PODCAST: Is 2.3-litre petrol Ford Ranger’s trump card against Toyota Hilux?
· Citizen
The Blue Oval this month took a bold step in introducing a non-performance petrol variant to its Ford Ranger line-up.
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The 2.3-litre EcoBoost engine, which produces 222kW of power and 452Nm of torque, is the bakkie range’s first standard petrol mill in ages. And the second one in the existing line-up after the performance Raptor’s 3.0-litre V6 twin-turbo engine.
The number of diesel powertrains in the updated Ford Ranger line-up has been trimmed from three to two. The 3.0-litre V6 and 2.0-litre single stays, while the 2.0-litre bi-turbo has been dropped.
Ford Ranger 2.3-litre makes Pitstop
On this week’s episode of The Citizen Motoring‘s Pitstop podcast, we discuss the introduction of the 2.3-litre Ranger.
The move is quite an interesting one by the manufacturer of South Africa’s second best-selling bakkie compared to the top-seller, the Toyota Hilux. Not only won’t the incoming new Hilux not offer a petrol engine anymore, but also just one choice of diesel. The 2.8-litre will be carried over from before, while the 2.4-litre has been given the boot.
The 2.3-litre Ford Ranger is offered in Wildtrak and the newly-added Sport guise, the latter slotting in between the XLT and Wildtrak. It is also only available in 4×2 guise.
Amarok also offers petrol
The VW Amarok, which is built alongside the Ranger in Ford’s Silverton assembly plant, introduced the 2.3-litre petrol mill to its range earlier this year. But only offers it in top spec PanAmericana all-wheel drive trim.
The petrol Ranger felt as smooth as the Amarok during the recent media launch drive. But fuel consumption is likely to also be a big issue. We averaged 15 litres per 100km in the slightly heavier Amarok during it’s week-long stay.
An open road launch drive in the Ford Ranger, which hardly threatened the national limit, averaged 10.9L/100km.