No, the Ranger Super Duty isn’t as powerful as the standard Ranger
“You need torque to tow and as Super Duty has the same torque as the standard V6 Ranger, it’ll perform the same”.
No.
First off, for context, the engine outputs of 150kW and 600Nm dwarf the likes of the Fuso Canter which offers 110 / 370 through a 5-speed manual compared to the RSD’s 10-speed auto. And remember people drove Defender TD5s like my old one with a mere 90 / 300. So, 150 / 600 will get the job done and it’s wrong to say the RSD is underpowered. It is fair to say it is less powerful than the standard Ranger V6, lacking power, being heavier and being draggier, and not only less powerful, has a worse power/weight ratio.
So what of this ‘torque-for-towing’ business which is often repeated? What is torque anyway? Simply, it’s turning force, and power is how quickly that turning force is applied. You, a human, can easily generate 600Nm of force with a suitably long lever. You just can’t rotate that lever at 1700 rotations per minute, so that means you’re a lot less powerful than the RSD’s engine.
It’s wrong to say you only need torque to tow, unless you mean towing at a very low speed. Consider that pretty much any 4×4 has a means to double its torque at the wheels in any gear – it’s called low range, and there you go, torque doubled. Oh, what’s that? Bit slow now? Hmm, maybe power, which is how quickly torque is applied, might be useful after all!
More in the RSD detail video on my channel.
