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NEWS photo Neil Lucente

MAZDA'S NEW 1994 pickup is based on the Ford Ranger pickup. Available in regular cab and extended cab in 2WD and 4WD, the new Mazda pickup offers a choice of
three engines, including a powerful 160 horsepower 4.0-litre V6. Base price of a two-wheel-drive, regular cab B2360 is $10,795.

TEST DRIVE

IN WHAT fas become a
rather puzzling marketing
arrangement between Mazda
and Ford, both companies
are now selling each other's
cars and trucks with re-
badged nameplates and dif-
ferent exterior styling (reat-
ments.

Mazda’s 1994 small pickup, for
example, is actually a Ford Ranger
with different styling and some
option differences. Mazda also
sells a two-doored Ford Explorer
in the United States called the

Navajo. Ford offers the sporty
Probe, actually a restyled Mazda
MX-6, and the Escort, based on
the Mazda 323.

The reason for this product
sharing had to do, primarily, with
making money.

The cost of developing a new
vehicle from scratch now runs into
the billions of dollars, so it’s gen-
erally easier and cheaper for com-
panies such as Ford and Mazda
(which have a financial interest in
each other) to share technology.

In the case of the new U.S.-
built Mazda pickup, Mazda also
avoids the 25% truck tariff it had
to pay on previous Japanese-built
pickups coming into the United
States.

But enough about economics.

The Ford-built 1994 Mazda
pickup has a number of important
advantages over the '93 model,
including more available harse-
power, a bigger payload, greater
towing capacity, improved ride,
quieter cabin and more camfart
features.

The new pickup is longer, wider
and higher than the previous
model, but still falls into the com-
pact pickup class.

For the first time, the base price
is ove: $10,060, A regular cab,
two-wheel-drive B2300 now starts
at $10,795,

It will be interesting to see haw
the price increase will affect Maz-

da’s status as the number one
seller of import small trucks in
Canada.

The new Mazda pickup now
offers three engines instead of
two (all Ford engines); a 2.3-litre
four cylinder with 98 horsepower;
a 3.0-litre V6 with 145 horse-
power; and a 4.0-litre V6 with 160
horsepower, That compares with
the previous 91 horsepower 2.6-
litre four cylinder engines in the
1993 pickups.

The new engines provide a big
gain in hauling and towing power:
standard payload has increased
from 567 kg (1,247 Ibs) to 635 kg
(1,397 lbs) with a maximum
payload cf 748 kg (1,645 Ibs).

Standard towing capacity with a
four cylinder engine had decreased
from 900 kg (1,980 Ibs) 10 726 ke
(1,597 Ibs), but available towing
capacity with the 4.0-litre V6
engine is now 2722 kg (5,058 lbs).

Mazda pickups for 1994 are
now designated B2300, B3000 and
B4000 (reflecting engine sizes),
and as before, come in regular
und extended length cabs with
short (six feet/1.8m) and long
(seven feet/2. Em) beds.

However, 3 quick compirison
of box sizes reveals that this year’s
cargo bed is smatter than fast
year’s. Short boxes are now one
ineh (2.5 cm) shorter and five in-
ches (12.7 em) narrower than last
year. Long boxes are five inche:

Base Price $11,895

Type Two-door, three passen-
ger compact pickup truck
Layout longitudinal
engine/rear wheel drive
Engine 3.0-litre OHV V6
Horsepower 145 @ 4,800 rpm
Torque 170 ft-lbs 3,600 rpm
Curb Weight 1,324 ke (2,918
Ibs)

Payload (max) 748 ke (1,650
Ibs)

front

(12.7 cm) shorter and five inches
{12.7 cm) narrower,

Buyers should also note that
four-wheel-drive models are not
available with the long bed.

My test truck, a B3000 regular
cab with iwo-wheel-drive offered
plenty of power and torque from
its 3.0-litre V6 engine.

[ see no reason to graduate to
the 4.0-litre V6 unless you're
planuing on hauling some very
heavy loads. In many ways, the
4.0-litre engine has too much >
power lor this size of a cruck,
spinning the rear wheels with little
provocation.

The 3.0-litre engine ambles
along comfortably at 2,200 rpm in
fifth wear at 100 kin/h (62 mph)
and combined with a quiet, com-

= a rr rr

Wheelbase
in.)
Length 4,636 mm ({84.5 in.)
Width 1,763 mm (69.4 in.)
Height 1,626 mm (64.0 in.)

2,743 mm (108.0

Warranty Three

kms

years/60,000

Ingtize about the 83000 at
North Shore Mazda, 7If W.
I4th St., North Vancouver.

furtable interior, makes the Mazda
pickup a pleasant combination
commuter/workhorse vehicle.

Interior room is adequate for
two, though there are three
seatbelts. Headroom is generous,
and there is a small amount of
space behind the seats.

Standard equipment includes:
rear anti-lock brakes; rear bump-
er; dutial mirrors; and intermittent
wipers, but there’s no airbag.

Power steering on all models
except the two-wheel-drive B2300
with manual five-speed transmis-
sion. Extended cab versions offer
two sideways-facing rear Sjump’’
seats as an option,

Four-wheel-drive models now
have the convenience of push-

See Jump seats page 31