We are new to this site and to getting organised to travel. What we would like to know if anyone is towing a large caravan with either a Ford Ranger or BT50 and how do they cope? We have a Roadstar Sapphire Voyguer 24ft and currently have a 100 series crusier but thinking of upgrading a new car just not sure. Hard to change from the 100 to anything else but maybe an extra cab ute might be better with the cat and dog. Anyway would love to hear your thoughts and thank you
I am also looking at the Mazda BT 50 so I am interested in the replies also, I have studied all the dual cabs for the last few months and the two that come up trumps for towing are the BT 50 and the Ranger, I like the Bt 50 because the top model offers leather interior and reverse camera whereas you neeed to go to the 'Wildtrak' in the Ranger to get the same inclusions and that model is too sporty and it has black exterior handles and fittings, so without all the chrome extras like bullbar and sports bars it looks rather plain.
Welcome Lorna and Bill, enjoy here and out in the playground.
Have a chat to a fellow forumite "Dunworken" he goes by the forum name of "Ken Thomas". he has a Ford Ranger a big CV. Last report he is very happy with both.
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Hello Lorna & Bill I have the new ford ranger and tow a Champion Maiya 21'6 van with a weight of 2700kg and just back from 10000klms around NSW and nth Qld, and did plenty of mountains and had head winds and the ranger did it with comfort It is more comfortable than the prado and economy is better even with hills and wind fuel usage was 15.5 l/100 klms over the trip and very happy Ken
Hi we currently have a 2009 3.0l ranger duel cab and tow an 18Ft 2000Kg single axil rig. Whilst I am very happy with the ranger generally, was disapointed with the performance and economy on a recent trip from brissy to longreach and back. It seemed to be lugging it along, that is we had to be constantly changing down gears to keep it at 90 over the terain. Fuel was 18l /100km. around town 10l/100..as I said verry happy with ranger generally. I have heard that new ones with 5 cyl do it better. As we are about to take the big trip ourselves, I am seriously considering the 200 series Landcruiser. Brotherinlaw has one and similer van and the performance (just like the price) is chalk and chees. He gets 9-10l/100k amd cruises at 100k.
-- Edited by deadlyprincess on Saturday 22nd of September 2012 02:28:17 AM
After all my research a few months ago we went ahead and bought a 2010 Ford Ranger duel cab manual to tow our 24 ft van. We are in the process of getting all the extras for towing like the extension mirrors, the stabiliser bars etc. So when we finally take it for a test run we will let you know but as a vehicle we are very very happy with the Ranger. We have taken her for many drives over rough terrain etc and she has performed beautifully. Over the last few days my hubby has helped our daughter move house and the trailer was hooked up and overloaded with furniture lol and he didn't even feel like he had a load on he said. He just loves the new vehicle lol.
we have a 2010 ranger auto and travelled 20000k from townsville to perth and rtn last year with no problems. bit sluggish over some mountains but overall very happy with the vehicle.we tow a 18ft jayco. it is just personel preference which vehicle you buy. i believe the towbar problem is with the light weight tow bar not the heavy duty one with the load leveling kit. rocan
That sounds great Michelle, what vehicle did you have before, I have a V8 Landcruiser.
We bought the van and the vehicle at the same time lol but the vehicle we had before was a Holden Commodore V6 which we just sold last week was very sad to see her go
Hello Bill and Lorna The correct name is Dun Wurkun, as per avatar, Doug has just retired and already cant spell I have the 2012 ranger 5 cylinder auto and it tows like a beauty, hill are no problem as I went over to Dorrigo from Coffs which is steep and windy and pulled the van easily in 2nd The new PX ranger is much better than previous models The towbar recall is from 2006 to 2011 models as far as I know as I have not had any letter from Ford Ken
Hello Bill and Lorna The correct name is Dun Wurkun, as per avatar, Doug has just retired and already cant spell I have the 2012 ranger 5 cylinder auto and it tows like a beauty, hill are no problem as I went over to Dorrigo from Coffs which is steep and windy and pulled the van easily in 2nd The new PX ranger is much better than previous models The towbar recall is from 2006 to 2011 models as far as I know as I have not had any letter from Ford Ken
Hi Ken
Ours is a 2010 model and we took it down to Ford and they said ours was ok. We have a heavy duty tow bar on ours so maybe that was the difference do you think? They just checked it out and said no yours is fine.
We bought a 2014 bt50 in February this year. We tow a19ft Jayco. We have already done a few short trips and 4 weeks through Qld. We are extremely happy with it. Hubby says it tows very well and fuel consumption is better than our previous Territory. I was reluctant to give up the comfort of the Territory but the bt50 is just as good. We did not go 4wd as our van is not 4wd so no point. Even though we are huge Ford fans the Ranger was so much dearer than the Mazda. We are looking forward to doing lots more trips in the years to come.
As you can see by the pic we bought a Mazda BT50 4x4 Freestyle and love it. Used less fuel when towing our old van compared to the 100 series. We love it!
