New Nissan Navara vs Ford Ranger Fx4 - Head-to-head Part 2

Welcome back to our head to head Bucky test with the New Ranger FX four and New Navarra in part one , we loaded them up with half a ton of water and then tested these bucky on road comfort and interiors .

In this episode , we'll take the bucky up into the mountains behind the wine farm for a thorough off road test .

But before we set off , we had to make a few adjustments .

The surface on the Ford's load bed is really very slippery for some reason , it's kind of like rubberized plastic , which is called protects the , the body and everything .

But the load , the tanker is really , really slipping around a lot .

So we've come back to the warehouse and um Warwick is gonna handle the strapping because I would just stuff it up completely .

Ok .

That feels better .

So we're leaving the safety and comfort of the wine farm and Dave was a little bit nervous that maybe we're pushing them a bit far .

But I mean , the manufacturers that say they can hold a ton , you know , these things must work still a bucky after all as luxurious as it is , but they're definitely turning into the kind of cars that you can live with every day .

They've come to on road pretty capable off road .

The interiors are quite luxurious , pretty comfortable , lots of tech features .

Let me just interrupt myself .

This dam when it was built about 100 years ago was the biggest man made dam in the Western Cape and it's on the farm .

It's one of their dads .

So the plan for the off road section of today is that we're gonna do a loop around the farm up into the hills .

And uh I'm gonna do a loop in the Ford and then a loop in the Nissan and then give my rating on which I , I think coped best with this task .

So you might be watching and thinking to yourself , why would you need to carry half a ton of stuff on the back of a bucky when with these leisure bucky , especially , people are just going to carry , you know , their dogs and maybe their kids mounds and bikes .

But of course , it's really nice to know that your bucky can cope with all that weight .

It's like the same as buying a really , really powerful sports car .

You're never gonna do 320 kilometers an hour in your Ferrari , but it's nice to know that it can and of course you can tell your friends .

So let's talk about pricing the FX four special edition ranger that I'm in , which was basically created by Ford so that people stop buying those stupid rap tickets cost about 608,000 rand uh which is about 10,000 rand less than the wild track .

Um And it's about 20,000 , more than the Navarro .

There is that old saying that there's no replacement for displacement and I kind of get the feeling that it applies here .

So 2.3 liter twin turbo in the Nissan 3.2 liter five cylinder turbo in here in the Ford .

And I mean , we're heading up a decent hill now , obviously got that half a ton on the back and I'm barely using the throttle almost feels like I could idle up here and I'm still in two wheel drive as well .

Haven't used four wheel drive yet .

It's a really impressive engine is not feeling the weight on the back at all .

So not a big power difference between these two cars , 147 kilowatts in the Ford , 470 Newton meters versus 100 and 40 kilowatts in the Navarra with 450 Newton meters .

So very , very close , even though the Navarra has a much smaller engine .

But interestingly , the Navarra is a lot lighter than the Ford actually , about over 230 K G S lighter .

And I did some maths last night and the Navarra actually has a better power to weight ratio than the Ford .

But I think what is making a difference here is the displacement of the Ford .

This big engine giving me a lot of talk low down , low down in the revs .

Oh , that's nice and big .

That's a big obstacle that test the break over angle .

A little bit nice .

I cannot believe how little throttle I am using to get this for up this hill with half a ton of water on the back .

So I'm just in four high .

I haven't even used low range yet .

And in terms of fuel consumption , you would hope that the Navarra would be a lot more frugal than the big Ford and it is , but not by too much .

Just about 10% .

So , on the way out here to the farm , it's about a 60 K drive on highways .

Uh , Dave and I both reset our trip computers .

Uh , the Ford averaged 11 to the 100 the Navarra averaged 10 to the 100 in the interest of scientific testing .

We swapped cars and traveled exactly the same route around Blacksburg so that I could directly compare the ranger with the Navarra .

Right .

