Ford Ranger FX4 Max review 2021: Like a Raptor, but it can tow & lug a load

CarExpert

Love the Ford Ranger Raptor, but need to tow up to 3500kg and load just under 1000kg of payload? Maybe the 2021 Ford Ranger FX4 Max is for you! It has some of the suspension components from the Ranger Raptor, plus a meaty set of all-terrain tyres. Paul Maric tests it out to see if it's any good!  Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior: 01:03 Interior: 06:18 Infotainment: 07:44 Safety Tech: 09:01 Practicality: 10:10 On-road: 13:09 Off-road: 17:50 Verdict: 20:30  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #ford #ranger #review #fx4max

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.

00:00 So are you someone who works Monday to Friday

00:04 and then on weekends needs to do jumps

00:06 and extreme off-roading,

00:07 and you want one car to do everything?

00:10 Well, Ford is hoping that this is it.

00:12 It's called the Ford Ranger FX4 Max.

00:15 It has some of the suspension components from a Raptor,

00:18 but it also has the ability to load haul and tow,

00:21 which the Ranger Raptor kind of doesn't.

00:23 So this is priced at just under $67,000.

00:27 They're really getting expensive.

00:29 But if this is too much for you,

00:30 the entire Ranger range begins at just under 30 grand

00:34 and caps off at around $77,000

00:37 for the big boy Ranger Raptor.

00:39 This competes with things like the Toyota Hilux,

00:42 Rugged X, and also the Nissan Navara Warrior.

00:46 They all sound tough, don't they?

00:47 Today, we're gonna do a detailed review of this car.

00:50 If you wanna skip ahead to other parts of this review,

00:52 you can use the time codes up on the screen there,

00:54 or if you're on YouTube,

00:56 just scroll down and use the chapters below.

00:58 And if you haven't done so already,

00:59 press subscribe and press the bell icon,

01:00 and we will bring you more of these reviews.

01:03 Okay, let's talk exterior,

01:05 because you want your dual cab ute/backy/pickup truck/

01:09 whatever you wanna call it, to turn heads.

01:11 And I think this does.

01:12 It's available in seven exterior colors,

01:15 and all but white is an extra $650.

01:18 You can also get this sticker pack for an extra $750.

01:22 Before we go anywhere,

01:22 can you let me know in the comments section below,

01:24 is this the gaudiest thing you've ever seen,

01:27 or do you think it works?

01:29 I'm not convinced.

01:30 I don't think I'd be getting my FX4 Max with these stickers.

01:32 I just think it looks a little bit, yeah, yuck.

01:35 Anyway, what is the difference between the FX4 Max

01:38 and the rest of the range?

01:39 Well, you've got this big old grill here

01:41 with Ford across the front,

01:43 just in case anybody forgot what you were actually driving.

01:46 There are some suspension changes and ride height changes

01:48 that I'll run through in just a second.

01:50 But just in terms of design,

01:52 the Ranger has been around for ages now,

01:54 and Ford has done incremental design updates on this.

01:57 But it's kind of a concept of,

01:59 if it isn't broken, don't fix it.

02:00 And that's the strategy they've got here.

02:02 There is a brand new Ranger coming in a year or two,

02:05 and you can actually read more about that up here.

02:07 Well, watch a video that we shot

02:09 that shows you what that will look like.

02:10 But I think for the moment,

02:11 this actually still looks really impressive.

02:13 So I like this color as well.

02:15 It's kind of like a Nardo gray, but Ford's version of it.

02:17 So headlights, you have LED headlights.

02:20 You have a daytime running light in there as well,

02:23 and then fog lights down the bottom.

02:25 And then let's whip around to the side,

02:26 and I'll run you through some of these changes.

02:28 Right, so let's start with the wheels and the tire.

02:31 So the wheel looks really cool.

02:32 It's like a graphite style design.

02:34 It really suits this tire package.

02:36 The tire's gonna look familiar

02:37 because it's very similar to the tire

02:39 used on the Ranger Raptor.

02:40 It's a BFGoodrich KO2, which is an all-terrain tire.

02:43 It's 265 millimeters wide,

02:46 and it is on a 17-inch alloy wheel.

