OLD RANGER STILL GAME IN 2023

Although there’s a new one, the outgoing pickup is still a solid used choice, writes

As regular readers will know, Ford swapped our long-term Everest XLT for a Ranger Wildtrak towards the end of last year. The good people at the Blue Oval had planned on giving us a new-generation Ranger model but due to delays and Covid and all the other logistical nightmares that plagued 2022, well, there was just no way it was going to happen.

Hey, we weren’t complaining though: the outgoing Ranger Wildtrak remains a relevant (and desirable) hunk of metal that, at the time of writing, is still listed for sale on Ford SA’s website.

After fellow motoring colleague Brenwin Naidu enjoyed it for a few weeks, he generously handed it over to me as I was at the time sniffing around for a suitable whip to drive down to the Cape for my December/ January break.

As I had already smashed this trip numerous times in the Everest, I knew the Wildtrak would be more than up for the trek, thanks to its similarly comfortable cabin festooned with all the amenities someone born in the 1980s could hope for in a modern vehicle (in my case, that’s climate control and Apple CarPlay).

In fact, being higher up the Ford hierarchy, this particular Ranger sports additional features such as adaptive cruise control and heated seats — not that I’d be needing those where I was going. I also knew that there would be plenty of space for my scramblersized mountain bike (it sucks being tall, people), numerous bags, a large battery inverter and stack of Persian carpets recently purchased at an auction.

Well, as it turned out, maybe not as much as I thought. In the Everest, I could fold down the rear seats to create a huge cargo compartment safe from prying eyes and itchy fingers, while in the Wildtrak I had to stow everything in the plastic-lined, 1.18 cubic metre load box.

Surely not an issue, right? Wrong. To keep my stuff safe from weather and thieves, I was forced to have the tonneau cover in place at all times, which made things unexpectedly tight. Anyway, after some Tetris manoeuvring I was able to get everything packed and hit the long, hot road down to the small Karoo.

As the driving experience goes there is, unsurprisingly, nothing between the Ranger and Everest: they ride, handle and steer in a pretty much identical fashion. However, there is one key differentiator and that is the allwheel-drive system. In the Everest, it’ sa permanent affair while in the Ranger Wildtrak you are able to send drive exclusively to the rear wheels by twisting a little toggle switch near the gear lever.

This is a useful feature and one I thought would help that 2.0l four-cylinder biturbo diesel engine quaff a little less fuel.

Unfortunately it didn’t and at the end of my 1,300km jaunt down to Montagu, the fuel economy gauge read 7.3l/100km — exactly the same figure I achieved in the heavier (by nearly 200kg) Everest.

I thought the Wildtrak would be able to do better in the overall economy stakes but, hey, maybe it has something to do with those bakkie aerodynamics.

Apart from that slight disappointment, my month with the Ranger Wildtrak was a joy. Save for one or two trips to Worcester and back I didn’t drive it much — you don’t need to in a small town — until I returned to Joburg last week.

It’s now back in the hands of Mr Naidu, who will hold onto it until it’s replaced by a new-generation model. Watch this space.