The updated Ford Ranger isn’t quite all-new, but it’s mighty close.
Its powertrain line-up is dotted with fresh engines, the T6 platform has been chopped and changed, and the cabin is almost unrecognisable.
The scale of the update can’t be underestimated, with the amount of work Ford’s engineers have done putting each of the Ranger’s key rivals on notice. This certainly is not a simple facelift.
Ford New Zealand held the new Ranger’s launch in Hawke’s Bay, giving us a chance to sample the long array of tweaks on a series of gravel and paved roads.
The hour-and-a-bit drive, which included trails through private land, a few logging tracks, and some puddles created by recent rain, was actually quite mild.
But it was also typical of the kinds of roads Ranger drivers traverse regularly.
Some of the most important trim levels within the Ranger line-up that we sampled included the XLT with its updated 2.0-litre biturbo diesel, the mid-level Sport 3.0-litre V6, and the flagship Wildtrak in both 2.0 and 3.0 trim.
There was also a single-turbo 2.0-litre XL.
The Ranger line-up starts at $46,990 for the XL single-cab two-wheel drive and extends to $80,490 for the Wildtrak V6 and $89,990 for the Raptor.
Somewhere in the middle, the four-wheel drive XLT, Sport V6, and Wildtrak 2.0 we drove are priced from $66,990, $75,490, and $75,490, respectively. None of these prices includes Clean Car levies, which can be up to $5175 on some models.
The powertrains are the tip of the Ranger’s change iceberg. The 154kW/500Nm 2.0-litre biturbo makes 3kW less power than it used to, but feels more refined and smoother, thanks to several noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) tweaks, more robust pistons and a new oil filtration system. The V6, meanwhile, is a 184kW/600Nm torque behemoth.
One of the biggest mechanical changes to the Ranger is its footprint. Ford has pulled the front wheels 50mm forwards, with each wheel pulled 50mm outwards too.
Ford says these changes make the Ranger feel more planted on the road and improve its approach and departure angles off-road.
On top of getting a bigger footprint, the Ranger’s T6.2 underpinnings also sport a new frame, transfer case, and suspension package.
On the road, the Ranger feels more mechanically complete than ever. Its ability to soak up bumps, to articulate with aplomb, and find grip where you’d maybe struggle in some of its peers, was exemplary on the roads we saw.
Admittedly it remains to be seen how it would perform on a tougher trail, or on more urban roads.
What we can say definitively is that the Ranger’s key powertrain pair, the 2.0 and the 3.0, are exceptional.
This is no surprise in the case of the former, which we’ve gotten familiar with since its introduction in 2018.
The changes Ford has made to the powertrain aren’t transformative, but they are noticeable. It’s measurably quieter than it used to be, while also feeling more linear and smooth in the way it navigates to redline. The V6 is the real star. Ford fans wanted a powertrain with more oomph but the V6’s real win is its versatility.
Percolating at 50km/h, it could easily be mistaken for the 2.0. If you need thrust in a hurry, peak torque arrives early at 1750 to 2200rpm. It does everything well.
We think this will be a real selling point for people shopping for a ute for its towing capability. Not that we or Ford really need to convince consumers on the V6’s virtues.
In spite of diesel prices skyrocketing, V6 variants and Raptors make up more than half of the 5000-pluys Ranger orders Ford has processed so far.
Beyond the ride quality and engines, the Ranger’s driving experience has been improved by adding more drive modes (Eco and Tow modes are now available in higher trims), and by the nameplate’s legion of new technologies.
The Ranger’s equipment list, if fully explored, could fill a paperback novel. So, we’ll attempt to corner the major aspects.
Most stem from or are controlled by the Ranger’s new tablet touchscreen Sync4 interface. It comes in the form of a 10.1-inch screen in the XL and XLT and a 12.1-inch screen in the Sport and above. A full-size digital cluster is available.
The amount of tech features is near bottomless. There’s a one-touch offroad button that brings up a forward facing camera.
The driver can lock the rear diff and set up hill descent (which, for the first time, works in reverse as well as in drive).
For people who tow often, it gets an integrated trailer brake controller, BLIS (blind-spot monitoring software that can account for your specific trailer and warn you when vehicles are next to you), and trailer light check.
Overlanders will enjoy the puddle lights and cargo bed lighting designed to help loading and unloading at night and controllable via the FordPass app.
There’s the popular addition of a box step on the corners of the Ranger’s rear bumper, which makes fetching items from the bed easy.
And the new cameras (the Wildtrak adds a 360-degree one) are the clearest in class.
The safety spec list is long, including adaptive cruise control that slows the ute to a complete stop, lane centring, road edge detection, and two new airbags – a passenger knee module and the all-important far-side airbag that inflates between the driver and front passenger.
The latter should ensure a five-star ANCAP safety rating for the Ranger later this year.
These elements come wrapped in a cabin that lifts the Ranger into a pseudo-upmarket realm that no other double-cab can lay claim to.
It looks and feels like it could be a competitor for the much pricier and tech-laden Chevrolet Silverado and RAM 1500 segment, only it’s smaller.
On the topic of size, the Ranger’s second-row facilities are one of the few areas where the new model doesn’t feel like it builds, with knee- and legroom at a premium.
Ford has applied plenty of thought to its use of soft-touch materials, which appear in all the places you’d expect (shifter, steering wheel) and in some places you wouldn’t (the tops of the door cards in XLT and above).
Many of these touches, like the softtouch door cards, the box step, the more capable engines, originated from interviews Ford staff held with customers around the world.
Ford says that during its Ranger testing it performed the equivalent of 1.25 million kilometres of customer driving and 625,000km off-road durability testing.
It conducted about 5000 interviews with Ranger owners and generated 1800 pages of field notes.
This is telling, not only in the sense of underlining how serious Ford is about the segment, but also in explaining just how complete the Ranger feels to those who might have written the model off as just another update.
The new Ranger feels like a paradigm shift, as the ute as we know it makes its last hurrah.
