Opinion

Is the Ford Ranger Super Duty actually as good as you've heard? Let's take a look.

If you spend any time on the road you’ll see plenty of utes being used for work – but you also see just as many, if not more, vans being used as the conveyance of choice for couriers, tradies and the like.So which is actually better as a work vehicle: a ute or a van? It’s an age-old debate likely to generate more than a few raised voices.I’m ute-biased because I own a ute and use it for my other job(s), but I know plenty of people who are quite happy with their van.So, let’s tackle this touchy subject, shall we?Is the popularity of utes simply a result of hype? Are ute owners actually using entirely the wrong vehicle for work? Not at all.Vans and utes are close in terms of engine and transmission, power and torque outputs, the efficacy of driver-assist technology and even day-to-day useability.But the load space area – the business end of any work vehicle – is where the major difference lies.A ute’s tub or tray, as standard, is not closed-in so the extent of your packing is not limited by your vehicle’s roof-line as it is in a van. You can load beyond the top edge of a ute’s tub, and tall or awkwardly shaped loads aren’t a problem so long as they are safely secured.A ute also offers superior and more flexible load-carrying capabilities than a van.However, if a ute has no cover on its tub/tray, security from thieves and protection from the elements remain a serious issue. The good news is that there are OEM or aftermarket tub coverings available (hard or soft tonneau covers, roller shutters, aluminium lids etc) for utes, so that’s a potentially easily resolved issue.Or you can purchase an aftermarket canopy to be fixed to your ute tub, and some of those options are lockable. The problems is a canopy is not an engineered-at-vehicle-origin solution, so while it offers much better security, water- and dust-proofing than having no cover at all, it’s no match for a van’s factory built-in load space.And, besides, installing a cover on a ute’s tub – whether it’s a tonneau, roller shutter, canopy, or a bit of tarp over the top – defeats the purpose of owning an open-topped ute, because by doing so you’re robbing the ute tub of its load-carrying versatility.On the others side of the fence, vans have plenty of positives in their favour, even as standard.Take, for instance, the Ford Transit Custom Trail which I recently road-tested. Firstly, focusing on the cabin, the Trail can be optioned as a two-seater with hard-wearing plastic everywhere – ready for the messiness of work and life – as well as charge points (USB-A and -C) and storage (including a van-favourite dash-top slot for logbooks etc, outboard moulded cupholders and a nifty pop-out cupholder).Secondly, the load space includes access via a barn door at the rear and the Trail can be optioned up to have a sliding door on both sides.The cargo area is substantial – 3002mm long (to the bulkhead; 3450mm long if load-through hatch is used), 1392mm wide (between wheel arches) and 1425mm high (floor to roof). Easily big enough for work equipment or recreational gear. It can cope with four Euro pallets (1200mm x 800mm each) and it has a listed maximum load volume (with the bulkhead) of 6.8 cubic metres.Load height through the rear barn doors is 531-585mm, depending on how much weight (driver, passenger etc) is already onboard.The load space has a metal bulkhead (with window and load-through hatch), load area protection kit (full height walls and moulded floor), LED lights and eight tie-down loops.It has plenty of potential as a work and/or recreational vehicle with ample scope for modifications inside and out.Back to vans and utes in general, payloads in vans can range upwards of 1000kg, while payloads in utes (e.g. a single-cab) can be upwards of about 1000kg. (US pick-ups can manage more – with listed payloads of 1759kg and up – but in this yarn we’re focussing on mainstream utes.)But a van’s rear load space could be considered a distinct advantage – or at least a major point of difference – over a ute.A van can be big, for example the cargo space in a 2021 long-wheelbase Mercedes-Benz Vito 116 is 3061mm long, 1709mm wide, and 1391mm high; with 1265mm between the rear wheel-arches, so a 1165mm standard Australian pallet will slot in, no worries. Official cargo volume in the Vito is 6.6 square metres.Vans are built to carry loads and as such there is plenty of space in the rear, and amenities back there include tie-down points (with which to secure your load), lighting systems (halogen or LED), wood panelling on the interior walls and rear door, rubber or vinyl matting, or other grippy protective surface on the floor of the cargo area, and even power points.The load spaces in vans are ripe for customisation: maybe shelves for a tradie, or bedding and extra storage for an adventurous person or couple.And the rear load space may provide open access to the driver and front passengers(s), or it may be separated from the cabin of the van by a bulkhead with a built-in cargo barrier.Access to that fully secure load space may be via sliding doors on either side of the van or by using the rear door, which might be 180°-opening rear twin barn doors (with window), or a single lift-up tailgate, and either of those can be fully locked open so, importantly, a forklift can be used to place a heavier load in the cargo area.So while there’s no problem with permitted access, the load space is fully lockable, so theoretically secure, and the contents may be concealed.The cabins of utes and vans are similar in that they can be set up as mobile offices, with an immediate ease of use and comfort as priorities: think cloth seats, durable plastic surfaces and storage spaces aplenty including a lockable glovebox, dash-top slots (for log books, general paperwork etc) as well as door pockets and bottle-holder, a cup-holder at each end of the dash, and a centre console bin.But each type of vehicle has its own particular advantages, as well as exhibiting characteristics that may count against it when it comes to their potential as work vehicles.As mentioned, I’m well and truly in the ute camp but I know lots of people who wouldn’t swap their van for a ute as a work vehicle.To each their own… but to me utes still have the edge.

