The Ford Ranger, the best-selling pick-up truck in the UK, has been reinvented for its fourth generation with new powertrains, a bold redesign and a revamped cabin.
The Ranger has been on sale in its current form since 2011 yet remains hugely popular. With 13,097 units sold in 2020, it was the fifth most popular light commercial vehicle in the UK and the only pick-up in the top 10. Order books for the new version will be opened in late 2022, with pricing to be confirmed closer to that time.
The current 2.0-litre diesel engine is retained, remaining architecturally the same with only slight modifications for cooling. There will be two single-turbocharged variants and a twin-turbocharged one, the power ratings for which are still to be confirmed.
A new 3.0-litre diesel V6 has been added to the ranks, too, and while it has yet to be officially detailed, it will no doubt tout performance statistics to trump the 210bhp and 367lb ft of torque currently available in today’s most powerful Ranger. A turbocharged 2.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine will also be sold in some markets.
Ford has also confirmed that the new Ranger will be available with an electrified drivetrain, although it has offered no further details on specification or timeframe. The company will make its European commercial vehicle line-up zero-emissions-capable by 2024, so a plug-in hybrid is the most likely format for the Ranger, and various reports suggest it will be based around the 2.3-litre Ecoboost engine.
New five- and six-speed manual gearboxes replace the current units, plus there’s a revised 10-speed automatic that’s lighter and has tighter ratios to improve towing capability at lower revs.
The gearshift itself is now a short-throw “e-shifter” with an electronic parking brake that will enable the Ranger to gain more driver assistance systems and semi-autonomous driving features in the future.
For the first time, Ford will offer two different versions of four-wheel drive in the Ranger: a basic system offering on-the-fly manual selection of four-wheel-drive mode and a more advanced, electronically controlled on-demand system.
A fully digital instrument cluster allows drivers to customise the information shown in front of them and adapts its display to suit the six new driving modes (previously only available in the Raptor). However, many of the off-roading controls are now found in the touchscreen, and there’s a dedicated screen view for off-roading that includes data on the driveline, steering angle, vehicle pitch and roll angles alongside other useful information and controls.
New Ford Ranger 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗔𝗩𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥.
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Source: autocar.co.uk
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