WATCH: New Ford Ranger single turbo punches above its weight

I attended the launch of the new Ford Ranger at the end of last year, and I got to sample two of the top of the range offerings, the 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel Wildtrak and 2.0-litre bi-turbo XLT. The V6 is an all-new and the 2.0-litre being a revised offering from before.

Watch Ford Ranger single turbo in action

To be expected, my seat dyno told me that the V6 was the faster of the two. But it was the 500 Nm bi-turbo that produces a reduced 154 kW, down from 157 kW, that started what was to become an epic case of mistaken identity and mass confusion.

I felt that despite the drop in claimed power, the refinement of powertrain made this bi-turbo feel faster than the outgoing model.

Fast forward a few months and I was sent a Ford Ranger double cab XLT “bi-turbo” to test. I am a numbers guys, it’s written right there in my job title, The CItizen Motoring Road Test Editor.

I am not paid to be emotional or critique the styling cues of a vehicle. I am paid to strap in and tell you if A is faster than B and that’s exactly what I did with the Ranger that arrived at my door.

Racelogic VBOX test equipment loaded and powered up, I started my test routine. After the first run when this new Ranger was quicker than the old one, I patted myself on the back because my initial feelings about the pace of the new Ranger was spot on.

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Make it a single

Our long-term 157kW/500Nm Stormtrak hit 100 km/h in 12.70 seconds and the new XLT 11.74 seconds. It also got through the 60 to 140 km/h roll on pull in 19.86 seconds as opposed to 20.50 seconds for the Ford Ranger Stormtrak that was powered by the previous generation biturbo diesel mill.

A further bonus was that the fuel consumption of the XLT was also substantially better at 8.6 litres per 100 km when compared to the Stormtrak’s number that came in at 10.4 litres per 100 km. This new 2.0-litre biturbo Ranger was all round better than before. Job done!

But while sitting at the track after the test, I commented on the fact that for a XLT spec bakkie priced at R782 100 there was a distinct lack of bling and biturbo badging on this Ford Ranger.

But you do get over 20 Ranger models to choose from which include single cab, super cab, double cab, 4×2, 4×4, V6, bi-turbo, single turbo, manual transmission, six-speed auto and 10-speed auto. And I had only ever briefly driven two before, I felt I was not a position to comment on such matters.

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The gears of doubt

The thought started to nag at me. Why does this test Ranger not have biturbo badging? And that’s when I started to double check things and looked under the bonnet and saw only one turbo mounted on the side of the block.

The Ford Ranger cluster does not indicate to you what gear you are in and when I did a manual gear change check, this XLT only had six gears. Hang on, where are the other four gears on the 10-speed box mated to the bi-turbo?

I was initially told by the Ford South Africa’s PR and fleet people that they only have bi-turbo XLTs in the test fleet and that is what I had been delivered.

I took pictures, I took videos, I rechecked my data over and over to dispute this, because this single blower and gearbox combination that is rated at only 125kW/405Nm, is reserved for the much cheaper and less powerful R669 800 SiT XLT derivative.

Ford Ranger riddle

I have been doing this for over 20 years and I would like to think I have experienced it all when it comes to testing. But the performance test numbers just do not add up and there is no way this single turbo can outrun the much more powerful biturbo, 80 kg lighter previous generation sibling. But it just did, and by some margin.

Are Ford SA keeping a huge performance and better priced secret, from us in the SiT XLT, or have I gone completely insane?

We will know in a few weeks’ time when I get my hands on a ‘’real’’ Ford Ranger bi-turbo XLT and go back to Gerotek to run new numbers. Only then can we start comparing it with its great rival the Toyota Hilux.

Road test results