On Wheels by Brooks Peterson

Saturday, December 9, 2000

New Mazda truck offers more room, power

First, of course, there was just the pickup truck. You could pick your flavor - Ford, Chevy, GMC, Dodge and (way back in prehistoric times) International, Studebaker and a few others.
   Then came little trucks - diminutive but almost startlingly capable vehicles from Japan that took a while getting established here (anybody remember those Toyota HiLux trucklings with the signal lights fetchingly perched atop the front fenders? Or the Datsun mini-trucks with exposed hinges on the doors?) . . . but when they caught on, they really caught on. What they lacked in cargo capacity and/or stump-pulling torque they more than made up for in agility, convenience, sprightly handling and (not least) exemplary fuel economy.
   Since then, of course, the scene has exploded with any manner of variations on trucking themes. A particularly intriguing case in point is the Dodge Dakota, which neatly splits the difference between full-size pickups and little teeny pickups. Call it Little Big Truck.
   And the great big industrial-size cauldron continues to bubble. As I spent a week in the latest edition of the Mazda pickup line - a strapping B4000 4x4 stretch-cab SE edition - I gradually came to realize that I had encountered yet another permutation of the pickup phenomenon: Big Little Truck.

2001 Mazda_B4000 SE 4x4 Four-wheel-drive extended-cab four-passenger pickup Base price: $22,220 Price as tested: $23,780 Drivetrain: Single-overhead-cam fuel-injected 4-liter V-6, 207 hp; 5-speed automatic-overdrive transmission Brakes: Front discs, rear drums, power-assisted ? EPA mileage: 15 city/19 highway Web site: www.mazdausa.com

   (Before we proceed further, the obligatory heads-up: Just about everything you read here applies to the Ford Ranger line as well, from which the Mazda pickups are derived. For connoisseurs of irony, there is a certain sublime symmetry in this, since it was Mazda that produced badge-engineered pickups for Ford back in prehistoric times.)
   Now, it should be obvious as the nose on your face that between the extended cab and the nice, big, accommodating six-foot cargo bed you really are dealing with a sizable chunk of vehicle here. But so thoroughly have I been acclimated by truck-think into thinking of these machines as minuscule that it came as a mild shock to find it a bit of a handful to maneuver in the close quarters at the downtown post office. Hey, said I to myself as I sawed at the steering wheel: What we have here is . . . a Big Little Truck.
   Of such stuff are automotive epiphanies made.
   But there's more to this particular truck than its beefy physical presence. This is Mazda's run at turning out a serious off-road vehicle - and while I'm not your certified authority on such stuff, I can tell you it gives every indication that it will take its pilot wherever he/she wishes to go, short of lunar-landscape conditions.
   More room
   Refreshingly in this age of flossy, over-upholstered pickups crafted with drug-store cowboys and other poseurs in mind, your B4000 is a businesslike customer from the word go. Plenty of amenities, but no tufted upholstery, and fer sure no dang velour.
   One of the more appealing spinoffs from the bulking-up of this truck is the abundance of room for driver and front-seat passenger. This was a bit of a sore point with the previous generation of Mazda/Ranger pickups - the conventional-cab versions in particular. In this stretch-cab (with its two rear mini-doors), however, you can do just that: stretch - in virtually any direction.
   Forty-seven more horses
   Of course, those consigned to the jump seats in back are another matter. Adults in particular do NOT want to spend any more time back there than absolutely necessary.
   Truck-drivin' dudes who are power freaks - but there I go again, being redundant - will rejoice in one development: the new-for-2001 4-liter V-6 puts out 47 horses more than its predecessor. That boosts the total to a lusty 207 hp. Better still, from a trucking perspective, peak torque - 238 lb.-ft. - reports for duty at a readily-accessible 3,000 rpm.
   You should understand, my children, that this does not translate into tire-smoking burnouts. Rather, it means that your B4000, working through its shift-on-the-fly 4WD (with high and low 4-wheel ranges), can haul you into and out of places that would reduce lesser vehicles (and their chauffeurs) to whimpering panic.
   Know, too, that those horses and that torque demand frequent feeding. In mixed city and highway driving, I recorded a whisker under 15 mpg. Now, given the gargantuan thirsts of full-size 4WD trucks, that's pretty respectable.
   However, despite the 19.5-gallon fuel tank, I found myself making a lot of stops to re-fill. Could be the fuel gauge was a trifle pessimistic; but in any case, you do want to plan ahead. All the 4WD gear and macho presence in the world won't be much help should you find yourself in the boonies sans petrol.
   Fairly impressive grip
   Predictably, your B4000 SE 4WD has a stiff-legged gait - another indication (along with the dual skid plates, limited slip differential and - worst case - the big, beefy tow hooks up front) that this is a vehicle cooked up with serious work in mind.
   Handling includes the inevitable lean in corners: The truck's high-riding stance is not calculated with clipping apexes and zipping through chicanes in mind.
   However, the grip is fairly impressive once you commit yourself to a (prudent) line.
   You want to exercise a certain amount of discretion, but both on and off the asphalt, the Mazda manages to blend a flinty toughness with a ready-to-please (but not desperate-to-please) demeanor.
   Approach it in that spirit, dust it off now and again, slake its thirst, and you could be in for some seriously good times.
  
  

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