02:48 You'll notice here with this all-terrain tire,

02:50 it is chunky.

02:51 So if you're gonna be doing off-road driving,

02:53 you need a tire like this,

02:54 'cause it will get you through mud

02:55 and things that will really just chock up

02:57 a regular highway-terrain tire

02:59 and get you stuck in no time.

03:00 So it's good that it comes with this as standard.

03:03 You've got wheel arches over here

03:05 that make it look a little bit wider,

03:06 and that's because it is wider.

03:07 The track is 26 millimeters wider than an XLT.

03:10 It also has a 20-millimeter lift over and above the XLT,

03:14 which makes it 31 millimeters taller.

03:16 And you can actually see that

03:17 when you look at this from front on.

03:18 It looks like it's sitting up,

03:20 you know, like it's about to jump something.

03:22 And when you get in as well,

03:22 you really have to use the sidesteps to climb into the car.

03:25 So, climbing to the ute,

03:27 I always keep calling it the car.

03:28 So yeah, it is definitely a big difference

03:31 above and beyond the XLT.

03:32 It's not just cosmetic changes.

03:34 And that applies to the suspension as well.

03:35 And I'll run you through that

03:36 when we get to the back of our ute.

03:38 You've got bi-turbo here,

03:40 because this is only available

03:41 with the two-liter bi-turbo four-cylinder engine.

03:44 Indicator built into the wing mirror there.

03:46 Now, these sidesteps are unique.

03:48 So you can see a slider rail along the side here,

03:51 but these steps are magnesium.

03:54 So similar to the Ranger Raptor, just a different design.

03:57 So I use those when I get in and out,

03:59 because I don't know, I'm too old to put myself in.

04:03 Privacy glass there as well.

04:06 You get this sports bar.

04:07 It's like a matte black.

04:09 But let's have a look at the rear suspension.

04:10 So come over here, Igor.

04:11 You can still see the leaf spring nestled into there.

04:15 So that is a similarity with the rest of the Ranger range.

04:18 But let me run you through the actual differences

04:20 with the FX4 Max.

04:21 So it features monotube Fox Racing shock absorbers

04:25 at both ends,

04:26 which is a remote reservoir set up at the rear.

04:28 But you also get retuned coil springs at the front

04:30 and staggered tuning at the rear

04:32 to help this handle a bigger load.

04:35 Ford's also retuned the leaf spring rear end.

04:37 So there's a new front stabilizer bar,

04:39 a new front jounce dampers, and revised steering knuckles.

04:42 But this is where the difference is

04:45 between the Ranger Raptor and this.

04:47 So Ranger Raptor gets rear disc brakes.

04:49 It actually sits on a slightly modified T6 platform.

04:52 So yeah, it gets rear disc brakes.

04:54 You get suspension at the rear that's not leaf springs.

04:57 So it is quite a different package

04:58 and also sits wider as well.

05:00 So don't buy this thinking that you're getting

05:02 a cheap version of the Ranger Raptor,

05:04 because yes, it does have some of those

05:06 suspension components,

05:07 but ultimately you have leaf springs

05:10 and a track that isn't as wide.

05:12 So it isn't going to perform exactly

05:14 like a Ranger Raptor does.

05:15 So it is worth keeping that in mind.

05:17 Come around to the rear.

05:18 So despite being LED at the front,

05:20 you still have incandescent lamps at the back here.

05:23 That sticker package continues along the back here.

05:26 You get big Ranger writing there as well.

05:28 You've got a step so that you can climb into the tray.

05:30 The other difference here is Ranger Raptor

05:32 has two and a half tons of towing capacity.

05:34 This retains the three and a half ton towing capacity.

05:36 So that's one of the big advantages.

05:38 Let's have a look inside the tray.

05:40 So you have that torsion bar along the side there

05:43 to make closing this easier.

05:44 Got a couple of cup holders up the top.

05:46 And in terms of other tray features,

05:48 you have a 12 volt outlet just in here.

05:51 In terms of dimensions,

05:52 you have a load length of 1549 millimeters,

05:55 a load width of 1560,

05:57 a width between the wheel arches of 1139 millimeters,

06:00 and finally a payload of just under one ton.