GWM’s top-spec ute, the Cannon XSR, is impressive.It’s packed with standard features for the price ($50,990 drive-away nationwide, at time of writing), is very capable off-road (it’s armed with a front and rear diff lock) and is not atrocious on-road.But, with new-age rivals like the BYD Shark 6 and the Ford Ranger PHEV variants setting the gold standard for refinement and performance in the ute market, does the Cannon represent the future of 4WDing – cheap(er) but not nasty – or is it spearheading a worrying trend of people falling for vehicles that initially seem pretty good but ultimately deliver a less-than-ideal driving experience?As hinted at above, there’s a lot to like about the Cannon, especially in XSR guise.For one, the line-up’s new 2.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine – 135kW and 480Nm – is tractable and well suited to the demands of 4WDing. That’s not to say the previous-gen Cannon’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine – 120kW and 400Nm – was no good, it’s just that bigger and more powerful is better this time around.It’s nowhere near as refined as the Shark 6 or Ranger PHEV, but it’s not terrible either.And then there’s its off-road capability. It seemingly can’t go wrong armed with high and low-range 4WD, twin lockers, off-road drive modes, a snorkel, underbody protection and all-terrain tyres (Cooper Discoverer AT3 265/65 R18).Ground clearance of 228mm (reasonable), wading depth of 700mm, and off-road angles of 30 degrees (approach), and 26 degrees (departure; rampover is not listed) don’t hurt its capabilities either.Off-roading is the one area in which the Cannon eclipses something like the Shark 6 and matches, if not bests, the Ford Ranger PHEV.There’s no doubting this ute’s efficacy as a 4WD – it is very good – however, there are some trade-offs (more about that soon).This Cannon ute is also packed with features including 18-inch alloy wheels, chrome sports bar, automatic LED headlights, spray-in tubliner, keyless entry, leather-accented upholstery, 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia system (with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), six-way power-adjustable driver seat, four-way power-adjustable front-passenger seat, ambient lighting, black sports bar, and matt black exterior trim.With a drive-away price of $50,990, the Cannon XSR is a new ute that represents solid value for money.But there are quirky aspects about the overall driving experience in the Cannon that leave questions lingering about the prospect of actually living with it over the long term.Concerns and criticisms have been raised over the years about driver-assist tech in Chinese-built vehicles. To the company’s credit, GWM seems to have addressed those issues, at least to some extent.The worst example of this: we were leaving a stretch of highway and driving down an off ramp when the auto emergency braking (AEB) fully engaged for no apparent reason. We went from 100km/h to a full stop in what felt like only a few metres but, of course, was about 40m or so. AEB was impressive in its application but there was no obstacle or hazard on or near the off ramp that required it. Nothing. We were supremely lucky no one had been tailgating us. The fact that this incident had even happened was far from ideal.Adaptive cruise control is haphazard in its application as it’s overly sensitive in gauging the distance between your vehicle and the one travelling in front, cutting speed when it doesn't have to.And changes in your vehicle’s speed – in response to vehicles in front, road signs (on or off the road on which you’re travelling), or other perceived threats (cyclists, parked cars, roadside shrubbery etc) – are abrupt and jarring (sometimes downright dangerous), rather than smooth and intuitive.Speaking of road signs, traffic sign recognition in the Cannon, as alluded to in the above paragraph, is regularly ‘off’ – suddenly cutting your speed in a school zone outside of school zone hours or reacting to a side street road sign, rather than the street on which you’re driving.While 4WDing, swapping between high and low-range, changing off-road modes, or switching diff locks on or off has been at times a clunky process, with the transition taking on a feeling not unlike shunting trains.Also, on one particularly hot day, the Cannon’s multimedia screen did not function at all for about five minutes after I started driving the ute. Mild inconvenience, sure, but more than annoying when a lot of the functions are operated via the screen.All of these driver-assist tech issues combine to deliver an off-kilter driving experience overall, one in which you’re never quite sure how the tech will be applied or react to real or perceived hazards.I’ve never had any such problems in the Shark 6 or Ranger PHEV.That’s not to say I don’t like the Cannon because I do. I think it’s a very capable off-roader, is a decent ute to live with day to day and, at face value at least, it seems like solid value for money (with plenty of standard features onboard), but the lingering tech issues threaten to ruin the whole Cannon experience for me.

