Ford Ranger review

The Blue Oval’s market-leading pickup truck gets a major reworking, write Illya Verpraet and Murray Scullion

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You might think of a pickup truck as a purely utilitarian vehicle, a tool simply to haul hay bales, sheep and building materials - but it appears that for many UK buyers, the Ford Ranger is much more than that.

Take this for a stat: in the UK, 80% of Rangers of the previous generation were ordered in Wildtrak specthe bells-and-whistles one with nice alloy wheels, leather upholstery, soft-touch interior materials and all sorts of other car-like features.

It’s a trend that seems to have come from the US. The Ford F-150 has been the bestselling vehicle there for years, and quite obviously not all of them are farm trucks; a lot of them are lifestyle vehicles, suited to towing boats, transporting camping gear and the like.

WHAT'S IT LIKE?

The Ranger lineup is pretty extensive, including chassis-cab, single-cab and double-cab options. The 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel offers three power outputs and there's a diesel V6 too. The petrol V6 comes only in the Ford Ranger Raptor. If you want any of the more powerful engines, you need to go for a double-cab.

There's now also a plugin hybrid model with a 2.3-litre petrol four and a 75kW electric motor powered by a 11.8kWh (usable) battery. Ford reckons the PHEV can do everything a diesel can do, just with lower emissions and tax.

The Ranger has clearly turned to its big American cousin for its look, as evidenced by the bluffer, squarer front. Meanwhile, the wheel arches are more neatly incorporated as flares, and there's a shoulder line running down the sides.

The PHEV comes with Ford’s Pro Power system. This is essentially an electric generator with 2.3kW or 6.9kW of electrical output. This can power things like an angular grinder if you're a tradie, or can even be used to charge an EV, assuming you're not in a rush. Importantly, the 2.3-litre petrol engine can be used as a generator, so you don’t actually need charge in the battery to charge something external.