buying

Thanks for the info

Hi Steve,

Congrats on your new vehicle and hope you get plenty of use from it.

Just one word of warning from my own personal experience - keep the weight down to the absolute minimum. Just because it has a GVM of xxx doesn't mean it can carry it long term on rough outback roads, I learnt the hard way that the previous model BT50/Ranger is not up to carrying a slideon camper in the outback.

Cheers, Geoff

Geoff,
We all know you had a bad experience with an older BT50, (you've told us enough by now!) but everytime someone asks for advise about a new Mazda, Ford which is a completely different vehicle, your negative comments dont have any relevance and to be quite frank seem to be just sour grapes.

Thanks Geoff,

My son has the older model Ranger, he is an Electrician, he has done 200,000 trouble free kilometres with the 2.5 litre 2wd version with an (always overloaded) tradies back.

My slide on is being custom built to suit a shorter and narrower tray. The tray itself is 100 kilos lighter than the well body it replaced, The slide on does not hang out from the side of the cab nor extend past the chassis rail ends and is only 50mm higher than the roof of the cab. It weighs (empty) 390kilos.
100 litres water in two tanks, 2 /100 amp hour gel batteries, clothes, food, kitchen stuff and associated camping gear will add (approx) another 300 kilos.

600 - 650 kilos placed centrally over the rear axle will be far easier on the truck than the 1300kilo off road camper that we towed behind the CRD Wrangler for the last four years all around Oz.

When all finished in the next month or so we will head down to the local suspension specialist and have whatever done to make it ride just right (helper springs or air bags if needed).

Thanks for your word of warning and I suppose it is the same for any 1 ton ute and would be a good warning to a prospective vw ute purchaser.

i tend to agree the ranger is over priced for what it is

Thanks i have had two preys the ranger and one the amarok,
i do prefer the amarok but the smaller engine concerns me

Thanks any info is good info.

FYI Tony...I have a 2010 d40 dual cab navara and work in the refrigeration/electrical/air con trade. I have a gitsham alloy service body on the bag weighing 450-500kg on any given working day. The box can be hoisted off n car driven away if need be. I've had air bags on them since day one..while they've been more than reliable theyve def due for an upgrade because the constant weight has become of concern with the original factory set up. I've bn doin my research as of late...the last six months in fact and I have narrowed it down to two...sax suspension and tough dog but leaning more towards sax simply because of customer service and warranty period. Will be having this fitted in next 6wks.
Will keep you posted.
Hope this helps.