If there's one thing that Aussie tradies are spoiled for, it's choice.
With the number of big, ladder-framed light commercial utes on offer, it's difficult for any single truck to rise to the top. One truck has done it, however; bigger and bolder than ever before, the Ford Ranger's popularity has escalated to the point that it's stealing the thunder of the previously unassailable Toyota HiLux. The Ranger name has only been used in Australia since 2006, but that doesn't mean that Ford is new to the party. Ford Ranger is really just a new name for the Ford Courier, a nameplate that was used in Australia since 1979.
Available in a range of sizes and body styles and priced from $37,130 for the Ranger Xl 2.0 (4X2) up to $90,690 for the Ranger Raptor 3.0 (4X4), the Ranger can serve as anything from a small, 4x2 single cab to extra and dual cab 4x4 utes with a choice of diesel engines and pickup and cab chassis trays.
At a minimum all Ford Ranger's have halogen headlights, cloth seats, and manually adjustable seats.
Other standard features depend on the variant but start with basic equipment including a vertically oriented multimedia touchscreen, and manual air-conditioning, cloth seats.
The Ranger features list then improves to include sat-nav, dual-zone climate control, a leather-accented steering wheel and power-adjustable seats upholstered in leather, wireless charging, heated seats, ambient lighting, a 12.0-inch touchscreen and more audio speakers.
The Ford Ranger is available in a range of exterior paint choices including Frozen White, Blue Lightning, Iconic Silver, Cyber Orange, Agate Black, Carbonised Grey, Rapid Red or Chill Grey – but some are variant-specific.
The symptoms here point to a stuck flasher relay. This is the electrical component that not only powers the indicator lights, but makes them flash (and produces the steady clicking sound you hear when the indicators are on). The contacts in these units can become stuck at which point the lights can become stuck on.
Why does it still happen when the ignition is off? Because the flasher relay is powered up even when the ignition is not. That’s so you can have the emergency hazard-warning lights flashing even though the vehicle is locked and the keys in your pocket. A new flasher relay unit should fix it.
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There was a recall for a batch of manual-transmission Rangers built between 2015 and 2016 which had a poorly installed clip on the gearshift cable on the production line. Your car is from an earlier batch, but it’s not inconceivable that the problem is the same one.
The cable clip in question could allow the cable that operates the gear changes to make contact with the car’s driveshaft. At that point, gear-changing could become difficult or even impossible, which sounds pretty much like your symptoms. Check with a Ford dealer to see if your vehicle was covered by this recall.
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Some Ford Ranger owners have reported that the hoses that carry coolant to the engine’s EGR valve have failed, allowing coolant to escape. This is one of the more common ways for this engine to lose coolant.
The problem with no warning showing up on the dashboard has more to do with physics. The warning light is triggered by the temperature of the coolant it’s submerged in. If the engine loses enough coolant, the sensor is suddenly not contacting the hot water and it ceases to give a reading or, therefore, trigger a warning. This is not a Ford Ranger thing, but a common problem faced by car owners over many decades.
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There are several engine options available in the Ford Ranger, depending on which spec you choose: the 2.0-litre single-turbo diesel (125kW/405Nm), a 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel (154kW/500Nm), a plug-in hybrid with a 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine (138kW/411Nm), along with an electric motor (75kW) and an 11.8kWh battery pack, a 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel (184kW/600Nm) and a 3.0L V6 twin-turbo petrol for the Ranger Raptor (292kW/583Nm).
At a minimum the Ford Ranger gets cloth upholstery, while higher grades get leather accents.
The Ranger cabin has a well-designed layout with a neat look and feel across all grades.
The floor is carpet (vinyl flooring is optional), there are plenty of durable plastic surfaces throughout the cabin, and higher grades get soft-touch surfaces.
Seats are comfortable in the front, less so in the back, but materials look and feel good quality and there is room enough in that rear row for three teens, or two adults and a man-child.
The Ford Ranger is a single-cab (two seats), extra-cab or dual-cab ute. with five seats: two in the front and three in the back.
At a minimum, the Ranger has premium cloth seats, while there are leather-accented seats in higher grades.
Seats are either manually adjustable or, in higher grades, power-adjustable.
The Ford Ranger is available in a number of variants and body types that are fuelled by diesel and PULP and so official fuel consumption figures can range from 2.9L/100km on a combined cycle in the dual-cab PHEV through to 11.5L/100km in the Raptor which has a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine.
The Ranger has a 70-litre fuel tank or an 80-litre fuel tank, depending on the variant, so this ute's theoretical driving range starts from about 700km(in the petrol Raptor) through to almost 2500km in the PHEV variant, depending on the variant.
Ranger now comes with a box step for smaller-statured people reach things more easily in the tub.
Moving to the back, the tailgate retains its lift assist, and opens up to reveal a cargo area capable of taking a Euro palette for the first time. And there are now new box caps to help protect the fresh metalwork.
There are other innovations, such as a bedliner with moulded slots to help keep items in place, a 12V outlet, illumination under the box caps, load bearing aluminium side bars to secure items to, latching points on the box caps for accessories like canopies and cross bars, and external tie-down rails with sliding cleats for odd-shaped items.
Plus, there’s zone lighting available on higher-grade models, using the many LEDs around the vehicle for useful nighttime illumination operable remotely via the FordPass app.
Even the tailgate is a workbench, with two clamp pockets to secure project materials and a built-in ruler for convenient measuring.
Additionally, there’s a powered roller shutter for added security that's standard on Wildtrak and optional on other grades.
Finally, all Rangers offer a maximum towing capability of 3500kg. Payloads vary from 934kg to 1441kg, depending on model and grade.
The Ford Ranger is able to do the 0-100km/h sprint between 8.0 (in the twin-turbo petrol V6) and just under 10 seconds (in the four-cylinder variant), depending on the grade.