Easy Car Original review of the automotive market in the past two years is really a pile of inner volumes. Such as a cheap and sporty compact sedan for young people, a coupe SUV that takes into account driving and practicality, an MPV that takes care of a second-child family, and so on. In the past two years, hardcore SUVs have also mushroomed.
As a veteran hardcore off-road SUV, the Isuzu Ranger naturally has its place, but because it has always been the power of diesel engines, it has also led to its inability to sell in some cities, affecting its sales and popularity. However, this time has always been "proud" Ranger also began to compromise with the market, today's test drive of the 2022 model of Isuzu Ranger, the biggest surprise is that this time it is finally equipped with a gasoline engine.
So let's start with the biggest change, the motivation. The gasoline version of the Ranger is equipped with a Ford 2.0T gasoline engine model JX4G20A6L, with a maximum power of 162kW and a peak torque of 350N·m, which is much larger than that of diesel engines. Mated to ZF's 8-speed automatic manual transmission, it can withstand up to 500 Nm of torque.
Compared with the diesel version of the gasoline version of the Ranger's power response is faster, when starting, the power reserve is still relatively sufficient, whether it is starting or overtaking in the middle of no effort, although it is a four-wheel drive model with a large quality, but the process of speeding up is very brisk, and the throttle does not need to be stepped on very deep to get a brisk acceleration feeling.
This ZF 8AT transmission is still relatively well matched with the engine during driving, and the smoothness is also excellent. In today's urban road test drive process, the gearbox can actively upshift to ensure fuel economy, and when it is necessary to accelerate overtaking, it can also understand the driver's intention to quickly complete the downshift action without delay. What's more, there is hardly a drop in the city," which is where the gearbox comes in.
In terms of chassis, the front double wishbone and rear five linkages are not suspended alone. Due to the use of non-load-bearing body plus the higher body, the suspension stroke is relatively long, so the shaking of the body is still obvious when crossing the ditch section, but considering that the positioning of the whole car is a hardcore off-road SUV, the city road is not its home after all, which can be understood. However, due to the biased off-road setting of the suspension adjustment when cornering at high speed, it is very tough and there is no obvious roll.
At the same time, the gasoline version of the Ranger also has a time-sharing four-wheel drive system, two-wheel drive mode for the rear drive drive, when you need to switch the four-wheel drive mode on the car, as long as you turn the knob below the gear, you can control the time-sharing four-wheel drive system on the car. And the rear axle is also equipped with an Eaton differential lock, which can better get out of the trap in the face of extreme road conditions.
The 2022 gasoline version of the Ranger is basically consistent with the diesel version of the current model on sale in terms of appearance, and does not adopt the design of the latest version overseas, which is a pity. However, the overall design looks like a tough design style at first glance. Still following the design concept of the Isuzu family, the front grille uses a lot of stout chrome decoration, the front side of the car is equipped with automatic LED diamond eagle headlights, plus a higher hood, the overall vision is very rough, you can see its positioning at a glance.
On the side of the car, the Ranger body size is 4830× 1860×1830mm, and the wheelbase reaches 2845mm. Therefore, the side of the car still looks relatively wide, coupled with the raised wheel eyebrows and the ground clearance of up to 232mm, you can see a very strong off-road atmosphere.
In terms of comfort configuration, the gasoline version of the Ranger is equipped with keyless entry like the main driver, the original factory side pedal, the original luggage rack, etc., and the new 360° panoramic image can also ensure the convenience of this big car when reversing and parking.
The rim adopts a double five-frame shape, and the silver paint is still more attractive. The tire size is 255/60 R18, branded from the Giti Comfort 520, and it would be better to replace it with four off-road or all-terrain tires if you want to go off-road in the later stages.
The rear of the car is relatively simple in shape, the tail light group adopts an uplift design and is connected to the chrome trim in the middle, and the light source is an LED light group, which echoes the design style of the front of the car. The hidden design of the D-pillar is still more interesting. At the same time the Ranger is equipped with a spare tire, located at the bottom.
In terms of interior, the gasoline version of the Ranger design is basically similar to the diesel version, with only some details and configurations upgraded. First of all, the entire interior design is relatively simple, and it can also be seen that all functions and buttons are designed in the central control area for easy operation.
The dashboard is still the traditional physical pointer design, the design reading of the double gun barrel is very clear, the middle display can display the function is also relatively rich, the gear display is very clear, I like it, but the entire design language is still slightly behind at the moment, no LCD meter or less of a little bit of technology flavor.
The center console is covered with a large area of soft materials and imitation wood grain trim panels, and the redesigned gear lever area looks more exquisite overall, and the texture of the workmanship and buttons has been greatly improved. At the same time, the gasoline version of the model was equipped with an electronic gear, and the grade feeling was improved.
The size of the central control screen is 8 inches, which is relatively small. However, the function is still more practical, in addition to the conventional navigation, music, Bluetooth, but also added like panoramic image, car-machine interconnection Carlife & Carplay functions.
In terms of space, the height of the experiencer is 180cm, the front row is adjusted to sit, the seat is adjusted to the lowest, and the head space has a punch space, which is still relatively sufficient. It is worth mentioning that the ranger front seats are electrically adjustable.
Come to the back row, keep the front row sitting posture unchanged, in the case of four fingers in the head, the legs can reach a punch and four fingers of space, very generous. At the same time, the rear seat angle can be adjusted or more convenient. It's just that the softness of the second row of seats is slightly stiffer than in the front row.
Summary: The launch of the gasoline version of the Ranger has given more friends who love off-road new choices, and the launch of the gasoline version can also bring a lot of benefits to manufacturers to shop in more cities and improve their visibility. However, with reference to the price of the diesel version, the price of the gasoline version may not be very low. In the face of the rise of strong hard SUVs such as the relatively lower price and higher configuration of tanks 300 and BJ40 in independent brands, the Ranger still needs a long way to go.