying to the eight-speaker sound system and the overhead panel resplendent with a series of auxiliary switches.

In fact, the biggest issue involved too much wind noise as a result of not only the loading hooks on top of the rear panels, but also the lack of a tonneau cover that can be had as a cost option.

Power of six? Not needed

It’s stay culminating in a road trip to the Free State, the SuperCab Wildtrak failed to disappoint as apart from ride comfort over the notoriously horrible provincial roads, the 2.0-litre bi-turbodiesel engine felt anything but lacklustre in despite producing a smidgen less power in the T6 Ranger.

Its delivery being strong low-down and never warranting the need for the V6’s added grunt, the locally made Panther mill’s 154kW/500Nm is now utilised better as a result of the revisions made to the mentioned automatic ‘box co-developed with General Motors.

No longer prone to skipping gears when going up or down, the ‘box not only shifts smoother, but also responds a lot quicker without being erratic as it previously did when asked to unlock more of the T6 Ranger’s 157kW/500Nm.

Briefly off-road

Away from the tar, the Wildtrak also had a chance to show its off-road credentials on an admittedly anything but challenging farm road.

Fitted with a conventional part-time four-wheel-drive setup with low range, and therefore, without the 4A setting featured on the all-wheel-drive V6 and Wildtrak X, the uprated Terrain Management system is still standard, albeit now with six settings; Slippery, Eco, Normal, Tow, Mud/Ruts and Sand.

With the latter mode selected and the 4H button within the roundel that controls the Terrain system selected, the Wildtrak remained felt composed and not unfazed by the slippery gravel it was travelling on.

At the same time, the ride still felt more car than bakkie and the steering equally as weighted and direct, for a bakkie, as it did on tar.

A trip that made up 670 km of the Wildtrak’s eventual 1 338 km tenure, the unsurprising final boon came in the form of the fuel consumption.

While returned with an indicated 9.0 L/100 km, the trek down saw a readout of 7.0 L/100 km at one point, impressive considering not only the four-wheel-drive system and frequent use of the climate control, but also the T6.2’s bulky mass, tipping the scales at 2 285 kg in the case of the SuperCab Wildtrak.

Conclusion

Base model or top model more than often is how South Africans go about choosing their eventual vehicle with the Ford Ranger SuperCab unlikely to be the exception.

A more expensive but better equipped and modern rival for the comparative Hilux Xtra Cab and D-Max Extended Cab it might be, it still faces competition within its own ranks, namely the lesser well-equipped XLT 4×4 at R723 400 with the same drivetrain, and the entry-level single turbo XL 4×4 sticked at R570 100.

Models that can both be spruced-up by means of a series of optional packages to well beneath the Wildtrak’s price, the cachet of the Wildtrak badge remains and despite its premium over the XLT, will still be favoured, even more so now that opting for a double cab with less packing no longer applies.

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