Ford Ranger review

Ford Ranger 2.2ltr Limited

Although a proper workhorse, the Ranger, like rest of the pickups these days, has many car-like luxuries, and is as great at carrying and towing heavy loads as it is taking the family on long adventures - or the school run.

What’s odd, is that until the Ranger arrived at Muddy Towers I hadn’t actually noticed how many of them there are knocking around my neck of the woods. Sure, there are plenty of Hiluxes, and even more L200s, but every other pick up I saw during our week was a Ranger!

This really shouldn’t surprise me as it's recently achieved 2019 Pick-Up of the Year in What Car? magazine, and, due to its competitive price and 6 different models, it’s the 4x4 of choice for many enthusiasts and companies alike.

On the Road There’s no doubt that the Ranger is a big truck, it has a lot of presence, but on twisty roads it didn’t wallow around as much as I expected it to, it handled itself quite well. Of course, it’s never going to be nimble, but it has a good

turning circle and over potholed roads it performed better than expected, especially considering it was unladen.

During our week with the Ranger, as you can see by the photos, it was very wet and white, and, remarkably, only when pushed hard did I force the traction control to kick in. The 6-speed auto gearbox found all the right gears in a smooth fashion with only a slight delay when you push your right foot to the floor.

Although a bit clattery at times, the 2.2ltr diesel engine pushed it along quite nicely. I initially wanted the 3.2ltr, obviously (the bigger the better, right?), but when I took a peek at the specs I had second thoughts.

You see the 2.2ltr has 160bhp compared to the 3.2’s 200bhp, but that only equates to around a second quicker to 60mph, or 2 seconds if we’re talking autos. I guess if you’re towing and carrying heavy stuff on a daily basis then the 3.2ltr makes more sense, otherwise the 2.2ltr is more than adequate for most people.

Off road As I’ve mentioned, throughout the test, the North West of England was caught up in a blizzard, so testing was limited to a few easy lanes that weren’t blocked. My confidence quickly grew as traction was found pretty much wherever I pointed the wheels, the only limitation was the grip offered by the tyres. That said, it put me in a false sense of security as jumping out of the Ranger to take photos nearly caused me to fall on my backside due to being on snow covered ice.

The Ranger has a simple system with a dial next to the gearstick with 2H, 4H and 4L, and the option of a rear locker which is a £300 + VAT option and a no-brainer, even though without it it performed really well on the snow covered inclines and declines.

One point I feel I should mention is that with the previous pick ups, the Fullback and D-Max, they took what seemed like an eternity to change from 2 to 4 wheel drive with their little icons flashing on the dash. The Ford on the other hand took mere seconds, and that includes changing into low box that seemed to flummox others.

Interior Overall the interior of the Limited is a nice place to be, with large comfy seats to the chunky steering wheel that made it feel man-sized! It didn’t come with a sat-nav though, which isn’t a huge problem as most people I know have a mapping system on their phones. Still, it would’ve been nice, though it did come with cruise control, a speed limiter and a reversing camera, which was nice.

Jump in the back seats and again you are greeted with plenty of space, even if you’re a 6-footer who’s sat behind another 6-footer.

The only irritating part for me was the figuring out the ventilation system, part of which is on the dash under the monitor, which is difficult to read, and the rest is on the monitor. Although it took an age to heat up, once up to speed it worked well, but it isn’t my favourite system.

Other than that the dash layout is clear and easy to read with good visibility all round, especially over the huge bonnet.

Engines ‘n’ transmissions As I’ve mentioned, this is the 2.2ltr with the 6-speed auto which throughout the week was averaging between 26 and 29mpg, this was green-laning, commuting and the odd motorway run, and with the exception of the latter, was in 4x4 high a lot of the time due to the amount of snow we had.

With the Ranger you have an option of either a 6-speed manual or automatic gearbox. 2.2ltr Manual 160bhp - 40.4mpg combined - 109mph - 0-60mph in 11.8 seconds - C02=184 g/km

2.2ltr Automatic 160bhp - 36.2mpg combined - 109mph - 0-60mph in 12.8 seconds - C02=207 g/km

3.2ltr Manual 200bhp - 33.6mpg combined - 109mph - 0-60mph in 10.9 seconds - C02=221 g/km

3.2ltr Automatic 200bhp - 32.1mpg combined - 109mph - 0-60mph in 10.6 seconds - C02=231 g/km

Conclusion Sadly, during our week together I didn’t get to go on any mad adventures, instead we used it like any normal family 4x4, shopping, driving the the vets, work and so on during which it performed really well.

There was something about the Ranger that I can’t quite put my finger on that made it feel solid and strong. It could have been the big seats, chunky steering wheel and spacious interior or its tight steering and confident road handling - I don’t know, but after a week with it I understand why there’s so many of them knocking around!