Tesla is Australia’s most popular electric vehicle (EV) brand… but for how much longer?

Toyota, the usually unstoppable Japanese giant that has dominated Australia’s new-car market for eons, has shown a rare vulnerability, with sales falling across January as its new and hyped products fail to fire.It feels weird to write that, given how dominant a force Toyota is here. But January was a rare hard month for the brand — especially given it followed the launch of one of its most important models, the new HiLux — with sales plummeting more than 20 per cent.Toyota insists the results are a blip, exacerbated by the runout of the current RAV4 ahead of the new version's arrival next month and the new HiLux's incomplete range. Toyota said it has strong orders for both models on the books.But the question really has to be asked if the fact the two “all-new” models, which really aren’t all that all new, especially in the case of the HiLux, are playing a part, given the hyper competitiveness of Australia’s new-car market.Toyota’s iron grip on the number one position on the ute sales chart has already been relinquished, with the Ford Ranger now locked into that spot. But the Japanese giant’s ace up its sleeve was the RAV4 Hybrid, which rocketed up the charts even as the HiLux was falling.But January saw the RAV4 tumble, finishing the month in lowly 10th position, behind familiar faces like the Mazda CX-5, and relative newcomers like the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro and Haval Jolion.The new Toyota HiLux, which shares its platform, engine, transmission, tray and much of its body with the vehicle it replaces, is unlikely to scale the sales mountain again, with ute sales generally struggling and more and more entrants entering the fray.The LandCruiser Prado was down in January. The much-hyped Tundra is doing almost nothing. Conversely, the bZ4X is booming, and Camry, Corolla Cross and Yaris Cross are up, too.Still, the pressure is on the shoulders of the new RAV4, due in Australia in March. That means the brand could be in for another lean month in February before we get a clear picture of where the brand is in March.It’s never wise to bet against Toyota in Australia. From the early introduction to hybrids to its sometimes criticised “multi-pathway strategy” — in which the brand insisted diesel, petrol, hybrid and PHEV would be every bit as important as BEVs in Australia — Toyota’s crystal ball is clearer than most. But it’s also rare to see Toyota tumble, so the next eight weeks will be curious indeed.

Have you ever felt like things are spiralling out of control lately? That horrible feeling that you know something is wrong and people are standing idly by and allowing it to happen regardless?I have increasingly felt that way about new car safety, so much so I feel the time has come to draw a line in the sand.Let me be clear from the beginning — safety should be everyone’s top priority in the car industry. Whether it’s engineers, designers, salespeople and even us motoring writers - we should all be doing our best to ensure that you (the new car buyer) get the safest car possible.However, in recent years I have started to feel that new car safety has not only stopped improving consistently, but has actually begun to regress. Why? The over-reliance on advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and the seemingly inconsistent way it is applied to new vehicles and equally inconsistent ways cars with poor technology are applauded by third parties and hailed as superior.I am fortunate enough to drive dozens of new cars every year and increasingly the difference between good active safety systems and bad ones are becoming more and more apparent, frankly annoying and distracting.The systems I’m talking about are ones like ‘driver attention monitoring’, ‘speed limit recognition’, ‘active lane keeping assistance’ and similar. Good versions of these systems keep you alert, informed and safe. Bad versions of these systems are distracting to the point of dangerous.That’s because, unfortunately, for many brands adding these active safety systems became a box ticking exercise, simply having them was enough as they weren’t tested in the real world by safety authorities, even though brands were punished for not having them.As Peter Matkin, Chery’s Director of International Engineering for International Programs, told me last year, many of these systems are developed by third-party suppliers who are simply working to a theoretical range and aren’t practically applying it to real-world situations.“When we started with all of the ADAS work, we were effectively just meeting legislation,” Matkins conceded. “We told the suppliers, this is the legal requirement, we need to meet this. So from a supplier perspective, he doesn't care whether the car bounces between the lanes. He doesn't care. When I drive the car, I say, ‘this is shit, we're not selling this.’ So, you know, we now give a lot more targets now, to the supplier.”That’s a refreshingly honest answer from a car company engineer and it’s good to know that people like Matkin are working to ensure that systems actually work for customers on the road and not just on a piece of paper.Recently I drove a new vehicle that beeped incessantly, any time the speed limit changed or if I didn’t slow down fast enough, or even if I just looked away. Literally, on several occasions it beeped to warn me that I was ‘mildly distracted’ at which point I looked down to see what the beeping was about (in case it was something dangerous) only for the system to then beep again and tell me I was ‘moderately distracted’ — by the car’s own beeps! The end result of poorly calibrated ADAS is drivers will find a way to turn it off, which unfortunately tends to be required every time you start the car - which is a deliberate requirement from legislators that typically travel in the back seats, rather than the driver’s seat…What’s the difference between a car that doesn’t have active lane keeping and one that does, but has such a bad system the driver turns it off every time they start the car? Both cars operate the majority of the time without the system, so a sub-standard system is effectively useless. ANCAP, to its credit, has updated its testing protocols for 2026 to try and address some of these issues. Its testing will now try and provide a more detailed analysis of how the various active safety systems work and encourage more seamless operation.Because, make no mistake, properly calibrated ADAS can work and when it does it’s brilliant. Some brands are clearly spending more time on these systems than others, and the net result is a safer experience for the driver without any of the irritating distraction of endless beeps and warnings.Unfortunately, the recent rush to ensure all these systems were installed regardless of functionality means there will be a generation of dangerous distracting cars on our roads for the foreseeable future.

