As most 4WD fanatics know already, Ford’s Ranger is the new kid on the block, while Mitsubishi’s Triton has been around for ages and has been constantly evolved and upgraded.
Sad but true: Ford somehow managed to book us a rear-wheel-drive truck to go up against Mitsubishi’s rally/rally-raid proven four-wheel drive.
Talk about bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Short of renaming the magazine ‘NZ4WD...And Occasionally Not’, what are we to do, how do we arrive at something close to a head-to-head comparison? It’s radical we know, but we went for the RWD Ranger XLT vs the 4WD Triton and had a ball.
Our frantically pulled-together reasoning is based around price, and the knowledge that high-riding RWD derivatives of Ranger, D-Max and HiLux have been popular among those who like the look of a 4WD version but don’t always need that extra diff and transfer case and all that stuff for their day-to-day town or city driving.
Dynamically, this can make sense, and RWD versions of these utes are usually fractionally more fuel efficient.
The driving dynamics, of course, are way different. Freed of the dead weight of transfer case, front diff, half shafts and more, a RWD truck like the Ranger is quite different, cornering flatter and inspiring confidence. Speaking of confidence though, having that stuff tucked under a truck like the Mitsubishi does give the driver a bit more peace of mind when edging down a loose sand track or going through a decent mud puddle where the puddle’s base is not visible.
The next-Gen Ranger XLT prices out at $56,990, just a thousand up on the model it replaces; the Triton GLX-R is $46,990. For price-driven buyers that’s a compelling argument for the three-star brand. Buyers might do well to ask about actual pricing if they are shopping for the Triton; the Ranger of course is still in honeymoon mode, Ford scrambling to satisfy pent-up buyer demand.
Does the old joke about the fool who brings a knife to a gunfight really apply? The Triton vs Ranger comparison pitches a fully-developed and very capable 4WD ute we’ve enjoyed in many variants over recent years up against a next-Generation product that builds on everything that has made Ford the ute market leader.
Each has its strong points and each has subtly different target audiences within the broader category.
Each is equally a ‘best of breed’ for specific uses, and there’s a fair chunk of convenience and capability that crosses over the pair.
We’d be very happy to have either ute in our driveway on a more permanent basis, but ultimately there can be only one winner. Which one comes out on top? It really does depend on the buyer’s intended end use.
Drivers for our test (let’s drop that cliché ‘shoot-out’, okay?) are NZ4WD editor Mark Baker and Company Vehicle editor Sean Willmot.
The venue for the dual test is our favourite, Waiuku Forest, where we get narrow, bumpy tarmac, washboarded gravel roads, sand tracks and some pine needle slow stuff as well.
