In a somewhat expected move, Ford South Africa has confirmed that its new Raptor flavoured Ranger Wildtrak X will be coming to the local market in the third quarter of this year.
A nameplate new to South Africa but not Australia where it become available four years ago as the range-topping version of the standard previous generation Ranger, the Wildtrak X officially made its return on the new T6.1 Ranger at the Bangkok International Motor Show in March and although Ford hasn’t disclosed any pricing, based on the Aussie derivative that went on-sale in said month, the following can be expected.
Added Wildtrak
The Blue Oval’s star attraction at the Nampo Agricultural Expo in Bothaville in the Free State this week, the Ranger Wildtrak X builds on the Wildtrak by receiving a model specific gloss black grille with integrated LEDs, black mirror caps and door handles, the Matrix LED headlights, Cyber Yellow accent above the steel bash plate, Wildtrak X badging on the tailgate and base of the doors, plus aluminium side-steps.
Below, Ford has rounded the gloss black 17-inch alloy wheels in General Grabber AT3 all-terrain tyres and availed its Flexible Rack System that premiered on the new Stormtrak.
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Inside
Inside, the X’s unique touches consist of Cyber Orange accents, Wildtrak X embroidered seatbacks, a new material Dearborn calls Terra suede with orange stitching on the centre console, instrument binnacle, doors and gear lever, and lastly, partial leather and suede seats also with orange stitch work.
Set to be carried over from the Wildtrak though is the 12-inch SYNC 4 touchscreen infotainment, the overhead auxiliary panel, 12.4-inch digital instrument cluster and from the upmarket Ranger Platinum currently not offered on local soil, the eight-speaker B&O Play sound system.
The Raptor element
As mentioned, the “X” suffix in the Wildtrak’s nomenclature stems from receiving a retuned version of the Raptor’s position-sensitive mono-tube shock absorbers.
Sourced from Bilstein rather than Fox Racing, the shocks and dampers, according to Ford, have been altered to suit towing and touring rather than high-speed off-road driving. The setup’s inclusion has, however, increased the Ranger’s ground clearance by 26 mm to 263 mm.
AWD and Crawl
Compared to the Wildtrak, the X swaps-out the part-time four-wheel-drive system for the permanent setup used on the Ranger V6, its twin, the Volkswagen Amarok V6, and the Ford Everest Platinum.
While still inclusive of low-range and a rear diff-lock, the system now sees a 4A setting joining the traditional 4L and 4H, while the 2H bows out completely.
The final off-road features borrowed from the Raptor is the low-range only Crawl Control and the Trail Turn Assist system that brakes the inside rear wheel in order to reduce the turning radius at speeds below 19 km/h in 4H and 4L.
Bi-turbo only
As for motivation, the Wildtrak X will be powered solely by the bi-turbodiesel 2.0-litre Panther engine that develops 154kW/500Nm. The recalibrated General Motors co-developed ten-speed automatic is again the only the transmission available.
No price yet
Going into production within the coming weeks at Ford’s Silverton Plant outside Pretoria before going on-sale, expected pricing for the Wildtrak X is likely to start around the R930 000 to R950 000 mark based on the standard Wildtrak’s R898 100 sticker and the R996 500 asking price of the Wildtrak V6.
However, this is purely speculative and will be confirmed outright in due course when Ford confirms final specification.
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