As demand for contemporary turbo-diesel, double-cab utes continues to defy gravity, what price does, er, final retail price have on the one you eventually buy? To find out we rustled up three of the best value examples we could find and spent a day ‘in the saddle’ to see.

Well, what a difference a year, or two as it turned out, makes!’

The last time we ‘went to market’ as it were, for our yearly ‘state of the nation’ look-see at the ‘ute’ sector (which officially is called Light Commercial and broken down into 2 and 4WD subsections), it was the end of April 2019 and myself and my regular co-conspirators, Sean Wilmot and Mark Baker, spent a long (albeit revealing) day on the Coromandel Peninsula comparing and contrasting Mitsubishi’s then boldly restyled Triton VRX auto (the price leader at $49,990 + ORC) with a contemporary Toyota Hilux SR5 Cruiser (auto) with a no-more-to-pay price of $56,990 and a $57,290 RRP six-speed manual transmission Nissan Navara ST 4x4.

Since then the three of us have also driven and compared the $41,990 GLX-R version of Mitsubishi’s Triton and the Hilux SR5 Cruiser (at the time still $56,990) with Ford’s range-topping new Ranger Raptor... with an RRP of $84,990 for the our Jan 2020 NZ4WD annual, as well as a $46,990 Mitsi Triton VRX ‘Black Edition,’ the latest Toyota Hilux ST, plus  an (RRP $119.990) Warlock  version of RAM’s 5.7 litre V8 engined 1500 ‘Super ute’ for the January 2021 NZ4WD Annual produced in late November and December last year.

That – in a nutshell – is a lot of utes, not to mention a lot of time behind the wheel/s. In such a fast-paced and fast-changing world that is the current ute market, our job is to come up with something fresh, interesting and above all, relevant, each and every time we put together one of these three-way comparison tests.

Actually, being able to source test vehicles from the various distributors outside their often narrow launch ‘envelopes’ is becoming more and more of an issue for us. This time, however, luck was ‘with us rather than ‘against us’ in that Ford, Nissan and GWM (nee Great Wall) each had significant all-new (or at least significantly updated) models literally, just waiting to be tested.

From the top (again literally) market leader Ford had just added (yet) another niche model to its already extensive line-up, the Ranger FX4 Max. Like some sort of factory-spec Ranger Raptor ‘Lite’ the FX4 Max is a mix of ‘standard’ 2.0-litre,10-speed Ranger XLT and Raptor, meaning it comes as standard with the same ‘narrow track,’ leaf spring/rear drum brake rear end of a ‘normal’ run-of-the-mill’ Ranger BUT adds a set of aftermarket Fox monotube dampers plus a set of wide, high positive offset 17-inch alloy wheels and aggressively-treaded BF Goodrich A/T tyres, as well as some stylie accoutrements like the extravagant rollbar supports on the tray, large letter FORD emblem on the grille and combined rock sliders, side steps.

SPECIFICATIONS

Ford Ranger FX4 Max

ENGINE: In-line 2.0 litre (1996cc) common rail injection 4-cylinder turbo-diesel

TRANSMISSION: 10-speed automatic w/ Sports Mode & Super Select ll 4WD & off-road mode

POWER: 157kW@3750rpm

TORQUE: 500Nm@1750-2000rpm

ECONOMY: 8.0l/100km

CO2: 210 g/km

SUSP FRONT: Coil

SUSP. REAR: Leaf

BRAKES: Disc front, drum rear

WHEELS/TYRES: Alloy 17 in. dia. w/BF Goodrich 33 in. A/T 265/70 R17

TURNING CIRCLE: 12.7m

LxWxH: 5446x1867x1852mm

WHEELBASE: 3220mm

APP/DEP ANGLES: 31/23 degrees

GROUND CLEARANCE: 256mm

WADING DEPTH: 800mm

KERB WEIGHT: 2212kg

PAYLOAD: 988kg

TOWING: (auto) 750kg (ub), 3500kg (b)

TRACTION: Ford DSC.

SAFETY RATING: ANCAP 5 stars

WARRANTY: 5 year/150,000km

RRP: $69,990

So, this time we indeed felt blessed. Three weeks out from when we needed it we had our first ute, the ‘anchor tenant’ of our three-way compare, if you like, confirmed. Then came the second piece of good news. In case any of you still DON’T know, GWM is the new brand name for Chinse manufacturer Great Wall’s ‘premier’ ute product.  The company still makes (and sells here) workaday cab/chassis ute under the Great Wall name. But the all-new Cannon 2 and 4WD DC TD models are being sold here as GWMs.

