Although the new Ford Ranger is longer, wider and taller than the outgoing model, it still falls far short of a full-size American pickup. Across the water the Americans still like their polished paint and shiny chrome measured in acres rather than millimetres!
So, despite their new-found desire to down-size to conserve fuel, the current American Ford F series pickup is more of a truck than an LCV. Their double cab is almost 22 feet long (6680 mm) and 8 feet (2438 mm) wide – and that’s without the mirrors.
In other words, American pickups are still huge. Yes, there are strong moves both politically and financially to persuade them that smaller is better, but this requires a culture change and as we know over here, such things take time. On that basis this new Ford Ranger designed in Australia and built in South Africa is a bold attempt to build a ‘global’ pickup, one that will satisfy current European and far eastern tastes while tempting the Americans.
It’s not just Ford, all vehicle manufacturers are trying to introduce ‘globally appealing’ vehicles from city cars to HGVs. If such a vehicle can be created then economies of scale kick in with the result that costs should decrease and prices drop – at least that’s the theory. Instead of building different vehicles for different markets, it will be one vehicle for all. It worked for the Communists!
But this is why the new Ranger is so important. It may not be as big as current American pickups, but if anyone in this country has narrow gates or driveways, they’d better get the tape measure out before they buy one. It’s a big rascal.
And the reason I call it a rascal is that the Wildtrak vehicle on test had the 5 cylinder 3.2 litre engine. It’s no sports car, but the mid range oomph from under the bonnet was enough to swish past tractors, trucks and caravans on some of Scotland’s more tourist polluted routes.
The trouble with the scenery up here is that folk just want to dawdle along and gawp at the colours and landscape with little thought for those who have to work amidst such grandeur. Fortunately, with 197 bhp on tap and a six speed gearbox to make the best of it, life was grand for a wee while.
If that sounds a tad excessive there is an alternative 2.2 litre TDCi turbo unit available with 148 bhp and a pretty impressive 375 Nm of torque, but the one on test had a seismic 470 Nm. That’s just about enough to move mountains.
Ford reckon the smaller engine should return 32.8 mpg on the Government test ‘Combined’ rig whereas the same test indicates that the 3.2 litre job will deliver 28.3 mpg. But here’s the thing, I was getting 29.6 mpg during the week that I drove the Ranger.
This included one 300 mile round trip north up Loch Lomond-side and through Glencoe and considering the nature of the terrain with twisty roads and serious hills, this was quite impressive. Consider also, that on both trips there and back, other traffic such as tourist buses, overloaded estate cars and lots of fat blokes on Harley Davidsons (or should that be blokes on fat Harleys?) had to be dispatched in order to maintain a decent average speed. In other words, this 197 bhp leviathan would have been returning well in excess of 30 mpg had it been driven with more grace and less pace! Not bad from a 3.2 litre turbo oil burner and a vehicle with all the aerodynamic slipperiness of a caber.
The other big attraction of the engine requires a rather sad dmission on my part. The glorious gruffle from under the bonnet. When first fired up it sounded like a well muffled V6, but it wasn’t. This unit is based on the 2.4 litre Transit engine with an extra cylinder. The trouble was, even with the window down I could hardly hear it.
In fact this is the same engine that Ford put in their biggest Transit two years ago and even in 2.4 litre guise, it is a cracker of an engine. But in 3.2 litre guise, it has all the power and torque needed to get past campervans, caravans and other finger pointing tourists ogling the sights as they weave around the Highland roads. All it needs is a straight-through exhaust!
As for ride quality. There are no fears on that score, even running empty. The previous Ford Ranger had the best ride quality of any pickup on the market. As we all know, pickups have to provide a compromise between comfort and carrying. To qualify as a business vehicle, a pickup must have a payload in excess of 1 tonne, and on that basis it must have a set of beefy springs at the back to cope with carrying or towing heavy weights. Some manufacturers keen to attract the ‘leisure and lifestyle’ buyers soften up their rear suspension whereas others keen to attract the farmers, foresters and utility workers have a stiffer set-up. So it’s very rare to find a vehicle with such an effective compromise that it will attract interest from both sectors.
