Should I Sell My Next Gen Ranger and Buy an LDV?
Ok that may seem an odd question!
But the Next Gen Ranger, as good as it has been has also been a techy pain in the arse with constant warnings and alerts that are frustrating to say the least. And then just in the last week my front camera had a malfunction – meaning no cruise control or auto high beam. Not the end of the earth, but Ford need it for a day to upgrade software or locate the problem. Is there a point where we get ‘over-teched’? If so then the Ranger would be it.
Where it excels is in its suitability for towing, with a GCM of 6350 it definitely gives breathing room to those who tow heavy vehicles. My own Jayco Silverline weighs in at around 2700 plus 265 ball weight, so it’s def not a super heavy weight – and could be towed with a Triton or even an LDV.
Gee the LDV are CHEAP! Aren’t they – certainly by comparison with the Ranger you could almost buy two of them… For $41490 you can have this LDV T60 MAX LUX and it has a lot of decent features. It is limited to 3t towing, but I can get away with that. The power output is similar to Ford.
What’s not to like?…
Well, I’m sure car reviews have analysed the details of how it drives better than I will, but a startling discovery I made as I analysed the spec is that the LDV has max rear axel weight of just 1540kg! That is very easy to exceed by anyone who is doing any towing.
In the Ranger we sit around the 1700-1800kg mark and the limit is 1850kg.
So here is the biggest problem I saw even before giving any serious consideration to the idea. We could never tow a caravan with an LDV as we would always exceed the rear axel weight. So if you are in the market for a new tug then be sure to compare the important stats as it is easy to make very expensive mistakes.
It is only a 3T towing capacity if all the other numbers play nicely too. Until LDV make a massive upgrade to their rear axel capacity then will remain non-contenders when it comes to (legal safe) towing.