Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and jackcoulter
New Member
Ford Ranger Thunder 2.5 litre Diesel
Hello,
I was interested to read your comments about the diesel engined Ranger which is sold in Europe. I live in England and I own a new one.
The model I own is the second I have owned in the past five years, originally I bought a double cab XLT 4X4, which had a 2.5 litre direct injection turbo diesel engine which although it only produced 109BHP, had enough torque to pull a house. Unfortunately, as the truck was not fitted with ABS, the towing weight was limited to 2.2 tonnes (braked) and the top speed was a long slog up to 97 mph as the turbo didn't cut-in until over 2500RPM and they are very low geared.
The average fuel consumption was in the region of 30 (imperial) miles to the gallon (I don't know what that is in US gallons), which is very good. I got rid of it because after 84,000 miles the clutch was on its way-out (they have a five gear manual box), there was too much transmission shunt, the LSD clutches were worn (probably because they are very tail-happy and it's such good fun sliding them around corners and roundabouts) and the catalytic convertor detached itself from the exhaust system (titanium cats are fitted as standard on all EU diesel engines) and the local Ford dealer wanted £1300.00 (2600.00 US dollars at that time) for a replacement, so I bought a new one!
The new '08 model Ranger Thunder has 143bhp from a 2.5 litre displacement common rail turbo diesel engine, which has a variable geometry turbo fitted. A 3 litre engine is available which can be allied to either a manual or automatic gearbox (in 4X4 versions only, all 4X2 models are fitted with the 2.5litre diesel engine and all base model 4X4s have the 2.5 litre engine up to Thunder trim level, which comes with either). In some countries the 2.5l option is not available and there are some far eastern countires which have a 2X4 model which has the same suspension as the 4X4 model, but are only 4X2, so it's a con!
The Ranger Thunder is one model down from the top-end 'Wildtrack' model, which is extremely garish in its colour schemes and only comes in 3 litre engine option, which is strange as it's general weight and towing capabilities are the same as the 2.5 litre version but uses more fuel - I had one for a week whilst the local dealer fixed some 'teething problems' with my new one, which came to light after I collected it (the inclinometer and other related dials did not work and there was a dent in the roof).
Both models have the acceleration of small sports cars when unladen and the variable geometry turbochargers mean that there is very little turbo-lag, although a disadvantage of the common-rail diesel engine is that you have to rev the genitals off them (relatively speaking) to get them to pull away from a standing start whilst riding the clutch or they stall (all stick-shift common rail diesel engines are like this)... the old direct injection turbo diesel engine would pull away on a 1 in 1 hill at tick-over. The top speed is stated at 106mph, which it will achieve very quickly (in the UK most people drive at around 80 to 90 mph on motorways, and this model is more than adequately equipped to deal with UK motorway speeds both in terms of acceleration, speed, NVH and comfort.
The new Ranger will return around 40 imperial mpg if I'm careful when driving and don't exceed 70 mph on motorways (highways) too often. Generally and around town the double cab model I own returns around 35mpg.
They will all carry at least 1 tonne and tow 3 tonnes and there is little general increase in fuel consumption. As an aside, I also had an Isuzu Denver Max LE until recently too, which had a 2.5 litre CRD 4 pot engine with 185 bhp and was a dog, in that it didn't handle itself at all as well as the Ranger either in terms of speed, acceleration or fuel consumption and could still only carry and tow approximately the same loads (a minimum 1 tonne payload is a legal requirement in the UK, at which point the trucks are classed as 'light commercial vehicles as opposed to cars, otherwise the amount of tax paid when purchasing the vehicle is extortionate) and towed almost 3 tones of yacht and trailer back from southern Brittany in France (a journey of around 400 miles each way - I know, this is Europe and its very small!!! France is 3 times the size of the UK, there are places in the UK where you can drive from one side of the country to the other in less than 4 hours on a good day), and the Isuzu returned 29 mpg, which I believe is less efficient than the Ranger would be in the same circumstances.
The UK spec Ranger Thunder comes with (in no particular order) aircon, electric windows fronts and back, black leather seats and trim, heated seats, inclinometer and compass pod, shift on the fly 4 wheel drive c/w electronic free wheeling hubs, electrically operated door mirrors, limited slip rear differential, 6 disc CD/mp3 player c/w am/fm radio with RDS etc, sump and transmission guard, alloy wheels, and other stuff I can't remember.
Generally, they are much cheaper than cars and are better equipped than most in the UK. They are supremely comfortable and handle themselves very well.
Thanks
I anyone is interested I have a UK catalogue with all of the published information regarding these vehicles...
Hello,
I was interested to read your comments about the diesel engined Ranger which is sold in Europe. I live in England and I own a new one.
