Hilux has been sleeping on the job. So then, while Toyota is busy prepping a replacement for its dictator, that Ranger has gone ahead and given its quite popular Ranger a facelift, and not just a nip and tuck either, no, this is a comprehensive facelift that will make even the Hilux crane their necks to catch a better glimpse at the rivalling blue oval machine writes DESMOND LESETEDI.
Toyota is an old company. They are so old that I recall a bakkie they used to make that we called “Stout”—a word you can expand on to have other words such as resolute, unbendable, stubborn, unyielding and ofcourse durable. All these words describe the stout to the last bolt on it. It has survived most marriages and is as old as most grandmothers’ fathers.
After steadily producing that dinosaur, Toyota finally relented and gave us the Hilux and this, as you all are aware, has been going on for far longer than most teenage pregnancies, in fact for as long as this country has been independent. This is why they have all those special editions of the Hilux, the Dakar, the Heritage Edition, and the Legend 45 (which marks how long the damn thing has been king over all other bakkies.) Aids came and nearly wiped the country clean yet the Hilux remained resolute; remember those words we used to describe the original Stout above? But now here comes a pretender in the form of the Ford Ranger and claiming it can show the mighty Hilux how things are done.
The Hilux has been around for as long as the ruling party has been, well, ruling.
The horror! What is this? They paint their Ranger orange, give it a fancy Wildtrak name and let it loose on the city’s impressionable tenderpreneurs and hope on a prayer that it would topple the venerable Hilux. What chance do they stand really? I mean the Hilux has been around for as long as the ruling party has been, well, ruling. So the Ford Ranger now thinks it’s the united opposition by painting its bakkie orange and black and covering the backside like an umbrella? Well if we are being honest, the current Hilux is old and way past its sell-by date.
The Amarok came and found it as is, the Navara came and grew tired too, various Chinese rip-off bakkies came, grew a beard and retired too but the Toyota simply shrugged and asked what all the fuss was about, I mean if Mugabe can hold on for so long and the ruling party can be as forgettable as to forget giving its citizens water what chance do all these newcomers have on such a senior really? Well, age can be a hindrance and derail one when competition is an issue; I mean the very senior Uncle Bob even read the wrong speech, owing it all to a dimming memory.
So then, while Toyota is busy prepping a replacement for its dictator, that Ranger has gone ahead and given its quite popular Ranger a facelift, and not just a nip and tuck either, no, this is a comprehensive facelift that will make even the Hilux crane their necks to catch a better glimpse at the rivalling blue oval machine. So, what unspeakable things has Ford done to taunt Toyota now? Let’s see; that big shiny newly designed grille as pimped as you’d wish for is the most prominenttailored change, refractingaway from the reshaped bonnet.
Inside Ranger benefits from some very nice things previously unheard of in bakkie land: TFT instrumentation, an eight-inch touchscreen with Ford’s reportedly intuitive MySync voice activation and Smartphone mastering infotainment system, and a horde of clever driver aids. How clever? Lane motoring and keep assist, adaptive radar guided cruise control (awesome, that one) and front/rear park assist. In any case, most of the above mentioned goodies are Wildtrak specification.
They say its quitter, can tow even more and carry a tonne of stuff with improved ride quality and be able to ford (yes, that is a real word) water up to 800mm. Engines remain within acquainted capacities and ratings with the only noteworthy change being Ranger’s 2.2 high-output TDCi, now good for 118kW and 385Nm, gains of 8kW and 10Nm. The 3.2, now with smaller, more efficient turbocharging workings and greater efficiencies within its ancillaries, is claimed to use 18% less fuel. So then, it looks like until the Hilux returns, provided it can find its way, the Ranger is the new king of the hill. Does this say anything about the umbrella wielding voters? I don’t know, question is do they have enough water and power to make a good judgement?