With the new Ford Ranger, it has to be the convenience of being easily connected through your mobile phone while on auto cruise that makes it stand out.
Of course, its new looks add well to its appeal too, enhancing the freshness of its profile.
The two features are easily accessed via controls on the steering wheel: the audio voice control function on the left and cruise control on the right. With Bluetooth connection, mobile communication is virtually hands-free.
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The other convenience is that you can tell the audio system to lower or increase the volume and select stations through voice commands.
Both functions operate in a similar manner, with a centre control button and four items that can be selected accordingly to be activated.
It’s straightforward and easy to use, and more importantly from a safety viewpoint, the controls are clearly defined, and won’t make you take your eyes totally off the road.
More convenient features that you can opt for are the auto activation of the headlights and wipers.
Just select them via the respective steering column levers so that you can free your mind and hand actions for important functions, like keeping them on the steering wheel.
The new Ranger is available with two transmission options, manual and automatic, and both with six gears.
We opted for the latter as we couldn’t see ourselves going through the daily grind of manually shifting gears any more, especially in urban traffic crawls.
With more gears available, there is smoother forward movement as the closer ratios complement the flow of torque and power.
It is also more economical as the sixth gear with a better overdrive ratio allows the turbo-diesel engine to run at even lower revs to cruise comfortably at legal highway speeds. Engine speed is around 2,000rpm at 110-120kph, and this should give you very good distance on a full tank for long hauls.
Ford has chosen a simple system in the console gear selection.
If you wish to do manual shifting, simply push the gearshift to the right for Sport mode and select the respective gear sequentially.
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Ford has also opted for a smaller displacement turbo-diesel engine in the search for efficient power: at 2.2-litre (it used to be 2.5-litre), it does not lack the oomph to do all the work that a pick-up is supposed to do, such as having a towing capacity of up to 3,350kg.
Against the old engine, the 2.2-litre has higher output at 150bhp (against 141bhp) and 375Nm (330Nm).
Although near-peak torque develops early from 1,500rpm, we couldn’t quite relate to that while puttering around in urban centres. There was none of that ready discharge of torque that gives it a strong pick-up-and-go feeling.
You have to step on the accelerator more than necessary to get that surge of mobility.
This could be a matter of gear ratios, but we certainly prefer the more positive pace of the previous model to the current one, as experienced through the accelerator pedal feel.
If you are in a hurry, the new Ranger is not short on power demand and will give you the oomph to tear around quickly.
We continued to enjoy the quiet ride, which reminded us of our Thai drive in Chiangrai last year.
The thicker bushings for the suspension mounting points have fully absorbed the road noise picked up by the tyres and we hear little of that over the respective surfaces covered.
Along with the improved aerodynamics of the smoother body profile that had reduced wind noise considerably, we can conduct our mobile communication via the voice command system without having to raise our vocal decibels.
Passenger room is another factor that the Ford engineers had also paid attention to. We could load up four adults to travel comfortably, with good leg, elbow and head room all round.
The suspension system is also suitably tuned with ride comfort in mind and the new Ranger handled bumps and potholes well.
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However, the rear leaf-spring system, which is necessary for the high loads that the Ranger may have to carry, still came across as a little jolting over a series of rough patches.
Nevertheless, it remained a lot more comfortable in ride than pick-ups of much earlier days, when such vehicles served as more of a workhorse than the dual-purpose role that they carry today.
The new Ranger comes with a lot more engineering features than we could cover here and for the asking price – RM93,218.80 on the road without insurance – it appears well packaged.
For sure, it would make rivals sit up: in Thailand, orders of more than 25,000 have kept the factory so busy that if you want the Wildtrak flagship model with even more features, you would need to exercise great patience!