China’s MG is in dire need of reversing its slowing sales in Australia and although peak ute may have already passed, its savour deserves to be its new dual-cab ute.Thankfully the MG U9 already has a lot going for it. It’s the Chinese carmaker’s first dual-cab ute in Australia, although it does share its underpinnings with the LDV Terron 9, which is another brand from Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor.Compared to the Terron 9, the U9 is a much more premium-looking proposition but its price tag doesn’t reflect this.The entry-level Explore grade starts at $52,990 drive-away, and extends to $60,990 drive-away for the fully loaded Explore Pro. This will barely get you a mid-spec HiLux or Ranger.It features a humongous grille and has a menacing presence that’ll make a HiLux or Ranger look small in comparison.You’re almost guaranteed to get people craning their necks to get a look at what this ute is. It's certainly one way to get your brand back out on the forefront.The U9 is also filled to the gills with high-end tech and finishes that ooze flash, which sets it above your everyday dual-cab ute. Depending on the trim there is a panoramic glass sunroof, large digital screens, digital rear-view mirror, plush leather seats with front-seat heating and ventilation, and a suede-like headliner.This is before mentioning the wild electric-folding mid-gate which extends the tub into the cabin and allows you to carry items up to 2.4-metres long. It’s an extremely unique offering in the dual-cab ute market, though it does come at a hefty cost – $5490 extra, and it's only available on the top-spec U9 Explore Pro.As standard however is rear multi-link suspension set-up which is much more passenger comfort-oriented than the typical leaf sprung ute. As a result payload is slightly down over other dual-cab utes.Despite the fluff, it’s worth calling out the U9 still stacks up where it counts most. It has a four-wheel drive system with a low-range transfer case and, depending on the trim level, front and rear diff locks. It also has a segment-meeting 3500kg braked towing capacity.However, like virtually every car, the MG U9 isn’t perfect. Although it’s only marginally larger than regular dual-cab utes, it certainly feels much bigger from behind the wheel, especially when doing tight manoeuvres in carparks or U-turns.Additionally, the 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine has healthy outputs on paper of 160kW and 520Nm, but it feels lethargic in reality and needs to be pushed to keep up with traffic. It doesn’t help that the car defaults back to ‘Eco’ mode every time it’s switched on.Even with this, I still achieved a rather disappointing average fuel consumption of 11.0L/100km during my urban driving testing. That’s not great, especially when you can get much less in the similarly-priced BYD Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute.Even with these flaws, the U9 is a more deserving and a much better flagship for the MG brand, especially from an Australian perspective given how popular utes are still, than the niche Cyberster electric convertible.We’ll have to wait and see whether the Australian public latches onto the idea of the U9 but for now it’s a great step in the right direction of localising and understanding what a specific market needs and wants.

