2023 Ford Ranger V6 (inc. 0-100) detailed review: RIP all other utes?

CarExpert

I've finally had a chance to drive the V6 Ranger and this is my verdict! I thought I'd love it, but there were a few things that I didn't love. We drove the 2023 Ford Ranger XLT V6 with the optional Touring Pack and All Terrain tyres. See what Paul Maric thought!  Ford Ranger Wildtrak review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQMswT23uO4  Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  More Ford content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/ford More Ford Ranger content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/ford/ranger  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior 01:04 Interior 07:30 Infotainment 09:38 Safety Tech 12:08 Practicality 13:28 On the Road 17:24 0 - 100km/h 23:58 Verdict 27:26  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

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul, we're back again for another review of another Ford Ranger as we work our way through the Ranger range.

00:06 This time around it is the XLT. This is kind of the workhorse of the Ford Ranger range.

00:12 I have to keep saying that.

00:14 This is also the V6. I've been really looking forward to driving this because, you know,

00:19 the V6 is really what is going to set the Ford Ranger apart from other vehicles in this segment,

00:24 and I think that this is probably the one that a lot of people are going to be buying.

00:27 So, it's priced at around $65,000 plus on-road costs.

00:32 If that's too expensive, the entire Ranger range is priced from around $35,000.

00:37 This competes with things like the Isuzu D-MAX, the Nissan Navara, Toyota Hilux.

00:43 There are so many competitors in that segment.

00:45 Today we're going to do a detailed review of this car, so if you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review,

00:50 you can use the time cards on the screen, or if you're on YouTube, you can scroll down and use the chapters below.

00:54 And if you haven't done so already, I'd love it if you could subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon,

00:59 because that's going to tell you every single time we do a new Ford Ranger or Ford Everest piece of content.

01:03 Let's talk exterior design. So, you've got six colours to pick from, all but white.

01:08 It's going to set you back $675.

01:11 Now, if you did watch our video of the Ranger Wildtrak, you'll notice that this whole front-end treatment looks pretty different,

01:16 and that's what Ford's tried to do.

01:18 They've really tried to differentiate the entire range, depending on which price point you're aiming at.

01:23 So, this comes with all these chrome highlights down the front here.

01:26 You still get these C-clamp LED daytime running lights and LED headlights as well,

01:31 although keep in mind this isn't a matrix LED headlight like you'll find in the Wildtrak.

01:36 One thing I did notice here, there's already condensation building up behind the headlight here on both sides,

01:42 which I think is a little bit disappointing.

01:43 The car's pretty much brand new, and that's definitely not something you want to see,

01:46 and something I would have thought they would have picked up during testing.

01:49 Down the front here, you've got this 3D texture to the grille there.

01:54 This car has what they call the Touring Pack,

01:57 and that comes with a 360 camera, zone lighting, and an integrated brake controller,

02:01 and as a result of that, you've got this camera down the front here that has an integrated washer built into that as well.

02:07 Big Ford logo there.

02:08 You've also got radar cruise control down the bottom here.

02:11 Oh, I want to mention, so in our Wildtrak review, I pointed out that the rear Ford logo was black,

02:17 and we couldn't figure out why.

02:18 Turns out, that car, for some reason, had a Raptor Ford badge on it,

02:23 and just literally a mistake at the factory.

02:26 So, it was quite interesting that we just managed to pick that car up.

02:29 But, anyway, in terms of the rest of the design here,

02:33 these bits here are quite interesting to me, because they're kind of, it's like an empty slot there,

02:38 and it feels like something could sort of go in there at some point.

02:41 So, hopefully Ford thinks there's something to stick in there.

02:43 You've got fog lights down the bottom here, fake air vents down there, and a whip around to the side.

02:48 Got a set of 17-inch alloy wheels, pretty basic design,

02:52 but keep in mind, the XLT is going to be all about getting the job done, doing work.

02:56 You'll notice here, this car has the optional all-terrain tyres fitted to it as well.

03:00 The standard tyre is more of a highway terrain tyre.

