Ford Ranger Platinum

Give the Ford Ranger chrome treatment, a silky smooth V6 engine and a comprehensive offroading package and you get the Ranger Platinum, the most premium offering within the Ranger family, bar the Raptor. While the Platinum option remains unavailable in South Africa, Oliver Keohane of CAR magazine got behind the wheel to drive it in the icy mountains of Queenstown, New Zealand.

- Oliver Keohane

We are driving arguably the most intentional luxury offering within the Ford Ranger family. Yes, the Ranger Raptor still sits in a league of its own, and while it may possess similar elements to the Platinum, with equally high-grade materials, the Raptor is still a very sporty, niche off-roading vehicle in terms of look and feel. The Platinum, on the other hand, caters specifically to the luxury bakkie market. I mean, when have you seen this sort of chrome treatment on a Ranger before?

WHY IS THE RANGER PLATINUM SIGNIFICANT? 

The Ranger Platinum cements itself as Ford’s ultimate luxury bakkie, and in doing so, firmly establishes another category and market for the manufacturer within its already extensive Ranger line-up.

The pecking order traditionally has been the 3.0L twin-turbo V6 Ranger Raptor, just below that the Ranger Wildtrak (with either a 3.0-litre V6 or 2.0-litre Bi-Turbo engine option) and then the Ranger XLT 4X4 – the highest spec of the double-cab Ranger options.

Then Ford confirmed the release of the Wildtrak X, which comes to South Africa in the next few months. Priced at over R1 million and retaining the 2.0-litre Bi-Turbo engine, but kitted with a host of specific factory-standard off-roading modifications and technology, the Wildtrak X marked the introduction of a double-cab for the bakkie buyer looking for premium off-roading-and-overlanding capability, straight off the showroom floor. My impression is that the Ranger Platinum is the luxury sibling to the Wildrak X. The Platinum sacrifices very little in terms of off-road prowess, but what it does is to offer buyers the option of SUV-type luxury without all the Raptor and Wildtrak extras that make those bakkies unique to off-roading.