Forbidden Fruit: Brazil’s Troller Pantanal
Since the transition of the pickup truck from humble workaday appliance to amenity-laden lifestyle vehicle back in the mid-Nineties, we’ve been anxiously awaiting the day when an automaker realizes that there’s still a market for bare-bones, honest-to-God, no-need-for-a-bedliner full-size 4x4s.
Call us crazy, but we want something like this Brazilian-market Troller Pantanal. With its robust 3.0-liter common-rail turbodiesel and retro-sensible design that reminds us of Dodge’s 1999 Power Wagon Concept, we can’t help but harbor an irrational yearning for the plastic-paneled hauler. With an engine sourced from the respected folks at International, a bare minimum of frou-frou accessories, and dent-resistant plastic bodywork, this thing ought to be tough-as-nails (and about as complex).
Troller is a company arguably best-known for its Jeep Wrangler doppelgänger, the T4, but since we have the real-deal available in the States, Brazil can keep its knockoff.
We’ll be perfectly happy with the Pantanal. Make ours a self-shifter with wood-plank bed, and we promise to keep it dirty and overburdened.
What say you? Do you think a basic full-size pickup can still sell in the States? Have your say in ‘Comments.’
(Click on the thumbnails below to launch a small Pantanal gallery, or on the link below for the company's official website)
Comments
Mike
I think the workhorse is missing in all ranges of the light truck world. I think a midsize/comapct return to mighty max/ram50/b2000/Comanche/hardbody ala M80 might be more appropriate than a fillsize, and I am not sure about a composite bed in a workhorse...
Surely Chrysler realizes this more than anyone... what everyone on the internet still BEGGING AT EVERY CHANCE for the Gladiator and the M80.
fstst56
We'll find out when the Mihindra arrives!!!
Mongo
Dagnabit!! Even Brazil has fuel efficient diesels in their trucks. Does every country in the world allow fuel efficient clean diesels (Euro III emissions compliant on the Troller) EXCEPT for USA and Canada?
I'm tired of this crap and Kalifornia is responsible for serving up the anti-diesel death koolaid.
Mongo
http://www.mwm-international.com.br/default.asp?su=3&pa=series&idSerie=2...
Here is the link for the International 3L diesel.
Ducati Minor
"I’m tired of this crap and Kalifornia is responsible for serving up the anti-diesel death koolaid."
Ha ha ha ha ha! Bless us wicked Left Coast hippies! Ha ha ha ha ha!
I believe we have something like this here--it's called the Ford Ranger, and it's a PZEV too.
Patrick from Astoria
Wonderful ideal, decent mechanicals, unappealing design, ridiculous name.
I honestly miss the small square-edged pickups from twenty years ago or so: the S-10, the Hardbody, the original Toyota pickup that didn't even bother with a name because we all knew what it was. Then again, with the chattering classes swooning over how "refined" and "developed" such creatures as the Ridgeline and Frontier are - while knocking, say, the Canyon for being "agricultural" - the marketing types must know that arguing for a good basic small truck is now a lost cause. The Ranger and the Tacoma (in very base versions) are the only ones left.
Bert
The Frontier isnt all that refined here in the Philippines. The base models, well actually all of them except the 4x4 model, come with 2.7 Liter Diesel engines. They're used by the Police, Media and construction companies. So the Frontier isnt that refined - outside of the US, and is used as a proper workhorse. Your Ford Rangers and Toyota Tacomas on the other hand are used as luxury vehicles.
Different country, different use. Depends on where you're looking and what you're looking at.
Scott
cool, the gauge cluster is from a mk4 VW Golf/Jetta
PhDEngineer
You folks know Troller is owned by Ford...
bil
With the collapse of the truck market, you can get a truck close to this here in the US. All of the manufactures offer a W/T model. With the rebates you can get a V8 full size W/T from Ford, Chevy, Dodge or Nissan for about $15K. If you get the Dodge you get the lifetime warranty. It would be nice to get a cheap diesel.
MGBYG
The 25% tariff on imported trucks will raise the price a lot higher...
Paul In Jersey
Why stop at trucks? I'd like a stripped-down sports wagon, or a hot-shoe hatchback that handles. Something with a/c and a crashbox. But nobody sells that in the U.S., for the same reason they don't sell a stripped-down truck.
There's no margin in it.
John Carder
If someone offered a simple, basic, full-size pickup, I'd be very interested. What I want:
1) Tough. It needs to be durable. The simpler the better.
2) Manual transmission Ford's six-speed (Granny & OD) comes to mind.
