Fiat Scudo vs Ford Ranger

What's the difference?

About a decade has passed since the Fiat Scudo mid-size (2.5-3.5 tonne GVM) van was last sold in Australia, when it shared its underpinnings with the Peugeot Expert before Fiat-Chrysler and PSA (Peugeot-Citroën) merged to become the giant Stellantis group in 2021.

In 2026 the Scudo (which means ‘shield’ in Italian) has returned under the Fiat Professional Australia banner as the Series 3 or third-generation, again sharing its underpinnings and core styling with the Peugeot Expert but now based on the latest Stellantis 'EMP2' platform.

We recently spent a working week aboard Fiat’s new commercial offering to see how it measures up from a tradie’s perspective in this popular van segment.

Ford has given its Ranger ute range a mild facelift. And mild is the word. If you look closely, you might notice some small visual changes, but the real news is under the bonnet where a new entry-level powerplant lives.

And however you look at it, this new engine that addresses the ownership issues experienced by some Ranger buyers since the bi-turbo diesel engine was released back in 2018, was probably overdue.

But the new powerplant comes at a cost; in terms of power and torque, even though the vital towing statistics remain for the Ranger.

The other changes that come with this facelift include some new tech, and the availability of the V6 turbo-diesel (which is unchanged) across the entire Ranger 4X4 dual-cab line-up.

For this review, we’ve concentrated on the new engine as being the major point of difference, and we’ve driven it the base-version XL trim specification. That means this is potentially the lightest variant, and heavier specifications might blunt the performance a little. But overall, this is representative of the new powertrain and represents the biggest point of difference in what is otherwise a very minor facelift.