How BIG is your Bakkie? Do you fly the Hilux flag or the Ranger flag?

The South African car market is dominated by the Hilux Bakkie,

Top-selling new vehicles in SA — June 2021

• Toyota Hilux — 3,320.

• Ford Ranger — 2,047.

• VW Polo Vivo — 1,636.

• VW Polo — 1,418.

• Isuzu D-Max — 1,304.

• Toyota Hi-Ace — 1,270.

• Toyota Starlet — 1,165.

• Nissan NP200 — 987.

In South Africa the Bakkie is king, When you get home in the afternoon with your bakkie and you have a nice house with the "chick chick" sprayer going in the garden, you are a hero in your community. Life cannot get any better than that. As they call it the Legend.

If on the other hand you have the Ford Ranger, you are seen as either the boss or your Ranger can be categorized as the "vlooimark Raptor" (Flea market). This category of vehicle is more for the aftermarket segment, here you see varying differences in owners, different modifications to the vehicles, more body kits and stickers than anything that has come before.

The Ranger has made a name for itself, but I think we need to go to the United States and talk Raptor as in FORD Raptor(only), these things have a size difference and a road presence that no vlooimark special will ever be able to replicate, even if it tries. The Ford raptor has had big success in the States with established BAJA races under it's belt, it has power, pedigree and presence. You can go onto any famous YouTuber's channel and you will see a Raptor as part of their fleet of cars.

The 2020 Ford Raptor features a twin-turbocharged high-output 3.5L EcoBoost V6 engine that dishes out 450 horsepower and 510 lb-ft of torque, in South African speak that is 335,7 KW and 692 Nm of torque This Ford Raptor engine pairs to a paddle-shifted 10-speed automatic transmission to offer a smooth performance both on and off-road.

But has the Raptor met it's match with the RAM TRX?

This performance off-road truck has all the ingredients to make a perfect recipe - there’s a mighty V-8 Hellcat mill under the hood that makes over 700 Hp equals to 522 KW, an advanced four-wheel-drive system, a strong suspension system that’s good enough to hit triple-digit speeds off-road, and a luxurious cabin that can put even premium sedans to shame.

These were the trade marks that made the Raptor famous with celebrities and even Joe Soap.

When you look at these two together it is a hard choice to make? The Raptor to have according to the internet is the 2017 one as it was deemed to be the most powerful at that time and has the same looks as the current 2020 model, going by what Google says.

IF I have the choice I think the TRX if I have to buy new but second hand bargain, maybe the Raptor, we can only dream.

But coming back to the main story how big is your Bakkie, seems to be a big topic in South Africa at the moment. You can go out and spend 1.5 million Rand upwards for one of these and you will be deemed a HERO.

The people will throw out the red carpet for your muddy boots anywhere you go, kids will hang out of taxi's to take photos of you driving in the streets, Ouma's will shuffle over with their walking sticks to start a conversation with you while Johnny the petrol joggie fills up the tank. You will ruk out your Platinum Credit card from your wallet, because if you use cash to fill this thing up, people will think you are a Government Minister or an Eskom contractor, These things are Thirsty beasts.

So how does your normal bakkie compare with the Crazy American Trucks?

In the picture graphic above you can see the Ford Maverick, then the Ranger as we know it, then your F-150 and finally your F-250.

The Ford Maverick is a small sized truck that has been released in the US, I do not know if we might get it in South Africa, but if you know, comment below. There are currently a couple of videos doing the rounds on the NEW Ranger being extreme tested. Exciting stuff.

No one knows what it will look like but my sixth sense says, maybe something like this. See Below. A cross between the Maverick and the F150?

Size does matter though and if you see the attached excel sheet you can see that the Ranger trumps the Hilux on size, the only thing I am not sure of is the Load box / Load bin / truck bed size for the Hilux, but working of some Australian data, it seems they are same in length but width the Ranger WINS, weird then that the Hilux still trumps the Ranger in sales.

South Africans are very stuck in their ways and the Ranger has been slowly changing the oil dripping history of the Ford brand in South Africa,

I would be very interested to see what the Hilux boys are going to make of the new Ranger, I have not seen any attempt for them to build a Raptor competitor, I do not see the Gazoo Racing version any different, just a special VIN and some stickers will not cut it.

I have also seen some die hard Toyota fans cross the border to the Ranger camp.

What the future holds we do not know, but currently the biggest Bakkie out there is the Ranger Raptor.

Just as a side note the Amarok has not made the list of top selling bakkies in June and therefore does not get any mention in this story, but with Ford and VW working together on the Next version of the Amarok, I believe that Toyota has to think hard about what they bring.

Comment below on with your opinion.

Thrustbee greetings.