03:03 Up the top here, you've got these wheel arch guards that are, in this case, the same colour as the body.

03:09 Sorry about how dirty the car is, by the way.

03:11 It was absolutely sopping wet here this morning, and it's collected a lot of that grime off the road.

03:16 Now, up the top here, you'll see the V6 badge.

03:18 If you are driving the four-cylinder, this says "by turbo".

03:21 If you are driving the V6, it says "V6", obviously, and that chrome element surrounds that as well.

03:27 Now, this section here, so this is actually open, and that's open because this whole side section is hydroformed.

03:32 So, this is actually where they can fit things like washer fluids and other items that you don't need to have draped over the engine.

03:39 This car also comes with the ability to fit a second battery as well,

03:43 so it really does cater for people who are going to want to accessorise their car and fit things like a second battery to it.

03:49 Body-coloured wing mirror up the top there.

03:50 This is where the side camera is for the 360 camera.

03:53 One thing I noticed after spending a bit more time with the Ranger Wildtrak was that,

03:58 while the front camera has a little washer on it, the side cameras and the rear camera don't.

04:02 So, when you do get a little bit of grime built up on there, literally, if it's just been raining,

04:06 you'll find that it's almost impossible to see out of those, and you've got to get out and clean them.

04:09 So, it would have been nice to see some washers integrated into the back camera and also the side cameras as well.

04:15 Side steps down the bottom here.

04:17 Don't know if I love those. They kind of just look like a plastic add-on.

04:21 I understand that, obviously, you know, it's a useful feature to have,

04:24 but to me, a little bit more creativity on the side step would have been good to have.

04:28 XLT also has privacy glass. I like this sports bar.

04:32 It's actually functional as well, so you can use that to hook your stuff onto.

04:36 This section here, you've got the ability to also go direct hook in with accessories that you want to add to your car,

04:42 like a canopy and that kind of thing, and then you also have these protectors on the side here as well.

04:47 This is important because cars like the new Navara, for some bizarre reason,

04:51 don't have any rubber or plastic protection on the top edge here.

04:55 So, when you do lean things on them, it is going to scratch your paintwork,

04:59 which you obviously don't want to have happen to your new ute.

05:02 Down at the bottom here, disc brakes, they come standard on XLT and above.

05:06 XLT also retains leaf spring, as does the entire Ranger range until you get to the Raptor.

05:11 So, you've got a set of three leaf springs there in addition to the damper.

05:15 The damper has moved outboard of the chassis now as well.

05:18 That means you should get better ride compliance when you're out on the road.

05:22 Whip around to the back, I'll show you. Oh, actually, before we do that, the side step as well.

05:26 Getting stuff out. This actually came in handy for me.

05:28 I was loading some stuff into the Wildtrak we tested recently and actually used that.

05:32 It didn't break it, so it can support someone my size, which is good, but very handy feature.

05:37 Turn around to the back. Now, around the back here, you've got a set of LED elements in these taillights.

05:41 It is worth pointing out that it's not a full LED setup in the back or in the front like it is in the Wildtrak,

05:48 but this does come with the LED elements for the zone lighting,

05:51 which is part of the optional package I mentioned earlier. XLT badge there.

05:55 Another curious thing you'll notice as well with Ranger is four-wheel drive.

05:59 So, in versions of this that have the V6, where you do have a four automatic mode,

06:04 where it can drive all four wheels, even on sealed surfaces, it will say four-wheel drive,

06:09 whereas your 2.0-litre versions that only have two high and four high will say four by four.

06:14 A blue Ford badge there. You've got an integrated brake light in here as well.

06:18 There's the camera down there and you can notice that's pretty much covered in grime at the moment.

06:22 We've only driven it today in the rain, so that needs to be manually cleaned.

06:26 A three-and-a-half tonne brake towing capacity.

06:28 That Touring pack brings with it an integrated brake controller that's inside the car and connects in over here.

06:34 Another step if you need to get inside.

06:36 Now, let's have a look at this. So, you have the ruler here, which allows you to, you know, measure stuff.