I've been driving the Navaro for a few days now , so I'm quite used to its on road capabilities .

Very excited to test it off road .

And as I mentioned , when we did the on road testing just now , this new Navarra has a trick , new suspension .

It's much more similar to that which you'd find in a fancy S U V quite different to the normal bucky suspension that we're used to .

So , has it worked for Nissan ?

Well , on first impressions , it does feel a lot softer than the Ranger , I suppose .

That's can be a good and a bad thing , but it actually seems to be doing a lot better out here on the gravel than it did on the tar .

I think those very short undulations on the tar were kind of really throwing the suspension out a little bit , but out here where we're a bit slower and the the ground is not as rutted , the ride quality does feel pretty good .

I feel like we could still strap a one ton trailer to the back of these cars and they wouldn't even battle .

So in terms of looks , which is always subjective , I do think I like the Navarra a little bit more on paper .

These cars are very , very similar , not much between them in terms of price in terms of engine .

Obviously , there's quite a bit of a difference , but they're both four by fours .

They're both automatics .

Although the Navarra is a seven speed , the Ranger is a six speed .

Both of them claim that they will tow 3.5 ton brakes trailers .

Both of them take about a ton on the back of the bay a little bit more in the Navarra case , a bit more than a ton .

Both of them have seven airbags .

They're really , really direct rivals here and of course , South Africans had to wait a long time for this New Navarra to arrive .

So everyone was hoping that it was going to be really , really good .

And to be honest , I'm not disappointed , I'm not , not impressed or not unimpressed by the Navarra .

It's just that the , the breadth of talent of the ranger is just , is just so good , so much scope to that car and its abilities .

But the Navarra has to be really , really good .

So I've stopped on quite a steep hill here and I just want to feel how the Navarra pulls away .

Yeah , not bad at all .

Definitely have to give it a little bit more beans than in the ranger , but really , really negligible .

The one thing I will say about the Navarros engine though is it is quite a bit louder than the Rangers a bit more .

Clack , clack , clack clack , like an old fashioned diesel .

You definitely notice the engine a little bit more .

Yeah , you've got to give it a little bit more boot to do the steep stuff and the Navarra is coping really well .

I mean , there's no other way to say it .

It's doing exactly the same thing that the ranger did .

Maybe it's about 5% more difficult in the Navarra .

I would say , I say you gotta give it about 5% more boot to get up the same sort of incline .

But this 2.3 liter motor is really impressive .

I mean , if no one told you it was a 2.3 , I don't think you'd ever guess that it was such a small displacement running around the mountains was good fun .

But we had to head back down to the warehouse to offload our tankers .

There's really very little to separate these two bucky after an entire day , driving both back to back .

I was struggling to choose a winner in this head to head .

Recently , a wise man told me that if you're really struggling to choose between two options , it probably means that both of them are right for you .

And I think that is the case with this Navarra versus Ranger battle .

But there's two things for me .

Well , maybe three things , the infotainment system on the Navarra just not good enough , the ride quality on tar , not as good as the ranger .

And then there's the diesel notes , the graph of the engine in the Navarra , which is just a bit more noticeable than it is in the ranger .

So for those three little things , I think the ranger has to take it in this competition .

It would probably be the one that I would take home , but that takes nothing away from the Navarra .

It's a very good new Bucky from Nissan .

Remember the best way to compare these cars in detail is with our compare tool which you'll find on our site and in our smartphone app with download links in the description below .

If you agree with us , please comment below and if you disagree with our conclusion , please comment below .

Thanks for watching .

Alrighty .

Thank you to Blacksburg for letting us use their forklift and their water tankers and some of their water which is is going back in the dam now , I promise .

And their farm , it's been really , really cool .

I've been wanting to do this for a long time , put really heavy things on top of Bucky and then test them .

So , a huge thank you to Simon and all the guys at bas and Law .

Of course , P is gonna ride into the sunset now for right .

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Thanks for watching .