Here’s Why You Should Pay Attention to Ford’s New Ranger Pickup
Ford aims to smack the teeth out of reigning champ Hilux
ByImthishan Giado
Some of you may have noticed this little number tucked away in a corner at the show, but I didn’t bother taking a picture as it was an absolutely bog standard, stripped out one that no one cast a second glance towards. Hence, the car above is the uber-cool full-spec one instead. My list of reasons why you should give a damn, after the jump.
You’d think we’d have more pickups out here, considering how much offroading we do. But we don’t, in part because we use full-size SUVs to go into the sand. That ignores the reality that little pickups like the Hilux and its ilk are more than capable of going anywhere the big boys can and with their rugged commercial vehicle origins, don’t have the compromises inherent in a road-biased SUV.
Real locals know this – that’s why the undisputed king of offroaders in the Middle East is the mighty Bushanab, the Land Cruiser pickup. Tad basic though. The Ranger is a much better choice. Here’s why:
- It’s Tough. It’s a commercial vehicle after all, so the Ranger’s got to be able to survive the horrors of the work site, and occasionally the Taliban.
- It was developed by Ford Australia, not Ford America. Those boys knows their utes, which have to able to cruise at subsonic speeds on Australia’s highways, as well as survive the dusty, suspension shattering outback. And lest you doubt the development abilities of Australian engineers, don’t forget that they also bequeathed us the Lumina SS, the Camaro, and well, just about anything rear wheel drive these days.
- It’ll dune bash, just fine. Don’t believe me? The development team fine tuned its suspension right here in the UAE.
- It’ll be cheap. Ranger will start from AED70k here with the boggo 2.5l 160bhp petrol engine. That’s all right for a lorry driver, but what you really want is the AED115k 3.2l turbodiesel engine, which swaggers with a mighty 200bhp and a mindboggling 470NM of torque. That’s more than you get in a Land Cruiser V6, and even a V8! As long as there’s rubber on the tyres, you’ll never be stuck. You’ll never be bored either because…
- It’s stuffed to the gills with kit. Seriously, what don’t you get as standard on the top-spec car? Deep breath – reversing camera, parking sensors, choice of six-speed auto OR manual (you know which way I’ll swing) navigation, bluetooth, cruise control, steering wheels controls, AUX jacks, autodimming mirrors, leather seats, 80-litre fuel tank, navigation…
Most of all, it’s completely humble, and without pretension. Where other offroaders come with so much baggage whether stylistically – hey, FJ Cruiser – or emotionally – hand on heart, the Jeep Wrangler – the Ranger is a pretension-free zone. About the only car which could challenge it is the super tasty new Amarok. Or the Hilux Extreme.
Gosh, wouldn’t that be a group test to savour….