06:03 And that's what makes this, again,

06:05 better than the Ranger Raptor,

06:06 because a Ranger Raptor,

06:07 you cannot carry a ton in the rear.

06:09 So these are the things that add up to equate this

06:12 as the weekend warrior, but the weekday work truck,

06:15 even though most people won't use it as a work truck.

06:18 We are inside the FX4 Max.

06:20 Such a cool name, isn't it?

06:22 Okay, let's start with the key.

06:23 Here it is here.

06:24 You have unlock, lock,

06:26 and then if you spin that around,

06:27 you have the Ford logo.

06:29 This is a proximity sensing key.

06:31 So you just leave that in your pocket,

06:32 grab the door handle to unlock the car.

06:34 And then finally inside, you have a stop start button.

06:37 In terms of styling,

06:38 not a great deal has changed here in the Ranger,

06:40 so it all looks very familiar,

06:41 but this may look new to you.

06:43 There are some auxiliary switches here.

06:46 These actually run off a 250 amp alternator.

06:49 So you can hook up different bits to each of these.

06:52 You can have lights,

06:53 you can have whatever you want attached to them,

06:55 and then this will activate and deactivate them.

06:57 So pretty cool.

06:58 I haven't seen that before in other brands of utes

07:01 as standard.

07:02 So I like that they're thinking outside of the box.

07:05 The rest of the materials around here are pretty scratchy.

07:08 There's nothing really soft,

07:10 and it's all just quite black.

07:11 There's not a great deal of color differentiation.

07:14 So it's a little bit bland to look at,

07:16 but for the most part, it's okay.

07:18 In terms of the stuff that you are actually in contact with,

07:20 the touch points, they are fairly soft.

07:24 How soft are they?

07:24 Well, we have our durometer.

07:26 We've tested all the main surfaces in this car.

07:28 If you want to see how this car has compared

07:30 to other cars we've tested before,

07:31 scroll down and have a look in the description below.

07:34 Now in terms of build quality,

07:35 (car clunking)

07:36 it's okay, but not amazing.

07:38 It's sort of a little bit wonky,

07:40 and the rest of this is okay though.

07:42 It's just this section that's a little loose.

07:44 Okay, let's talk about infotainment.

07:47 So the FX4 Max comes with an eight inch infotainment screen.

07:51 It's a color touchscreen.

07:52 We have a detailed review of this infotainment system

07:55 that we recorded previously.

07:57 You can click up here to watch that,

07:58 but today I'll run you through the basics of it,

08:01 and we'll start with smartphone mirroring.

08:02 So it comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

08:04 It's a wired system,

08:05 so you'll need a cable connected the entire time.

08:08 Let's have a look at Android Auto to start with.

08:10 Full screen integration, it's nice and quick as well,

08:12 so it moves around with a lot of ease.

08:16 Let's have a look at Apple CarPlay.

08:18 There it is there, another full screen integration.

08:20 That is really nice and quick and sharp as well.

08:24 Now, in terms of audio,

08:27 you have AM, FM, DAB plus digital radio,

08:31 and that all comes through a six speaker sound system.

08:35 Then in terms of the other features you have,

08:36 we'll jump into here.

08:37 You have FordPass Connect.

08:39 This is the ability for you to pair with your phone

08:41 so that you can access the car remotely.

08:43 Uses an embedded SIM

08:44 so that you're able to communicate with the car.

08:46 You're able to start the car to run the climate controls

08:49 and see the status of the car as well,

08:50 which is pretty clever.

08:51 You have Wi-Fi built in as well.

08:54 So it is a pretty decent system.

08:56 It's easy to use,

08:57 and this is one of the better infotainment systems

09:00 in this segment.

09:01 Now, in terms of safety,

09:02 you have autonomous emergency braking

09:03 with pedestrian detection.

09:05 You have a lane departure warning

09:06 and a lane keeping assistant.

09:08 So it will pull at the wheel slightly

09:10 to keep your vehicle in its lane.

09:12 There's also radar cruise control

09:14 and semi-autonomous parking that's available

09:16 as part of an optional tech package.

