What’s the easiest way to start a bar room brawl amongst South Africans? Simply diss their favourite bakkie.
Over the past few months, the UK’s Carwow has staged some interesting drag races, but this one is likely to draw the most amount of attention, as bakkie loyalists kick up a storm for their favourite not taking the checkered flag.
While the concept of the race is admirable, it is rather flawed, as it pits entry and mid-level diesel models against two flagship variants. It sees the Mitsubishi Triton L200 up against the Ford Ranger 2.2, the Toyota Hilux 2.4, the Mercedes-Benz X250d and the high-powered Volkswagen Amarok V6.
For reference, the two flagship models are the Amarok and Triton, but even between those two, there is a massive difference in performance and price. The Mitsubishi Triton 4x4 uses a 2.4-litre 4-cylinder turbo diesel motor to produce 133kw and 440nm, and is priced locally from R549 995 for the 4x4 variant.
The Volkswagen Amarok however, uses a 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel motor to produce 165kw and 550nm, although it can produce up to 180kw for a very short period on overboost, with this luxury bakkie priced from R720 600. The reality is that the Amarok 2.0-litre biturbo diesel 4Motion should have been used, as that makes 132kw and 420nm, and is priced from R620 800.
Next up is the second most expensive bakkie of the lot – the Mercedes-Benz X250d. This uses a retuned version of the 2.3-litre biturbo 4-cylinder motor that is used in the Nissan Navara, and produces 140kw and 450nm, with this premium bakkie priced from R701 615. That said, it would have been interesting if they pitted the new 190kw X350d against the Amarok V6.
The remaining two places are filled by two of South Africa’s favourites. The Ford Ranger 2.2 4x4 and the Toyota Hilux 2.4GD-6 4x4, with them priced from R445 500 and R485 800 respectively. But whereas the Ranger uses a 2.2-litre 4-cylinder to make 118kw and 385nm, the Hilux uses a 2.4-litre 4-cylinder to produce the least in this line-up – 110kw and 400nm. So it comes as no surprise that these two proved out powered.
But without further ado, here is this epic drag race.