06:42 Over here, you've got sections for a clamp as well.

06:46 This has the spray-in bed liner. This misses out on the adjustable side rails that we had on the Wildtrak,

06:52 but you do get hooks to tie into, and then in addition to that, you have a 12-volt outlet built into here as well.

06:58 You've also got tray lighting in here. This has a torsion bar, which means it is easy to lift and close.

07:03 Now, in terms of the dimensions, you have 1,200 millimetres between the wheel arches, about 1,500 mil of depth,

07:09 and this in V6 trim has close to 1,000 kilograms of payload as well, so it is a proper ute setup.

07:18 Now, let me know what you think in the comments section below.

07:20 XLT, it is kind of the workhorse of the range. Do you think it looks stylish enough?

07:24 Would you go for the XLT, and are you going to be buying the V6 or the four-cylinder?

07:28 Let me know in the comments section below.

07:30 So, we're inside the Ranger XLT. We'll start off with the key.

07:34 There it is. So, you have unlock, lock, nothing in the centre, nothing on the bottom,

07:39 and then on the back, you have a Ford logo covered by a sticker.

07:43 This is a proximity sensing key, so you can leave that in your pocket,

07:46 and then there's a push-button start just here on the steering column.

07:49 Now, what about the design? So, the last one that we reviewed was the Wildtrak,

07:53 and I thought that looked really nice and stylish. Ford definitely dialed it back with this.

07:57 So, they still have that big infotainment screen. It's slightly smaller than the 12-inch screen in the Wildtrak,

08:03 but all of this stuff is hard-touch plastics, and I kind of get it because the XLT has always traditionally been the premium workhorse model,

08:13 so that is okay with me. I just think they could have added a bit more colour in here.

08:17 It just looks a bit sort of drab and dreary in my opinion.

08:21 Now, one thing I also wanted to point out, after spending a bit more time with the car,

08:26 I did notice this gear shifter was interesting.

08:28 So, let me show you what this does. I'm going to switch the car on for a second.

08:32 You basically move through the gears by pushing the front there and moving forward.

08:38 Now, that's all fine, but what I find sometimes is when I go to reverse, I go to park,

08:43 because the gate between neutral and park is quite narrow, so it's a little tricky to get reverse sometimes.

08:49 So, yeah, that is a little bit fiddly, and this is what it does when you switch it off.

08:53 I'll show you what that looks like. That's an e-shifter, so basically it will put itself back into park

08:57 so the car doesn't move or anything like that when it's stationary, and then you can press the M button

09:02 to override that and leave it in neutral when the car is switched off as well.

09:06 Now, what about your touch points? So, that is very soft and soft on the door there as well, which is good news.

09:13 How soft are they? Well, we've got our gyrometer. We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.

09:18 If you want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before,

09:21 have a look at the link in the description below.

09:24 Now, build quality. This was a little bit wonky in the Wildtrak. Kind of same story here.

09:29 You can see that centre section flexing a little bit there, but it all feels OK.

09:34 Door. Sounds very nice and solid.

09:38 Moving on to infotainment. So, look at this. I mean, it is the centrepiece of the cabin, well and truly,

09:44 and it's a good thing because they really need to be moving the, I guess, infotainment game forward

09:50 along with connectivity, and this really is just feature-packed and comes with everything.

09:54 So, unless you order the Wildtrak or the Raptor, you're getting a 10-inch display instead of a 12-inch display.

10:00 To be honest, you don't actually lose a great deal of functionality.

10:03 I did notice when I was sort of playing around with this that the only difference I can really tell here

10:08 between the 10- and 12-inch, aside from, you know, the obvious screen size,

10:11 is that the 12-inch retains the same screen sizes in the centre there, but it adds a shortcut menu beneath here.

10:17 And after spending a whole lot more time with the Wildtrak that we recently filmed,

10:22 and I'm going to keep referring to that, but it's just simply because I've learned a lot since then,

10:27 I found a lot of these functions quite difficult to use while you were driving.

10:31 Then, in addition to that, this smaller screen actually seems to operate a whole lot faster than the 12-inch display.