09:18 That's gonna set you back an additional $800,

09:20 but there is no blind spot monitoring,

09:22 which I find really strange

09:24 on one of the more top spec utes in this segment.

09:27 And on the parking front,

09:28 you have front and rear parking sensors.

09:30 Let's have a look at the reverse view camera

09:32 and see what the quality is like.

09:33 Okay, the quality is actually pretty good.

09:35 You can see the guidelines there.

09:36 You have a dotted line as well

09:38 to guide you into your tow bar.

09:39 The front and rear parking sensors are on display.

09:41 Then you have a zoom button as well

09:43 to help you when you do get closer

09:45 to attaching the trailer.

09:46 Now, before we move on,

09:47 I've got a question for you.

09:48 And you know, some of you are guilty of this.

09:50 Why have you bought a dual cab ute?

09:52 I know a lot of people that watch our reviews

09:54 have already bought one of these.

09:55 I'm just keen to understand,

09:56 are you a tradie?

09:57 Are you a trades person that goes

09:59 and does a day job somewhere,

10:01 tows a trailer,

10:01 or do you just like the thought

10:03 of having a family vehicle

10:04 that has a tray on the back?

10:06 Let me know in the comments section below.

10:07 Why are you buying these?

10:09 I'm really keen to understand.

10:10 Let's talk practicality

10:11 and we'll start with connectivity.

10:13 So I'm gonna disconnect this.

10:14 You have two USB ports down the bottom here.

10:17 One of those is for smartphone mirroring.

10:19 You have a 12 volt outlet.

10:21 There is also a USB port just up the top here

10:23 for connecting dash cameras,

10:25 which is very clever.

10:27 Now in terms of storage,

10:28 your coffee cups,

10:29 sort of doesn't fit there.

10:32 You can see it doesn't touch the bottom

10:34 and you're gonna lose the lid

10:35 if you try and grab that out.

10:36 I actually have to prop it up

10:37 with my house keys

10:39 to prevent the coffee from spilling.

10:40 But it's a different story with a water bottle

10:42 'cause you can see that easily fits in there

10:44 and you've got teeth holding it in position.

10:46 Then you can pop the water bottle down there too.

10:49 What about mobile phone storage?

10:50 Well, that easily fits there

10:52 and you can also slot it down there.

10:53 No wireless phone charging though.

10:56 Center armrest,

10:57 you have two tiers,

10:58 the top section for keys and trinkets,

11:01 and then a bottom section

11:02 that is really nice and deep.

11:03 You can see that pretty much loses

11:04 that entire bottle in there.

11:07 You also have a glove box

11:09 just down there.

11:11 And finally, a sunglasses holder up here.

11:14 Let's talk comfort.

11:14 So you have automatic dual zone climate control.

11:17 Then in terms of seat adjustment,

11:19 it's all manual.

11:20 I would have thought being second down from the top,

11:22 there'd be some electric seat adjustment,

11:24 but the seats themselves are pretty cool.

11:25 So you've got this sort of leather material,

11:27 there's a suede in the center.

11:29 Then you have FX4 Max along the seat there,

11:31 which I think looks really fantastic.

11:33 The steering wheel sits really nicely in the hand,

11:35 but keep in mind,

11:36 there is only tilt adjustment.

11:38 There is no reach adjustment at all,

11:40 but I find it's pretty easy

11:41 to get a comfortable driving position.

11:43 And then all of these controls are really easy to reach.

11:46 Okay, let's talk about the back seat.

11:49 We'll start with some top secret storage.

11:51 It is under here.

11:53 So you have two storage spaces.

11:55 They're fairly decent size,

11:56 so you should be able to squeeze a couple of bits

11:58 and pieces into there

11:59 if you don't want it seen from the outside.

12:02 And then this also comes down as well.

12:04 Behind here, you'll find your jack.

12:06 You'll also find two top tether points

12:08 for the outboard seats.

12:10 Let's hop on in.

12:12 Okay, in terms of room,

12:17 it's actually pretty reasonable.

12:18 I've got a decent amount of knee room,

12:19 even though this seat's quite far back.

12:21 Loads of toe room.

12:23 Headroom is excellent too.