Even better news for both Sean and I, the new NZ HQ for the combined Haval/GWM/Great Wall ‘conglomerate’ is at Westgate in Auckland’s rapidly developing northwest meaning that pick-ups and drop-offs are just minutes away from where each of us live.

So what’s the all-new Cannon L like?

Well, the short answer to that is ‘good to look at’ for a start. It’s also Big, very well specced and equipped, and with a local RRP for the line-topping 4WD Cannon model of just $39,990, on paper – at least – it is a veritable bargain.

In saying that it is not – quite – as if you are comparing apples with apples. But before I go into the whys and wherefores of that let’s look at the third ute in our ‘2021 Try-umverate’, Nissan’s upgraded-for-2021 Navara.

SPECIFICATIONS

GWM CANNON L 4WD

ENGINE: In-line 2.0 litre  common rail injection 4-cylinder turbo-diesel

TRANSMISSION: 8-speed ZF automatic

POWER: 120kW@3600rpm

TORQUE: 400Nm@1500rpm

ECONOMY: 9.4l/100km

CO2: n/a

SUSP FRONT: Coil

SUSP. REAR: Leaf

BRAKES: Disc front & rear

WHEELS/TYRES: Alloy 18 in. dia. w/ A/T 265/60 R18

TURNING circle: 13.1m

LxWxH: 5410x1934x1886mm

WHEELBASE: 3230mm

APP/DEP ANGLES: 27/25 degrees

GROUND CLEARANCE: 194mm

WADING DEPTH: 700mm

KERB WEIGHT: 1965kg

PAYLOAD: 1050kg

TOWING: (auto) 750kg (ub), 3000kg (b)

TRACTION: GWM ESC

SAFETY RATING: ANCAP 5 stars

WARRANTY: 5 year/150,000km

RRP: $39,990

Nissan’s major mid-life ugrade for its Navara actually includes an all-range-topping model called the Pro-4X but we  decided that we needed a ‘Mr In-between’ to plug the spec and price gap which we found ourselves with once we had locked in Ford’s new $69,990 FX4 Max and the GWM $39,990 Cannon L.

As it turned out it was a good idea, because each vehicle in the test seemed to complement rather than clash with each other.

As a ‘died-in-the-wool’ Nissan guy, I’ve always kind of hoped that Nissan in Oz would finally ‘get their act’ together and deliver a Navara that was at least the equal of a Ranger or Hilux in the same model year. And 2021 could finally be that year. The heavily revised model not only looks the part with its new, more aggressively-styled nose and bonnet,  it also has a firmer, more planted feel on as well as off the road, plus the notoriously laggy twin turbo 2.3 litre engine feels like it has been given a second lease on life.

SPECIFICATIONS

Nissan Navara ST-X 4x4

ENGINE: In-line 2.3 litre (2298c) common rail injection 4-cylinder turbo-diesel

TRANSMISSION: 7-speed automatic and rear diff lock

POWER: 140kW@3750rpm

TORQUE: 450Nm@1500-2500rpm

ECONOMY: 7.9l/100km

CO2: 208 g/km

SUSP FRONT: Coil

SUSP. REAR: Coil

BRAKES: Disc front, drum rear

WHEELS/TYRES: Alloy 18in. dia. H/T 255/60 R18

TURNING CIRCLE: 12.5m

LxWxH: 5311x1850x1830mm

WHEELBASE: 3150mm

APP/DEP ANGLES: 33/28 degrees

GROUND CLEARANCE: 224mm

WADING DEPTH: 700mm

KERB WEIGHT: 1936kg

PAYLOAD: 974kg

TOWING: (auto) 750kg (ub), 3500kg (b)

TRACTION: A-TRC

SAFETY RATING: ANCAP 5 stars

WARRANTY: 5-year/150,000km

RRP: $67,490

As per usual we decided to ‘Get out of Dodge early,’ aiming for Waiuku and the highways, byways and eventually the black sand beach at Kariotahi.

I will now hand you over to my colleagues and co-conspirators Mark Baker  and Sean Willmot for their thoughts on the three utes.