The model I own is the second I have owned in the past five years, originally I bought a double cab XLT 4X4, which had a 2.5 litre direct injection turbo diesel engine which although it only produced 109BHP, had enough torque to pull a house. Unfortunately, as the truck was not fitted with ABS, the towing weight was limited to 2.2 tonnes (braked) and the top speed was a long slog up to 97 mph as the turbo didn't cut-in until over 2500RPM and they are very low geared.
The average fuel consumption was in the region of 30 (imperial) miles to the gallon (I don't know what that is in US gallons), which is very good. I got rid of it because after 84,000 miles the clutch was on its way-out (they have a five gear manual box), there was too much transmission shunt, the LSD clutches were worn (probably because they are very tail-happy and it's such good fun sliding them around corners and roundabouts) and the catalytic convertor detached itself from the exhaust system (titanium cats are fitted as standard on all EU diesel engines) and the local Ford dealer wanted £1300.00 (2600.00 US dollars at that time) for a replacement, so I bought a new one!
The new '08 model Ranger Thunder has 143bhp from a 2.5 litre displacement common rail turbo diesel engine, which has a variable geometry turbo fitted. A 3 litre engine is available which can be allied to either a manual or automatic gearbox (in 4X4 versions only, all 4X2 models are fitted with the 2.5litre diesel engine and all base model 4X4s have the 2.5 litre engine up to Thunder trim level, which comes with either). In some countries the 2.5l option is not available and there are some far eastern countires which have a 2X4 model which has the same suspension as the 4X4 model, but are only 4X2, so it's a con!
The Ranger Thunder is one model down from the top-end 'Wildtrack' model, which is extremely garish in its colour schemes and only comes in 3 litre engine option, which is strange as it's general weight and towing capabilities are the same as the 2.5 litre version but uses more fuel - I had one for a week whilst the local dealer fixed some 'teething problems' with my new one, which came to light after I collected it (the inclinometer and other related dials did not work and there was a dent in the roof).
Both models have the acceleration of small sports cars when unladen and the variable geometry turbochargers mean that there is very little turbo-lag, although a disadvantage of the common-rail diesel engine is that you have to rev the genitals off them (relatively speaking) to get them to pull away from a standing start whilst riding the clutch or they stall (all stick-shift common rail diesel engines are like this)... the old direct injection turbo diesel engine would pull away on a 1 in 1 hill at tick-over. The top speed is stated at 106mph, which it will achieve very quickly (in the UK most people drive at around 80 to 90 mph on motorways, and this model is more than adequately equipped to deal with UK motorway speeds both in terms of acceleration, speed, NVH and comfort.
The new Ranger will return around 40 imperial mpg if I'm careful when driving and don't exceed 70 mph on motorways (highways) too often. Generally and around town the double cab model I own returns around 35mpg.
They will all carry at least 1 tonne and tow 3 tonnes and there is little general increase in fuel consumption. As an aside, I also had an Isuzu Denver Max LE until recently too, which had a 2.5 litre CRD 4 pot engine with 185 bhp and was a dog, in that it didn't handle itself at all as well as the Ranger either in terms of speed, acceleration or fuel consumption and could still only carry and tow approximately the same loads (a minimum 1 tonne payload is a legal requirement in the UK, at which point the trucks are classed as 'light commercial vehicles as opposed to cars, otherwise the amount of tax paid when purchasing the vehicle is extortionate) and towed almost 3 tones of yacht and trailer back from southern Brittany in France (a journey of around 400 miles each way - I know, this is Europe and its very small!!! France is 3 times the size of the UK, there are places in the UK where you can drive from one side of the country to the other in less than 4 hours on a good day), and the Isuzu returned 29 mpg, which I believe is less efficient than the Ranger would be in the same circumstances.
The UK spec Ranger Thunder comes with (in no particular order) aircon, electric windows fronts and back, black leather seats and trim, heated seats, inclinometer and compass pod, shift on the fly 4 wheel drive c/w electronic free wheeling hubs, electrically operated door mirrors, limited slip rear differential, 6 disc CD/mp3 player c/w am/fm radio with RDS etc, sump and transmission guard, alloy wheels, and other stuff I can't remember.
Generally, they are much cheaper than cars and are better equipped than most in the UK. They are supremely comfortable and handle themselves very well.
Thanks
I anyone is interested I have a UK catalogue with all of the published information regarding these vehicles...
Last edited:
bad news is that now they only sell the mazda based model made in thailand with the less powered 2.5 
it also lost the big trcuk atitude cuz the previous ranger had 4x4 suspensions even with no 4x4 and the american 07-08 front end and interior, the mazda based is just a mazda with a different front end(search latin america mazda BT-50) even the higher susp is gone