12:24 Matt pockets in these two back seats.

12:26 There are no air vents back here,

12:28 which I find truly bizarre.

12:29 You do get a 230 volt outlet though,

12:32 and also a 12 volt outlet.

12:34 In terms of bottle storage,

12:35 you have a center armrest here with two cup holders.

12:39 Bottle easily fits into there.

12:41 Then you also have storage inside the door as well.

12:44 Isofix points on the two outboard seats.

12:46 Look, aside from that,

12:47 it's actually a pretty comfy place to be seated.

12:48 And there's a surprising amount of leg room back here.

12:51 I thought it'd be far more cramped than it is.

12:53 So yeah, it's not too bad.

12:54 Just lack of air vents.

12:55 By the way, I forgot to mention,

12:57 this is kind of like the Land Rover Defender

12:59 because you have these rubber floor mats

13:01 throughout the cabin, which is pretty cool.

13:03 That'll be easy to keep clean

13:04 if you're doing off-roading and stuff.

13:05 And shameless plug,

13:06 if you do want to watch our Defender review, click up here.

13:10 We're on the road with the FX4 Max.

13:12 We'll start with the engine under the bonnet.

13:14 So only available with a bi-turbo,

13:17 which is the two liter turbocharged

13:19 four cylinder diesel engine.

13:21 Makes 157 kilowatts of power and 500 newton meters of torque.

13:25 And that's all mated to a 10 speed automatic transmission.

13:30 So what does all that feel like?

13:31 You think 10 speed and you think to yourself,

13:33 well, that's going to be hunting all the time.

13:37 But when you're cruising along here,

13:38 the car's currently just moving along nicely.

13:41 It's in sixth gear.

13:43 Give it a little squeeze.

13:45 It all happens really quickly.

13:48 In fact, we've driven cars with just six speed autos

13:51 that are actually much slower to react than this.

13:55 It's actually a really decent gearbox.

13:56 So really impressive the way that they've tuned it

13:58 to interact with this engine.

13:59 So in terms of fuel economy,

14:01 Ford says it'll consume eight liters of fuel

14:03 per 100 kilometers on the combined cycle.

14:07 Let's flick through here.

14:09 We're currently on 11.4.

14:11 So it is worth considering,

14:12 we have been doing a fair bit of city driving,

14:15 and that's going to drive that figure up a little bit,

14:17 plus a bit of off-roading,

14:18 but it is still pretty high for such a small engine.

14:21 Let's talk drive mode.

14:22 So there aren't any.

14:24 In short, you can basically put this into sport mode,

14:28 which just revs up the gearbox a bit,

14:30 drops it back a few gears,

14:32 makes it all a little more responsive,

14:34 but doesn't do a great deal more.

14:35 There aren't any paddle shifters.

14:37 Instead, you have to use these dinky switches

14:38 on the side of the gear lever.

14:40 I don't know, they're a bit annoying to use.

14:42 I prefer to just have paddle shifters

14:44 or perhaps the ability to row through the cogs

14:47 in that Tiptronic style.

14:48 Ford doesn't give us a zero to 100 time

14:51 for the Ranger FX4 Max, but here it is anyway.

14:54 We put it up against our stopwatch.

14:56 Let's talk road noise for a second.

15:08 So the thing I love about the Ranger Raptor

15:10 is despite the fact it uses these giant off-road tires,

15:14 there's barely any road noise.

15:15 This on the other hand,

15:16 I'm not going to hear the tires

15:19 just rumbling through to the cabin.

15:20 We're doing 80 k's an hour,

15:23 and that is well and truly the dominant noise

15:25 into the cabin.

15:25 There isn't a great deal of wind noise,

15:27 and the tires are really just ruining

15:28 the experience inside the car.

15:30 So I don't know whether it's that the Ranger Raptor

15:32 has more insulation or something like that,

15:34 but yeah, it really just doesn't make it

15:37 a pleasant driving experience

15:38 with those tires on this car.

15:40 So again, sorry I kept referring to the Ranger Raptor here,

15:43 but it is my point of reference,

15:44 given a lot of the components have come from that.