10:37 Like, all of these controls come up really fast and there's no lag, which I found there was with the 12-inch.

10:43 So, yeah, just an interesting observation.

10:45 So, it comes with in-built satellite navigation that includes traffic overlays and 3D displays on the map as well.

10:53 You also have AM/FM/DAB digital radio.

10:57 That comes with a 10-speaker sound system. It's not a branded sound system like it is in the Wildtrak.

11:01 It's fine, does the job, but just don't expect it to blow your head off like it does in the Wildtrak.

11:06 In addition to that, you have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto wireless as well.

11:10 So, I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like first.

11:13 So, full-screen integration there.

11:15 You can also adjust the size of that as well.

11:18 So, that brings in those shortcut menus and then you can supersize it.

11:22 It is such a clear display. It's really high resolution.

11:26 Love that.

11:28 And this is what Android Auto looks like.

11:30 So, nice full-screen integration there.

11:33 It's even got our proving ground. Very impressive.

11:35 Hey, if you want a detailed review of this, including a look at FordPass Connect,

11:40 have a look at our Ford Ranger Wildtrak video. The link is in the description below.

11:43 Down at the bottom of the screen, you have your climate controls,

11:45 but thankfully, you can use manual controls as well if you want.

11:49 So, you don't need to worry about fiddling with this if you don't want to.

11:52 Head of the driver is another LCD display.

11:54 This gives you all of your critical driving functions.

11:56 It's fine. Like I said in the Wildtrak video, it would be nice to have an option pack

12:01 where you can go for that full-screen display there,

12:03 but this does the job and it gives you plenty of sort of configurability options as well.

12:08 Now, what about your safety tech?

12:09 So, you have autonomous emergency braking. You have a auto-dimming rear vision mirror.

12:15 You have a lane departure warning and a lane-keeping assistant with radar cruise control.

12:19 We tested these features in our Wildtrak review. Again, link in description below.

12:24 Blind spot monitor built into the wing mirror over there.

12:27 This car also has the trailer package with integrated brake control,

12:32 so that means the blind spot monitoring integrates the trailer as well.

12:35 You also have rear cross traffic alert.

12:37 And on the parking front, you have front and rear parking sensors.

12:41 This car has the optional package with 360 camera, so I'll show you what that looks like.

12:46 We'll flick the car on for a second. Pop that into reverse.

12:49 So, there's our trailer. You can see, "Please subscribe" there,

12:53 and the guidelines move with the wheel, including your tow bar line, which is great.

12:58 360 view is okay. It's sort of not sort of anything too special,

13:04 but you can see those guidelines move as you move the steering wheel.

13:08 You can also zoom into those different sections of the car.

13:11 Then you can also select your cameras as you go here.

13:14 I really do like this as well, just how that sort of brings up how close we are to the suitcase.

13:19 And you've got your different wide-angle views there, plus the trailer hitch view as well.

13:24 So, yeah, on the parking front, it is pretty damn feature-packed.

13:28 Moving on to practicality. So, where are you going to connect your devices?

13:32 You've got a USB-C port down here, plus a USB-A port.

13:35 Love the fact that you also have a USB-A port up the top here for dash cam power.

13:41 Phone storage. You don't have a wireless phone charger here,

13:44 but you can use the same spot where a wireless phone charger is fitted in other models.

13:49 Plus, you've also got storage down the front here for a phone.

13:51 By the way, I have discovered, thanks to you kind commenter folks, this is actually a chip holder.

13:57 There is literally a little emoji there of a set of chips.

13:59 So, what I've done, I've sacrificed a large set of McDonald's chips to see if it fits in there.

14:06 Look at that. Perfect. So, you can have your chips and eat them too. So, good news.

14:11 Other storage for your phone. It can fit in the cup holders, but there's no teeth there, which is interesting.

14:16 So, when we go to put our coffee cup in, it kind of just moves all over the place, which is a little bit annoying.

14:22 Same story with our bottle. If we go to wedge that in, it moves around everywhere.

