The Ford Ranger versus Toyota Hilux battle remains one of the most fiercely contested battles in South Africa.
Let there be a post on social media about an upgrade or a new model coming, and the debate rages. Passions run highs and feelings are not spared as fans of the respective brands lay into each other.
Toyota’s Hilux has not only been our countries best-selling bakkie for as long as I can remember, it has also been the number selling vehicle in South Africa at the same time. A position that went largely unchallenged for many years, but Ford’s Ranger has slowly but surely come to battlefield looking for a fight. And on the odd occasion has even got the better of its bitter foe.
Now I could spend pages trying to convince of which one is better in my opinion, but as I have already told you, everybody has an opinion on this topic. I could also go into massive detail, but you won’t read all of that.
So, what I have decided to do, is take the two top of the range offerings from both stables, the Ranger Raptor and the Hilux GR Sport, and break them down in easy to follow subjective and objective categories, and simply award a point to the better offering of each in these categories.
Perhaps a quick reminder of the two definitions is not a bad thing prior to this battle commencing. Subjective is when you are influenced, or base, your decisions on personal feelings, tastes, or opinions. Objective is when you are not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts. We are going to do a bit of both. Enjoy the ride!
Verdict
I think we can all agree that the Raptor Ranger is one bespoke off-road machine, that comes tech laden both inside and out, but this does come at a hefty R120 000 price premium.
The Hilux GR Sport is always going to be the better priced more sensible long-term choice, but in this shoot-out the points go the way of the Ranger. Just!
In the coming weeks, we will be doing the same exercise with the volume selling entry level models, the Ranger 2.2 TDCi and the Hilux 2.4 GD-6, and maybe this time the tables will turn.
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