15:47 And when it comes to ride,

15:48 the Ranger Raptor is really hard to fault.

15:50 It's so nice and soft.

15:52 You can literally do jumps in it

15:54 and not feel anything behind the wheel.

15:56 This on the other hand, I don't know,

15:58 it feels like they've just thrown

16:00 the Raptor suspension components at it

16:03 just so they can use it as a marketing term,

16:05 because it just doesn't feel right.

16:08 It's a bit hard to explain.

16:09 It kind of lacks body control.

16:11 What I mean by that is if you drop a wheel

16:13 off the edge of the road here,

16:14 you'll find that the car starts to jiggle around a lot,

16:17 and it doesn't really find the ruts,

16:19 and it ends up bucking and moving around unnaturally.

16:23 You don't really get that with a car

16:24 that just has leaf springs.

16:26 So when they've added the Fox Racing suspension

16:28 to this as well, in addition to the leaf springs,

16:31 it's kind of ruined what they already have

16:32 with vehicles like the XLT

16:34 that rides beautifully out here in the country.

16:36 And then it doesn't have the stuff that the Raptor has

16:39 because you have to compromise payload for that.

16:41 So yeah, it just doesn't feel nice behind the wheel.

16:44 And I feel that it just, I don't know,

16:46 maybe they rushed this to market

16:47 and didn't spend enough time on it,

16:48 but I think there could be a lot more work done

16:50 to the suspension to really make it feel better than it does.

16:53 Let's talk handling.

16:55 We'll see how it goes.

16:55 We can pop it down into sport mode,

16:58 a little corner coming up here.

16:59 Yeah, look, surprisingly, the handling's pretty good.

17:03 There is a bit of body roll dialled into it,

17:05 but it stays fairly flat.

17:07 You get heap of communication through the steering too,

17:09 so you always know what's going on with the car.

17:13 The only problem is that you don't wanna be hitting

17:15 mid-corner bumps because of that kind of

17:17 lack of body control.

17:18 It floats over the bumps and it will send you wide.

17:21 It's just a really strange phenomenon.

17:23 On the visibility front, because we're sitting so high,

17:26 visibility's fantastic.

17:27 I can see clearly down the front of the vehicle.

17:30 The decals on this one help make the eye line run

17:33 down the front there.

17:34 Visibility out the back is excellent.

17:35 The wing mirrors are really big.

17:37 No blind spot monitoring.

17:38 I mean, how's that possible in 2021

17:41 on your second most expensive model?

17:44 But outside of that, it is easy to drive

17:46 because of the front and rear parking sensors

17:48 and the decent reverse view camera.

17:50 Okay, it's time to do a little bit of light off-roading

17:52 and I'll run you through the specifications here

17:55 for the FX4 Max and how it differs slightly from the XLT.

17:59 So in terms of approach and departure angles,

18:02 we're talking about a 31 degree approach angle.

18:04 That is the angle of the face you can approach

18:06 before you knock the front of the car

18:07 and a 23 degree departure angle.

18:10 They're both two degrees more than the XLT.

18:13 In terms of ground clearance, 256 millimetres.

18:16 That's up 19 millimetres over the XLT.

18:19 So there should be more than enough room

18:20 for us to clear those rocks.

18:21 You've got a wading depth of 800 millimetres,

18:24 which is pretty impressive.

18:25 And then in terms of four-wheel drive equipment,

18:27 this is normally a two-wheel drive,

18:28 but you can switch into four high on the move

18:31 or four low range.

18:32 There's also a rear differential lock.

18:34 And unlike some of the other units in this segment,

18:36 you can activate the rear differential lock

18:38 when you're in four high and also in two high as well.

18:41 You don't have to go to low range.

18:42 So let's see how it goes up.

18:45 Log Mountain.

18:46 I'm gonna flick it over into four high.

18:50 There it is there.

18:51 You can see the little indicator on the screen.

18:53 And we'll climb this.

18:54 Hey, by the way, if none of that made any sense to you,

18:56 click up here to watch a video that we shot

18:58 explaining four-wheel drive controls.

19:01 We can just see how this works here with these KO2s.

19:05 It's all fairly dry,

19:06 but we did have a downpour over the weekend.