14:26 Our bottle storage inside the door is A-OK, but as cameraman Engle pointed out,

14:31 you can actually fit a big bottle and a small bottle inside the door, which is cool.

14:36 And this is probably the point where you want me to show you the pop-out cup holders in front of the air vents.

14:42 Well, I'm afraid I can't for some completely stupid reason. It's not across the entire Ranger range.

14:48 So, that is just an empty hole at the moment for storing cards instead of being a cup holder, which is pretty silly.

14:53 Other storage. You have decent sized center console in there with the 12-volt outlet.

14:58 You also have a glove box down here, reasonably sized. Storage here atop the glove box.

15:04 Again, another completely bizarre thing. We know in the WildTrack that this opens up and you have storage in there,

15:08 which means there is nothing under there, but I can't open that now, which is just silly.

15:13 And finally, you have a sunglasses holder up the top.

15:15 Now, moving on to your comfort. You have dual-zone automatic climate control,

15:21 full manual seat adjustment for the driver and front passenger, which means you can go forwards, backwards.

15:26 You've got adjustment for lumbar support. You can also increase the seat height as well.

15:31 Only difference on the passenger side is you don't get lumbar support.

15:34 In terms of the seat design, it is cloth, but don't actually mind the design.

15:38 You've got these overly bits that are on this section of cloth and then up the top, it's just a little bit more basic.

15:43 Seats hug you in nicely. They're actually really comfortable to sit in as well.

15:47 On the steering front, you have both tilt and reach adjustment, and on our reach test,

15:53 all of this stuff is easy to reach while you're driving.

15:55 So, second row, before we jump in, let me demo this for you.

15:58 So, you can lift the base just by pulling this.

16:00 Under here, you've got storage and also some tools for jacking the car up when you inevitably get a flat tire.

16:07 This is good for keeping valuables away from prying eyes.

16:11 Over on the back here, you've also got a tiny bit of storage behind there.

16:15 That's also where you'll find your jack. You've got two top tether points behind there, too, plus Ranger since 1983.

16:22 All right, let's hop in. Grab handle.

16:27 Right-o. So, legroom, not too bad.

16:30 So, I've got this seat in my standard driving position.

16:33 It actually feels like there's more legroom here than there was in the Wildtrak, so it's interesting.

16:38 Torque room is okay, not amazing. Headroom is pretty good, thanks to that sort of indentation in the roof.

16:44 You've got matte pockets here, air vents, a 12-volt outlet.

16:48 No more 230-volt outlet. I seem to remember that used to be in Ranger,

16:52 so I don't know why they deleted that in lieu of a 12-volt outlet.

16:55 Also, no USB ports back here either, which is a little bit disappointing, I reckon.

17:00 You have a center armrest here with two cup holders.

17:04 Fits our bottle in without any problem there. No teeth, though, so it does move around a little bit.

17:08 Fits inside the door, too.

17:10 Back here, you've also got two ISOFIX points on the outboard seats and those two top tether points I mentioned earlier.

17:17 Window test.

17:19 Let's see what happens. So, it's manual down, manual up.

17:21 Boom, goes all the way down. Fantastic news.

17:26 So, I've just hit the road in the V6 Ranger.

17:29 Been looking forward to driving this for a long time now.

17:32 We had our stint in the 2.0-litre four-cylinder.

17:34 That was great, but I think everyone wants to know what this is like.

17:37 So, let me run you through the specs first. So, 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 diesel engine under the bonnet.

17:43 184 kilowatts of power and 600 newton-metres of torque.

17:47 And that's all mated to Ford's 10-speed automatic transmission,

17:51 and they use that across a number of different cars in the Ford family.

17:56 Look, to me, it has been proven it seems to work fine,

17:59 and hopefully they've done enough engineering to make sure it works here with this engine.

18:02 This engine is called the Lion, and the Lion has a long history.

18:06 So, it has previously been in the Land Rover Discovery, Range Rover Sport.

18:10 Most recently, it was in the Ford F-150 as well over in the States.