The way a car looks can make or break a model, and recently we’ve seen cars such as the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Tasman receive so much criticism because of their styling that the brands appear to be working on a quick redesign for them. So will the new-look Tasman and Santa Fe translate into better sales? We’ll find out soon, once we see the updated cars and then the sales figures, but in the meantime here are our top 5 car re-designs from the past five years. And by redesign we don’t mean the change in styling, which comes with a new-generation of a car, but the facelifts and makeovers that happened in between.  5. 2025 Nissan QashqaiMost brands update their models over the course of about seven years between all-new generations. Normally these involve tweaks to headlights or taillights and are often cosmetic changes that are easy to fit onto the existing design. So it’s always impressive when we see a striking new look come along such as with the Nissan Qashqai in 2025.The Qashqai received a complete ‘face transplant’ giving it an entirely new look. The smaller plunging grille it had worn for years had been replaced by a gloss black textured one-piece grille stretching the width of the car. 4. 2025 Isuzu MU-XIsuzu’s seven-seater MU-X SUV has spent most of its life living in the shadow of the D-Max ute it’s based on, but a revamp in 2025 saw it lose its goofy grille and gain a menacing new look.Isuzu said the mid-life update came after customer feedback and along with the redesigned face the MU-X also gained a host of new features and safety tech.Isuzu said the restyling incorporated “aeronautical design cues to inject strength and dynamism” while improving aerodynamics.3. 2026 Subaru SolterraSubaru’s Solterra EV was massively overhauled just two years after its launch in 2023 due to strong criticism of its range, power, price and styling. The Solterra returned new and improved in 2025 with a redesign that made the SUV unrecognisable from the front.For Australia the change came even more rapidly, with the Solterra launching here in early 2024 and the updated version having just arrived in early 2026.The new face was just the tip of the huge changes that had taken place, with a larger battery installed for increased driving range and more powerful motors added. Subaru also dropped the price by up to $7000.2. 2021 Lexus ISThe Lexus IS hasn’t been sold in Australia since 2021 but it was in that year that the mid-sized sporty sedan launched locally with a redesign so big that this looked like a new-generation and not just an update.  More aggressive, but more refined the new IS had a wider body, a bigger grille, new headlights and LED running lights and new taillights.1. 2023 Hyundai SonataThe 2023 Hyundai Sonata was hit with a stunning makeover. The facelift took a fairly dull-looking sedan and turned it into a desirable, sleek and modern four door.A new frontal design incorporating a thin LED strip skirting the bonnet edge, large lower grille and a beautifully treated tailgate with restyled taillights completed an exterior design which looked more new-gen than makeover.The updated Sonata’s cabin also received an overhaul with new tech and features.

Mazda has been on a rapid expansion in recent years, introducing so many new large SUVs it can be hard to keep up with them all.The CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90 form a comprehensive line-up of family-sized SUVs, and will be joined in 2026 by the new CX-5. But as we looked at what was missing from some of Australia’s favourite brands, it quickly became obvious what needs attention with Mazda.At the other end of the size spectrum, the pint-sized Mazda2 and CX-3 are still selling in reasonable volume (the CX-3 is actually the most popular model in its segment), but both suffered double-digit sales declines in 2025.Both are also getting old and there is no public plan to replace them anytime soon. While Mazda may very well be working on replacements, if they aren’t it would leave a huge gap in the brand’s line-up.While Mazda was one of the first brands to embrace the concept of ‘semi-premium’ and shift from a model of selling purely on volume and instead focus on profitability, even if it meant fewer sales, giving up this part of the market would be a risky move.There is no question the city car market is in terminal decline, with the Mazda2 only up against the MG3 and Suzuki Swift these days, but there is still enough volume in the compact SUV market to make a CX-3 replacement viable.More importantly, losing either or both of these models would immediately raise the cost of entry to the Mazda brand, which would lock out many first-time new-car buyers. Instead they will go and buy something else, perhaps an MG3, Chery Tiggo 4 Pro or BYD Atto 1 and get integrated into those brands’ systems — just like countless Mazda2 and CX-3 customers have no doubt done in recent years. The challenge for brands like Mazda in the current market situation is it is incredibly difficult to compete with the new wave of Chinese brands on price, especially at the lower end of the market. This means a generation of buyers will get familiar with these brands and could end up staying for years to come if they have a good experience.Mazda should be well aware of that, because that’s the exact tactic that the Japanese brands used in the 1980s and ‘90s, and it’s what the South Korean brands did in the 2000s. Looking at the sales chart it’s dominated by Japanese and Korean brands, but nothing is static in this market so if Mazda abandons the small car/SUV space, it may not hurt in the short-term, but could have big consequences in the long-term.

If there is one word to describe the Australian car industry in 2026, it’s diversity.