19:08 Despite this being a 10-speed automatic,

19:10 it is walking up here without any dramas.

19:14 My concern with the 10-speed is that it's always

19:16 just hunting and all over the shop,

19:18 but this is just holding it beautifully there in first gear.

19:23 So that is really impressive.

19:25 No wheels slip either.

19:27 It is light off-roading, but yeah,

19:29 really impressive to see it just walk up there.

19:32 And there you can see the big benefit

19:33 of having those chunky tires too.

19:36 All right, let's see how we go with ground clearance here,

19:38 because this is often where we'll hear

19:40 a couple of thumps underside,

19:43 but with extra ground clearance,

19:44 this shouldn't be too bad.

19:46 Let's see how we go.

19:47 Switch off those parking sensors as well.

19:51 Normally that section there, I'd hear a thunk.

19:55 It's actually really impressive.

19:57 And it feels really nice and soft.

20:01 You get a fair bit of flex on the tire walls of the KO2s.

20:04 There's also a hill descent control.

20:06 I might switch that on now as well.

20:08 So there it comes up on the screen saying it's ready.

20:09 I've let go of the brake.

20:11 We'll see how it goes.

20:12 Oh, it's going really quick.

20:14 Making a fair bit of noise as well.

20:16 Okay, interesting.

20:19 It kind of ran away from us at the start there,

20:21 but it slowed down eventually.

20:22 So I don't know, I've said this before in other videos,

20:24 I kind of prefer to just do that myself.

20:26 I don't really like it when the car's in control

20:28 because you never know how fast it's gonna go.

20:30 So Ford Ranger FX4 Max, bit of a mouthful.

20:34 Normally I like the Ranger because, I don't know,

20:36 it just does everything really well despite its age.

20:39 Yes, it's Australian engineered,

20:40 Australian designed as well.

20:41 So a little bit of nostalgia there as well,

20:43 but it is one of the leaders in the segment

20:45 in terms of the way that it drives

20:46 and the way that it performs.

20:47 But I don't know, I think they've tried to make

20:50 something to suit everyone.

20:51 And I think in this instance,

20:53 they may have taken a backwards step.

20:54 The Ranger Raptor really is the pinnacle

20:57 of off-road utilities in Australia.

20:59 It does the off-road thing really well

21:01 and surprisingly does the on-road thing excellent,

21:03 but it does come at the compromise of load hauling.

21:05 They've tried to fix it by using this chassis

21:09 and the leaf springs and all that kind of stuff.

21:10 But I think they've actually kind of ruined it.

21:12 It really doesn't have a great deal of body control.

21:14 The tire noise, I think, is unacceptable

21:17 in comparison to the Ranger Raptor,

21:19 which is entirely subdued despite the fact

21:21 they have virtually the same tires.

21:23 So I don't know, I can see what they've tried to do

21:24 with this, but I feel like it was maybe

21:26 just thrown together to appease a bunch of people

21:28 that perhaps don't actually exist.

21:30 I don't know who would really want a load hauler

21:33 and a massive off-roader at the same time.

21:35 I think people are either gonna get a Ranger Raptor

21:37 or they're just gonna get a WildTracker and XLT.

21:39 And we're in the age at the moment

21:40 of huge government incentives in Australia for these.

21:43 So they're just making them as expensive as they can

21:45 because they know that tax write-offs will exist

21:47 for the next couple of years.

21:48 So let me know what you think in the comments section below.

21:50 Am I being a little bit too harsh

21:53 or do you think it is justified?

21:55 Should they have just stuck with that tried and tested

21:57 formula of the Ranger Raptor and just left

21:59 the rest of the range where it was?

22:00 So let me know what you think in the comments section below.

22:02 And if you've actually bought one of these,

22:04 let me know what you think as well.

22:05 Is it better to live with day to day

22:06 once you've got used to it?

22:07 Really keen to get your feedback.

22:08 If you did enjoy this video,

22:10 make sure you share it and hit the like button.

22:12 And if you haven't done so already,

22:13 please hit subscribe and also the bell icon

22:15 so you can find out when we publish new things.

22:17 But until next time, take it easy.

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