18:15 Now, I did have a whole stack of you reach out to me and tell me that there were reliability issues

18:20 with this engine in the Land Rover and Range Rover range.

18:23 I think that by the time Ford picked that up for F-150, they would have resolved them,

18:27 and hopefully by the point they've stuck it here under the bonnet, it has been resolved as well.

18:31 The other thing I noticed as well in comments on our first video was a vibration for V6 deliveries

18:38 that have just started around the 80 or 60 kilometre an hour mark.

18:42 I've extensively tested this today across 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, across a number of gears,

18:49 and also in 2-high and 4-high, and it didn't seem to appear here.

18:53 So, I don't know if that's isolated to a few cars, but it isn't happening here for us while we're testing.

18:58 Now, what does it feel like behind the wheel?

19:00 Let's sink our slipper in here.

19:02 Yeah, it's good. It actually, it's going to sound cheesy, but it actually just feels like a diesel Range Rover.

19:09 It's sort of, it's fuss-free. It's not this giant whack in the back, but it's a nice, smooth, strong, linear rise

19:17 all the way to redline where it switches gears.

19:19 So, it's a very confident engine, and it gives you that confidence behind the wheel to really just get stuck into it when you need to.

19:26 It's going to come in handy for things like towing, and to be honest,

19:29 while the 4-cylinder was great, and we really sort of didn't have any complaints about it,

19:32 this is going to be the superior engine when it comes to towing.

19:35 It just gives you a little bit more headroom, means you can confidently overtake without thinking that you're going to run out of puff.

19:40 The gearbox is nice and quick, too, so when I do get on it, it can lean on the torque band,

19:44 but then it can drop down and give me that sudden surge of torque.

19:47 It's actually pretty impressive.

19:49 Now, I did mention 4-high and 2-high there, so 10-speed automatic transmission,

19:53 but the big difference between the V6 and the 4-cylinder versions of the Ranger is this.

19:58 So, you can run it in 2-high, which is what you run the rest of the Ranger range in,

20:03 or in V6 models, you can run it in 4-A.

20:06 Now, 4-A is the automatic mode, and what that does is it decides where it should send the torque,

20:12 and if I go over here to our off-road view, you can actually see where it's apportioning torque,

20:18 and as I roll onto the throttle, you can see we're getting equal amounts of torque to the front and rear axle,

20:23 and then when the driving does smooth out a bit, the wheels are pointing straight ahead,

20:27 it simply then sends torque to the rear axle only to save fuel.

20:31 So, that is a really good feature.

20:32 What is the point of it?

20:34 Well, it's a good example.

20:35 Day like today, if I go around Turn 1 here at the track, which has low friction surface in 2-high,

20:41 with stability control switched off to give you worst-case scenario, this thing will go completely sideways,

20:47 and this is what can happen to you if you're not paying attention.

20:50 When you switch it to 4-Auto, and you'll see when we go for a spirited drive a little later,

20:54 it doesn't actually do that because you're sending torque to all four wheels,

20:58 so you have a greater level of control there.

20:59 The good news is that if you do put it in 2-high, you can have some fun when everything switches off,

21:04 but for the most part, it is actually going to be far safer and more sensible to run this in 4-Auto.

21:08 Let's talk fuel economy.

21:09 So, you are paying a little bit of a penalty over the 4-cylinder when it comes to fuel use.

21:13 It comes in at around 8 litres per 100 kilometres.

21:17 Let's have a look at what we are sitting on right now.

21:20 Our long-term fuel economy over the last 3,600 kilometres, 10 litres per 100 kilometres, pretty impressive.

21:26 So, keep in mind, this car was used for Ford's recent national media launch,

21:30 which included a lot of off-road driving.

21:32 We filmed a drag race with this, so if that's live, you can click up there to watch that.

21:37 So, that 10 litres per 100 is actually covering a wide breadth of applications,

21:40 so pretty impressive figure when you're getting all of that extra punch from the V6.

21:45 Now, let's talk about your drive modes.

21:46 You don't really have a great deal to work with here.

