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2012 Ford Ranger vs Mazda BT-50 comparison

The new Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 share much in common, but are they really the same?

4X4 COMPARO: RANGER vs BT-50
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The new Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 share much in common, but are they really the same?

To the casual observer, the Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 share nothing but a market segment: they are both dual-cab utes, that much is obvious, but inside and out they look completely different. The Ford is a bluff, squared-off truck in the Ford F-150 mould; the Mazda wears the swept back, bulbous guards, corporate-Mazda look.

But drill down further, and their shared DNA is revealed; these utes are twins born after a shared gestation period and with an identical gene pool. Both were engineered by Ford Australia and use identical powertrains, chassis and suspension. Nature provided the identical genes; Ford and Mazda engineers nurtured them to become slightly different, as we will see.

We tested the six-speed automatic mid-spec dual cabs, and compared and contrasted what should have been simple variations of a theme. While much was as we expected, some was not. The results may surprise you…

To read the full story, check out the April 2012 issue of 4X4 Australia.

Phil Lord
Phil Cooper

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