3) 4WD with manual locking hubs. I want to know I'm in 4WD when I pull the transfer case lever. I don't want to be waiting for "automatic" hubs to try to find their way.
4) Decent weight capacity. I want to be able to fill the bed with trunks of green trees that I just cut and not bottom out the springs.
5) I don't need frills, but A/C is needed. Not only does it work in the summer, but the compressor dries the defroster air in the winter.
For now, the answer for me is to maintain my older Ford PUs. I have a 1979 F250 and a 1986 F250HD. The 1979 is extremely simple. It doesn't have the load capacity of the 1986, but it works. Both have plenty of dents, so I don't worry when I need to haul something.
Russ Bellinis
There was a time when pick ups had no frills, and lots of tie down hooks. Now the biggest problem that I see with a practical working pick up is that nobody offers a decent tie down package. When you put tie downs in each stake pocket, and the existing tie downs in the corners of the bed from the factory, you have about 1/2 of the tie downs you really need for some jobs.
Don
I love how these things are touted as "super tough!".
Try looking up reviews on vehicles such as, say, the Samurai Santana, built in Europe, which become paperweights when their Peugeot diesels break down.
Pfft.
Autoblog : Yep, trolls are ugly: Brazil's Troller Pantanal
[...] | Email this | Comments Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Published Thursday, August 23, 2007 12:34 PM by Autoblog Filed under: Trucks/Pickups,TrollerPantanal, Troller Pantanal, Brazil [...]
Yep, trolls are ugly: Brazil’s Troller Pantanal-- Ride Care
[...] In all fairness, we know there is a designer out there who felt his or her work met the requirements for the design brief: Keep it simple, stupido. The obvious emphasis of this Brazilian appliance is to haul stuff in a no-frills manner. The Troller Pantanal is a functional full-size pickup that does look rugged enough to get almost any job done. With an International 3.0-liter common-rail turbodiesel underhood and dent-resistant plastic panels all around, it definitely screams function over form, which is what you want in a cheap utility vehicle like a pickup truck. And yet, there appears to be some attempt at making it look a little flashier than just the basics, and that’s where things seem to go wrong. The extra bits of style slapped on might actually keep people away from this decent truck, which seems a little counterintuitive if you are trying to sell them. Perhaps it’s just a clever theft-deterrent system. [...]
Yep, trolls are ugly: Brazil's Troller Pantanal | Review Car
[...] In all fairness, we know there is a designer out there who felt his or her work met the requirements for the design brief: Keep it simple, stupido. The obvious emphasis of this Brazilian appliance is to haul stuff in a no-frills manner. The Troller Pantanal is a functional full-size pickup that does look rugged enough to get almost any job done. With an International 3.0-liter common-rail turbodiesel underhood and dent-resistant plastic panels all around, it definitely screams function over form, which is what you want in a cheap utility vehicle like a pickup truck. And yet, there appears to be some attempt at making it look a little flashier than just the basics, and that’s where things seem to go wrong. The extra bits of style slapped on might actually keep people away from this decent truck, which seems a little counterintuitive if you are trying to sell them. Perhaps it’s just a clever theft-deterrent system. [...]
Ducati Minor
"I have a 1979 F250 and a 1986 F250HD."
Oh...screw you, John. Any reason for having two F-250s? I had to maneuver through two '70s HD pickups in a small parking lot yesterday. Disrupted everything.
Adhominem
"Samurai Santana, built in Europe, which become paperweights when their Peugeot diesels break down."
Every car becomes next-to-useless when its engine breaks down. I don't think the Samurai/Santana is special in that regard.
Estrangeiros querem uma Troller Pantanal, mesmo sendo feiosa
[...] [Fonte: Winding Road] [...]
DucRider
That thing is sweet.
Reminds me of the LandCruiser pickps we had back in South Africa.
I think they will look better with a matt finsh instead of the glossy it will add to the whole utility concept,
I like the way the back is all jacked up - ready to take a big load.
Bruno_Brazil
Patrick from Astoria,
Pantanal is the name of largest wetlands in Brazil. It´s quite a good name in Brazil, as it reminds nature, adventure and hard work, as there are a lot of ranchos in the Pantanal.
Scott,
The gauges, actually, come from a small-cars line made by VW in Brazil (Gol, Parati, and Saveiro). It only resembles the Golf/Jetta gauges.
Gol is the best-selling car in Brazil, so it makes sense to use those gauges, as they are cheap.
To see the Gol line, please visit: www.vw.com.br
Broddur
do Troller only sell their jeeps in Brazil?
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