21:48 You press this button and it takes you between normal, eco, tow and slippery.

21:55 But, in terms of off-road driving, you do have a little bit more to choose from.

21:59 So, you have a 4-wheel drive low range and a 4-wheel drive high range,

22:02 so both of those are for unsealed surfaces.

22:04 And then, you also have a rear differential lock and hill descent control with adjustability using your cruise controls.

22:10 Now, if you do want to see how Ranger performed off-road, we have shots of that in our comprehensive WildTrack review.

22:16 So, just scroll down to the description below, you'll be able to watch that.

22:19 Okay, let's go for a quicker lap here.

22:21 There are no real drive modes for sporty driving, but we'll see what it's like in 4A.

22:26 Oh, this first turn in the wet is so nasty.

22:30 It's got a little bit of understeer there, but I can feed the throttle in.

22:34 We can see our torque distribution telling us where we need to go.

22:37 Yeah, I'm really underwhelmed with this tyre.

22:39 It just has no traction in the wet.

22:42 As I roll onto the throttle here, it's just sort of pushing wide.

22:46 But, look, this feels very similar to the WildTrack just in terms of the higher speed performance.

22:52 Really has a lot of composure.

22:54 If you do collect some bumps at higher speed, it's sort of quite sure of itself and confident in terms of what it's going to do.

23:01 Steering feels great, and now with the four-wheel disc brakes, you're just getting a little bit more confidence underfoot there.

23:07 You can just ride that brake a little harder and know that it's going to return positive feel instead of just making it up as it goes.

23:14 So, yeah, look, it does feel significantly slower around here in the wet than the last time we were here in the WildTrack,

23:21 and that is just simply because we don't have that same level of grip available to us.

23:26 But let's just roll onto the back straight here.

23:28 We'll just see what this feels like.

23:30 All right, so this feels like it has a bit more puff, like it's actually gaining speed nicely there.

23:35 Even though our exit onto the straight wasn't as quick due to the wet, it actually picks up speed really nicely.

23:40 So, yeah, look, really impressed with the mid-range here in the V6.

23:44 It may not be sort of razor-sharp and quick off the line, but when you need to depend on it,

23:48 it really has legs that you just don't have in the four-cylinder.

23:51 Now, let's talk 0-100.

23:52 We listened to some of your feedback and realized that our stopwatch on the Speedo wasn't entirely accurate.

23:58 So, we're using a V-Box now for 0-100.

24:01 This actually did quite well.

24:02 So, around 8 seconds from 0-100.

24:05 It's kind of about as quick as I thought it was going to be, and right at the limit of where you want to be with a two-wheel drive,

24:10 because in the wet, it can be a little sketchy if you do stand on it.

24:14 So, I think that they probably didn't want to cram too much more into it,

24:17 but it gives me the impression that if you did some tuning on this engine,

24:19 there is probably a lot of headroom there to get a bit more warmth out of it.

24:24 Okay, it is time for our reverse speed test.

24:27 The most pointless test in the world, but something I find interesting anyway.

24:30 So, I've left it in 4A. Put that in reverse.

24:33 Let's see what happens.

24:36 Oh, it picks up okay.

24:37 Jeez!

24:43 It caps out there at 40 kilometres an hour.

24:46 It's actually on the rev limiter.

24:50 You can see it there. It's like literally on the rev limiter.

24:52 So, it's not software limited, but limited by the gear there.

24:56 So, pretty impressive. It has a lot of torque when it flies in reverse.

25:02 Let's talk about the ride.

25:03 So, look, typical Ford ride and handling tune for Australia, you know, by Australians as well.

25:09 So, really is quite comfortable in and around the city.

25:12 It is on the firmer side of comfortable, but they have lots of compliance there.

25:16 What I found with vehicles like the Navara that use a coil spring rear end,

25:19 the front feels disconnected from the rear, whereas this feels like just one package

25:23 and it feels sure and confidence inspiring.

25:26 Handles things like speed humps, cobblestones without any dramas at all.

25:29 So, pretty impressive setup.

