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Articles and Road Tests
Driving a Mazda B-Series pickup truck is like going back in time nearly 15 years. After all, this truck was launched in 1994, the year Mazda decided to produce a clone of the Ford Ranger.
 | | Mazda's B-Series pickup truck is the Ford Ranger's twin, with a few exceptions. |
Fourteen years later, the recipe still seems to satisfy many Canadian consumers: the yearly sales figures rank the Ranger/B-Series duo first in the small pickup truck market, vehicles described by some as compact, by others as intermediary.
Curiously, it's the exact opposite in the U.S.: the Ranger/B-Series team is ranked next to last in the same market! This is no doubt a telling example of our "Canadianness".
A tool first and foremost
If you're looking for a four-wheeled transportation device that's affordable and not too sophisticated, then the B-Series is for you. Its size doesn't put it at a disadvantage compared to its rivals. It's as long as the Sonoma/Canyon models, but wider and higher. And the wheelbase of its chassis with frame rails is almost as wide as the Frontier's and Sonoma/Canyon's.
Its box, however, is the shortest of the bunch. To counter this problem, you can always add to its 182.4 cm by using the open tailgate as an extension, which makes it possible to load a motorcycle, for example. The optional cargo box extender would actually come in quite handy.
If you plan on towing heavier loads, you'll have a choice to make. The Mazda B4000 SE 4x4 we tested, for example, has a towing capacity of 5,600 lbs. It can easily pull a trailer carrying an ATV. And a hitch (class III) is now standard equipment on all the extended-cab and four-wheel-drive models of the B-Series. If you're planning on transporting 4'x8' plywood panels, you'd be better off with an F-150 pickup. It's a question of needs.
 | | The box is the shortest one of all the small pickup trucks. But with the tailgate down, you can fit a motorcycle into it. |
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