Ford has managed that pretty effectively. Even on some of the worst winter-affected road surfaces in the far north I was never shoogled and shaken to the degree that I wanted to get out and walk – unlike some. But put half a tonne in the loadbed and it rides better than some so-called executive saloons.
That’s partially down to the seats too, for inside the double cab, Ford has used the extra dimensions to create more room and provide more padding. It’s also more luxurious. Admittedly this was the top of the range Wildtrak model, but even the entry level XL has electronic shift-on-the-fly 2WD/4WD transmission, ESP, TCS and EBA, plus electric windows, heated mirrors, drive away door locking, Thatcham Cat 1 alarm and a passive anti-theft system, and it even has ‘theatre style’ dimming courtesy lights and entry lights. How cool is that?
As for the Wildtrak, it had everything from heated leather seats to leather rimmed steering wheel with finger trip controls for just about every function, and it still had bags of room inside for four hefty adults, or two hefties up front and three teenagers in the back – even if they have legs.
There’s also more headroom and shoulder room and the resultant bigger doors of the double cab make getting in and out a lot easier, although you might need to park it close to the kerb or carry a footstool to get granny in the back.
Off Road
Despite all the extra size and comfort, the new Ranger is no softie when it goes off road. This latest four wheel drive system has all manner of abbreviations. In addition to Traction Control (TCS) it has Hill Start Assist (HSA) and Hill Descent Control (HDC) plus all the expected braking assistance that one expects in a modern car. It also has Load Adaptive Control (LAC), Trailer Sway Control (TSC) and Roll-over mitigation, just in case anyone gets over ambitious.
Naturally the ride can be quite bumpy over rough ground, but it’s not too jiggly, with just enough pliancy in the suspension to absorb the initial shocks when encountering ruts, rocks or ploughed furrows.
On that basis, the pickup will suit those with more serious off road needs like farmers and pylon fixers as well as those who need to tow plant trailers on to rough and puddled construction sites or into grassy fields.
And here’s the clincher, the new Ranger in 4WD mode, even with the 2.2 litre engine, will tow up to 3350 kgs. As for the basic entry level 4×2 pickup it can tow 2500 kgs. And yes, tachographs can be fitted easily. If that hasn’t convinced you, this Wildtrak had another trick up its sleeve. It had a rear view camera neatly tucked below the Ford badge on the tailgate – ideal for lining up the tow hitch to a trailer. First time, every time!
The loadbox itself is bigger than the previous version too. The single cab has a load length of just over 2 metres (2317 mm), the Super Cab has just over 1.8 metres (1847 mm) and the Double cab has a 1.5 metre (1549 mm) floor with the tailgate up. There’s just one wee problem. Anyone under 5 ft 10 inches will struggle to touch the floor of the loadbed while reaching over the sidewall, so if you drop your pen, open the tailgate!
Inside the loadbox there is another treat, a 12v socket, so if you need to plug anything in out back or charge something up, it’s ideal. The loading height is quite high at 835 mm (33 inches) with the tailgate down, which is fine if carrying a light toolbox, but hefting up a bale of hay confirms this is a big pickup. A prime case for one of those new Penny Hydraulics pickup lifts!
The Price
Twenty eight grand sounds a lot for a pickup, but for the business user, able to reclaim the VAT, it suddenly starts to look seriously attractive, especially the 3.2 litre job with its 30 mpg potential. But if it’s a simple 4WD work truck that is needed without family comfort in mind, the 4WD single cab version with 2.2 litre engine starts from £15,753 (plus VAT) while the basic double cab starts from £17,861 (plus VAT). And although not expected to be a big seller in this country, the Super Cab with its occasional rear seats and four doors offers the benefit of being able to lock stuff securely inside the cab if it’s being used by just one or two people without the need for a hardtop or loadbox cover.
The only trouble is that the heart can so easily over-rule the head. Once driven, that gloriously gruff, five cylinder 3.2 litre engine is seriously addictive. Maybe that’s why I can understand and sympathise with the American view – size matters!