25:31 Rear is still leaf sprung, but you do get the addition of disc brakes there

25:35 instead of the drum brakes that were on the previous generation model.

25:38 Now, in addition to the ride, let's talk about what it's like on our sine waves.

25:43 I'm going to dial this up to 130.

25:44 We recently reviewed the Wildtrak and found that it was a little bit unruly at 130 on the sine waves.

25:52 Let's see what it's like here in the XLT.

25:56 Wow, wow. Yeah, same sort of thing.

25:58 So, it has a fair bit of lift there at the top end.

26:02 Again, this all just comes down to leaf spring setup

26:04 and having to really tailor this for a number of different purposes.

26:08 You've got to tailor it for everyday driving.

26:10 You also need to tailor it for faster driving, towing, carrying a load.

26:15 There really is a wide breadth of applications for this

26:18 and that is why it has that lack of body control at the top end.

26:22 So, what's it like in terms of road noise?

26:24 Well, these all-terrains bring a little bit of noise into the cabin.

26:27 So, I think if you are going to be doing long-distance highway driving,

26:30 it is probably a better idea to go down the path of a highway terrain tyre

26:34 because when you hit the course chip stuff,

26:36 you really do get a bit of tyre noise coming into the cabin.

26:39 As far as I can tell, they've killed active noise cancellation.

26:42 It doesn't look like that's available at all on any of the Ranger vehicles that are currently on sale.

26:47 What about your visibility?

26:48 So, yeah, look, it is a big ute, there's no denying that,

26:50 but you can clearly see down the front there.

26:53 You've got that lit near parking sensors, giant wing mirrors,

26:55 so you can clearly see down the sides of the car.

26:58 You have a blind spot monitor built into those.

27:00 So, it is fully covered there in terms of visibility around the car.

27:03 Visibility out the rear is good too.

27:05 It's a big envelope, so you can clearly see out the back there.

27:08 Now, I know I'm doing this a lot in this review,

27:09 but I'm going to refer to the Ranger WildTrack video

27:12 because we did test all of the driver aids,

27:15 such as radar cruise control and also the lane-keeping assistant.

27:18 There's no point doing it again here because this has the same technology.

27:21 I'm not going to really learn anything.

27:22 So, again, have a look at the Ranger WildTrack review

27:24 if you do want to see a vision of that in action.

27:26 So, we've already determined with our last review

27:30 that the Ford Ranger is pretty much class-leading.

27:33 It is so far ahead of the competition that they have a lot of work to do,

27:37 especially now with the V6.

27:39 Look, I thought the 2.0-litre was great,

27:40 but the V6 just takes it up to another level.

27:43 It's so nice and smooth,

27:45 and they've just integrated it really nicely with this chassis.

27:47 It just does everything that it needs to do.

27:49 Well, in terms of the negatives, probably that infotainment system.

27:53 Look, I love the idea of it to start with,

27:55 but the more time I've had to play with it,

27:57 the more sort of fiddly it has become.

27:59 So, yeah, I don't know.

28:01 Have you bought a Ford Ranger?

28:02 Let me know in the comments section below.

28:04 Are you gelling with the infotainment system?

28:05 Is it something that you just need a bit more time on?

28:08 I'm keen for your feedback.

28:09 I think that this really is a sweet spot in the range.

28:11 The XLT comes with pretty much everything that you need.

28:14 We're going to review a Sport soon,

28:15 so I think that may even be a little bit better

28:17 if you do want some of those extra touches,

28:18 but this is the workhorse.

28:20 Get it with the V6, and I just think you can't go wrong.

28:23 So, let me know in the comments section below.

28:25 What do you reckon about the new Ford Ranger?

28:26 Have you ordered one?

28:27 When are you getting it?

28:28 What colour are you getting?

28:29 Excited to hear about all that.

28:31 Now, if you did enjoy this video,

28:32 please make sure you like it,

28:33 and you share it with your mates.

28:34 And if you haven't done so already,

28:36 subscribe to our channel.

28:37 What are you waiting for?

28:37 But until next time, take it easy.

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