The D-max has had a boost

[Corry]

Yeah, it will be a game changer, be interesting to see what variants it will come in due to it being aimed at fleet markets, farming, mining, emergency services etc. And what it's wait times will be, if it can't be ordered till 2026, you may not see one until 2027, or later if it's as popular as Ford believe it's going to be. We've had our new car on order for 3 months now, and still have another 7 months to wait, that's if it's on time.
Will also be interesting to see what they've done to a standard Ranger to enable it to tow and carry so much heavier loads, it's specs have it up there with the 2500 range of RAM and Chev, in something so small in comparison.

I'll definitely be looking at one as a replacement to my 79 if I can get it in a Platinum variant, or maybe the Wildtrack, and single cab, but I very much doubt that will be an option

[Lovey80]

The F250/2500 range of US trucks have significantly more capability with respect to towing and payload than the Ranger super duty will have (most people register them as cars so they max out at 4500kg). It will certainly eat into the F150/Ram 1500 market in Australia though. The fact you can’t get one of those US utes in anything but a V8 petrol is a turn off for many.

I wonder if they will widen or lengthen the wheelbase on the Ranger as part of that upgrade package and if they may tune the engine up a bit more from stock? Can’t wait to see.

[Corry]

The fact you can’t get one of those US utes in anything but a V8 petrol is a turn off for many.

I wonder if they will widen or lengthen the wheelbase on the Ranger as part of that upgrade package and if they may tune the engine up a bit more from stock? Can’t wait to see.

The V8 is the reason we went looking at them, wanted to try and get the last of them before they're no longer available. We've had the little 4 bangers and the V8 in our 79 and for what we use it for, there's no way we're going back to a small engine tow car, and don't want the size of a 2500.
Surely they have to do something to the chassis and wheelbase of the Ranger to allow it to carry and tow more, other than that I'd be skeptical as to how it would handle the extra weight, both GVM and GCM, especially on our 'awesome' roads around FNQ.

[Lovey80]

You went looking at them for a petrol V8?

[Corry]

Yep, sure did

[Lovey80]

You must love that petrol bill. Had the UD 150/1500 range come out with a 4-4.5 L diesel I would own one already.

[NAGG]

In this segment Ford has just announced a game changer for those that tow and have touring set ups. I’ve been wondering for a long time why they didn’t do it earlier. 4500kg GVM, 4500kg tow capacity with a 8000kg GCM.

That means you can buy a dual cab, put a nice ally canopy on the back and fit it out with drawers and fridges etc and still tow more than 4t to the ramp. Currently the GVM is around 3300kg. Which means you can’t put 4 people in it, a bull bar, a canopy and go anywhere near the 3500kg tow limit. This is surely going to smash the companies doing GVM upgrades if the other manufacturers don’t follow suit. Who is going to buy a hilux or dmax and spend 5k+ on a GVM/GCM upgrade and void a factory warranty when you can buy a ford ranger super duty and keep a factory warranty?

I was just about to pull the trigger on this exact thing and was looking at GVM upgrade options last weekend. I’ll now wait until 2026 and get the super duty. The thing that would make this perfect is to be able to buy this variant with a wildtrak interior but in a cab chassis to cut costs.

Something doesn't sound right ..... GVM 4500 kgs (sounds impressive) as does the 4500kg tow capacity ........ but the GCM is only 8000kgs

There would certainly need to be a serious increase in the weight of the vehicle - you wouldn't want to be towing 4500kgs in a car weighing well under 3 tonne .

While the car sound impressive for the intended purpose - fleet buyers who dont want to do GVM upgrades & void the warranty ....... Those thinking that you can buy one of these - whack on a tray /canopy ..... load it up with the family / gear & still tow 3500kgs might need to rethink this & wait for the actual numbers / details - its sounding too good to be true.

Chris

[Lovey80]

Let’s look at the numbers.

Specs for the current Ranger. Let’s use the 3.0L Wildtrak as an example.
Kerb Weight = 2384kg
GVM = 3350kg
Tow = 3500kg
GCM = 6400kg

Super Duty
Kerb Weight?? TBA
GVM =4500
Tow = 4500
GCM = 8000kg.

Depending on how you look at this is gets interesting. If you are buying it for the 4500kg tow capacity we work backwards.

