THE FORGOTTEN ONE

THE MAZDA BT-50 GAINED SALES IN 2016, BUT REMAINS WELL BEHIND ITS NEAR MECHANICALLY IDENTICAL COUNTERPART, THE FORD RANGER.

WITH a mid-life refresh behind it, Mazda’s BT-50 enjoyed 809 more sales in 2016 than in 2015 but remains in ninth place in the top 10. The BT-50’S sales also jumped in 2015 from 2014, so it’s on a slow rise. The interesting thing here is that the BT-50 is a close cousin to the Ford Ranger, but for every BT-50 Mazda sells Ford sells more than three Rangers. Mazda may even be content to sell the BT-50 in those numbers, as the marque is enjoying record sales elsewhere thanks to the popularity of its SUVS and passenger cars. It sits only behind Toyota in the overall new-car market, whereas Ford is down in fifth spot.

The BT-50 came out late in 2011 about the same time as the Ford Ranger, and in original guise the two were as good as mechanically identical. Aside from the obvious styling and equipment differences, the two varied only in their steering-rack ratios and suspension damper calibration. All that changed late in 2015 when both the BT-50 and the Ranger underwent a mid-life makeover, but to vastly different degrees.

Ford introduced a raft of mechanical changes to its Ranger to improve its performance, off-road ability, driving feel and to enhance its refinement, while Mazda’s rework of the BT-50 was limited to exterior styling, a new dashboard for mid- and topspec models and some equipment changes. The only mechanical change of note for the BT-50 was a new linkage for the six-speed manual, designed to address the previously vague shift action.

These changes have made the Ranger a better ute than the BT-50 both on- and offroad, but in essence the Mazda still offers the core values of the Ranger including a big cabin, strong performance and plenty of load and towing ability. In fact, on our recent load and tow ute comparison the BT-50 was only beaten by the Ranger – and even then only on the finer points.