@4500k on the trailer that gives 3500kg allowed for the tow vehicle. So you effectively drop the GVM to 3500kg. Minus the original 2384kg. You now have 1116kg left over for the following:
1. Extra weight for the super duty upgrades/chasis extension/wheel base widening
2. payload. Let’s say an extra 250kg for a canopy. 5 persons @80kg each = 400kg.
3. From 1116kg you are left with 466 kg left over for junk in the canopy + extra kerb weight.
if the extra kerb weight comes in at say 300kg. You are left with only 156kg in stuff for fridges and bullbars.

but if you are looking at it from building the ultimate off road tourer perspective and the tow is less important.
1. kerb weight (assuming 300kg extra at this stage) = 2700kg
2. canopy+winch+bullbar+4 people+gear+towball weight =1300kg. @350kg tow ball weight for a 3.5t trailer that’s a hell of a lot of payload left over for the other stuff compared to any other Ute in the segment.

lets say you go close to the GVM with all that, you have about 3.5t left over for tow capacity. There’s always a payoff from one to the other and you can’t max both out because of the GCM.

but for those that either want a vehicle to do the big lap they would now have a lot more flexibility on how they fit their truck out and still be able to tow a 3.5t van. Or similarly with the same heavy touring set up, if they want to tow a 4.5t boat a short distance to the boat ramp. They simply don’t load the car up as much with lots of gear or people. They’d have about 800kg of payload to play with for passengers, canopy, bullbar etc. it may mean two of the lads that go fishing with you meet you are the ramp and all the touring gear, like chairs and food and what ever else doesn’t get loaded into the canopy. I think this will be a winner and the flexibility will come down to how much extra weight they put into the stock vehicle to beef it up for the super duty package. Could we see a Ford ranger dually?

[Dignity]

Let’s look at the numbers.

Specs for the current Ranger. Let’s use the 3.0L Wildtrak as an example.
Kerb Weight = 2384kg
GVM = 3350kg
Tow = 3500kg
GCM = 6400kg

Super Duty
Kerb Weight?? TBA
GVM =4500
Tow = 4500
GCM = 8000kg.

Depending on how you look at this is gets interesting. If you are buying it for the 4500kg tow capacity we work backwards.

@4500k on the trailer that gives 3500kg allowed for the tow vehicle. So you effectively drop the GVM to 3500kg. Minus the original 2384kg. You now have 1116kg left over for the following:
1. Extra weight for the super duty upgrades/chasis extension/wheel base widening
2. payload. Let’s say an extra 250kg for a canopy. 5 persons @80kg each = 400kg.
3. From 1116kg you are left with 466 kg left over for junk in the canopy + extra kerb weight.
if the extra kerb weight comes in at say 300kg. You are left with only 156kg in stuff for fridges and bullbars.

but if you are looking at it from building the ultimate off road tourer perspective and the tow is less important.
1. kerb weight (assuming 300kg extra at this stage) = 2700kg
2. canopy+winch+bullbar+4 people+gear+towball weight =1300kg. @350kg tow ball weight for a 3.5t trailer that’s a hell of a lot of payload left over for the other stuff compared to any other Ute in the segment.

lets say you go close to the GVM with all that, you have about 3.5t left over for tow capacity. There’s always a payoff from one to the other and you can’t max both out because of the GCM.

but for those that either want a vehicle to do the big lap they would now have a lot more flexibility on how they fit their truck out and still be able to tow a 3.5t van. Or similarly with the same heavy touring set up, if they want to tow a 4.5t boat a short distance to the boat ramp. They simply don’t load the car up as much with lots of gear or people. They’d have about 800kg of payload to play with for passengers, canopy, bullbar etc. it may mean two of the lads that go fishing with you meet you are the ramp and all the touring gear, like chairs and food and what ever else doesn’t get loaded into the canopy. I think this will be a winner and the flexibility will come down to how much extra weight they put into the stock vehicle to beef it up for the super duty package. Could we see a Ford ranger dually?

All those calculations are doing my head in. Just goes to show that the average Joe bloe hasn't got clue when it comes to towing. Just recently they had weigh bridge stations set up near me and so few took advantage of it.

[Lucky_Phill]

To be honest, I don't think there are many people out there, qualified or not , that can completely understand the technicalities of Tare, GVM, GCM and the like. Each State is different and each vehicle is different.

My mod plate was done by an engineer and although I have faith in him, does he really knows the fine details of legislation ?

Everyone gets an upgrade for different reasons.

I got the constant 450kg upgrade to cope with the new canopy and its permanent contents. It was sheer luck that this was actually a GVM upgrade.

However, I will not tow to the capacity of the tow vehicle in its natural configuration or upgraded configuration, that is just silly.

Stated tow capacity is 3,500kgs........... I would not even consider 3,000kgs.... max for me would be 2,500Kgs... considering the stated " kerb weight " of the bare vehicle is 1,960kgs.

Payload states 1,135kgs.............. not a chance I would drop that much weight in it, even with the extra 260kg GVM over standard.

Imagine putting 3.5 ton behind a vehicle that weighs 2ton... ????? I hear some say, it's doable and some here will do it, that's Ok,,, it is within the law, but that is maxing out the weights and increasing the " incident " possibilities exponentially.

Personally, I get guided by .... we'll call them experts,,, but in reality, they are people with industry knowledge and experience.

LP

[NAGG]

Let’s look at the numbers.

Specs for the current Ranger. Let’s use the 3.0L Wildtrak as an example.
Kerb Weight = 2384kg
GVM = 3350kg
Tow = 3500kg
GCM = 6400kg

Super Duty
Kerb Weight?? TBA
GVM =4500
Tow = 4500
GCM = 8000kg.

Depending on how you look at this is gets interesting. If you are buying it for the 4500kg tow capacity we work backwards.

@4500k on the trailer that gives 3500kg allowed for the tow vehicle. So you effectively drop the GVM to 3500kg. Minus the original 2384kg. You now have 1116kg left over for the following:
1. Extra weight for the super duty upgrades/chasis extension/wheel base widening
2. payload. Let’s say an extra 250kg for a canopy. 5 persons @80kg each = 400kg.
3. From 1116kg you are left with 466 kg left over for junk in the canopy + extra kerb weight.
if the extra kerb weight comes in at say 300kg. You are left with only 156kg in stuff for fridges and bullbars.

but if you are looking at it from building the ultimate off road tourer perspective and the tow is less important.
1. kerb weight (assuming 300kg extra at this stage) = 2700kg
2. canopy+winch+bullbar+4 people+gear+towball weight =1300kg. @350kg tow ball weight for a 3.5t trailer that’s a hell of a lot of payload left over for the other stuff compared to any other Ute in the segment.

lets say you go close to the GVM with all that, you have about 3.5t left over for tow capacity. There’s always a payoff from one to the other and you can’t max both out because of the GCM.

but for those that either want a vehicle to do the big lap they would now have a lot more flexibility on how they fit their truck out and still be able to tow a 3.5t van. Or similarly with the same heavy touring set up, if they want to tow a 4.5t boat a short distance to the boat ramp. They simply don’t load the car up as much with lots of gear or people. They’d have about 800kg of payload to play with for passengers, canopy, bullbar etc. it may mean two of the lads that go fishing with you meet you are the ramp and all the touring gear, like chairs and food and what ever else doesn’t get loaded into the canopy. I think this will be a winner and the flexibility will come down to how much extra weight they put into the stock vehicle to beef it up for the super duty package. Could we see a Ford ranger dually?

Some of your assumptions are quire off -

eg Canopy & Tray = My Norweld package add 500kgs ( Its not decked out ) - 600kgs if you add drawers . If your canopy has a ladder , roof top tent (100kgs) + roof top tent base

Then think about typical upgrades / additions made by the average Tourer - Bullbar / towbar / dual batteries / Fridge , wheel & tyre upgrade etc etc
You still need to consider fuel load / water
Tools (Jacks etc)

80kgs / person ...... I wish

What I'm pointing out ... is it quickly gets away . My Navara for instance - once I added the canopy (tow 1800kgs) With 2 people I was left with a payload of just 40kgs & as such had to get a GVM upgrade to allow for what I would typically carry on a long range trip.

Dont get me wrong - the ranger super duty is what 4x4s should be off the shelf ...... The other question is what motor ? If they stick with the current 6 cyl its going to be pretty average with all that additional weight.

Chris

[Lovey80]

Well in that category the V6 turbo diesel is the most powerful in class.

[NAGG]

Well in that category the V6 turbo diesel is the most powerful in class.

Same power as the Amorok V6

Add the extra weight of the vehicle .... The equivalent of 4-5 adults & that V6 will start to feel a little underdone - that's even before you hit the GVM of 4500kgs

Chris

[Lovey80]

Same power as the Amorok V6

Add the extra weight of the vehicle .... The equivalent of 4-5 adults & that V6 will start to feel a little underdone - that's even before you hit the GVM of 4500kgs

Chris

The Amarok is the same vehicle, same engine. All these guys doing GVM/CGM upgrades are in the same boat. If ford don't do it from factory then there's always they option of following lucky phill down the tune route. But from stock we are talking something in the range of 50% more power- 184kw-128kw (600Nm-403Nm) than the previous Navara 2.5L. It's not that far off the new LC300 (227kw - 700Nm) which is about 20% more powerful again

[Lucky_Phill]

Update.

I thought the fuel economy was too good to be true.

after 2,000k's I have a better understanding of it.

Highway @ 103kph................. ..9.3l/100
Highway @ 112kph.................. 9.5l/100

around town.......................... 9.4l/100

I have not done extended towing with the tinnie or camper.... TBA

Further, with the iDrive engaged on auto....... around 1ltr /100 more usage.

So, overall, still happy with the savings and obviously the increase in HP and torque.

The upgraded valve body is the best investment and maybe alone, this could produce good fuel savings.

LP