I've bought another Ford Ranger - this time it's for my Dad who is about to go on a towing adventure with Mum around Australia. I sat down and went through the entire segment to find which car would be best and landed on this particular spec, with these particular options. This video goes through how and why it happened.
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
The spec I chose: 00:31
The accessories: 00:59
Interior options: 05:00
Why I bought another Ranger: 07:20
Verdict: 09:07
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#ford #ranger #review
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
The spec I chose: 00:31
The accessories: 00:59
Interior options: 05:00
Why I bought another Ranger: 07:20
Verdict: 09:07
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
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MotorTranscript
00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So, normally we do videos where I test cars and I sort of give you advice on whether it's good or not.
00:05Well, this time around, I'm doing something a little bit different because I wanted to buy a car for Dad.
00:10He needs to do some towing with a new caravan that he bought, driving around Australia, all that sort of fun stuff.
00:15And he asked me, what should I buy? And I kind of went through the whole process of narrowing down what he needs, and I landed on this.
00:21So, I wanted to run you through why I landed on this, why I selected the options that I did,
00:25and why I think this is probably the sweet spot for a towing vehicle if you're going to be sort of towing above that sort of two-ton mark.
00:31So, I guess we'll just get straight into it. So, what is this? It is obviously a Ford Ranger, but it is the Sport V6 diesel,
00:38and I've got a couple of options fitted to it. He kind of needs a vehicle that's going to tow a caravan that has a sort of laden weight of about 3,000 kilos.
00:46So, sort of getting right up there. And yes, you can settle on a four-cylinder. It'll kind of just do the same sort of job.
00:52But to give you that little bit of extra headroom, a V6 diesel is probably where I'd be going for.
00:56You have to step up to something like a Ram or an F-150.
00:59He also wanted a bull bar, just in case he struck any kangaroos or any sort of random stuff like that.
01:05It also gives you the opportunity to fit some accessories.
01:07Now, you can go and get aftermarket equipment like bull bars from, I guess, any number of people.
01:13But to be honest, I always recommend to people that they try and get accessories that are endorsed by the manufacturer.
01:18And specifically here with Ford, ARB has a partnership with Ford where they basically supply and install all of this stuff as part of the purchase process.
01:27And if you get this installed prior to taking delivery of the vehicle, it's covered by the same Ford warranty.
01:32So, you've got a five-year warranty on this.
01:34The other advantage as well is that ARB was one of the companies that Ford opened the doors to early on in range of development
01:39to allow them to do a lot of fluid analysis on stuff like cooling.
01:44And you can see here that you stick a giant bull bar on the front of a car, it's going to affect the cooling.
01:49And these guys, because they knew all of the dimensions, all of the cooling spots ahead of the vehicle actually going into production,
01:56they were able to design all of this to take into account cooling.
01:59In addition to that, it also takes into account things like all of your ADAS systems.
02:04So, you can see here that the radar has moved from the front of the vehicle to the bull bar.
02:07Camera has also moved as well, along with the parking sensors and fog lights too.
02:12So, they're basically taking into account everything that you need.
02:14So, yes, you can go and buy whatever you want for the front of the car or for any other accessory for the car.
02:19But, you know, in my opinion, if it was my money, I'd probably just want to stick with stuff like this
02:24that directly potentially affects things like cooling.
02:28You're just going to be covered then.
02:29This was added on during the purchase process.
02:32This is just under $3,000.
02:33It's an ARB commercial bar.
02:35It didn't go for the summit bar that you find fitted to a lot of Ford next-generation Everiston ranges
02:42because it was a big step up in price and it kind of just looks a little fancier.
02:47But, ultimately, protection for the front end of your car is all you need.
02:50This is going to do the job perfectly fine.
02:52Come around to the side with me.
02:54So, stuck with the highway terrains because he's doing a lot of towing.
02:58He doesn't need to do a great deal of off-roading.
03:01So, you don't really need to go down the path of all terrains.
03:04Part of the reason I told him to go for the V6 as well over the four-cylinder is,
03:08yes, you're getting more torque.
03:09You've got that extra headroom for big hills and all that sort of stuff
03:13where a four-cylinder is going to potentially run out of puff.
03:15But the V6 also comes with the ability to switch this into 4A,
03:19which is a mode that is able to operate on sealed surfaces of a four-wheel drive.
03:24Now, if you do want an explainer on why that's the case,
03:26we actually shot a video that explains that.
03:28You can click up there to watch that.
03:29But, ultimately, if you are going to do a lot of towing and it's going to be wet,
03:32you really want the ability to switch from rear-wheel drive to four-wheel drive
03:36on sealed surfaces just to give you that little bit of extra traction
03:39and headroom as required.
03:41So, just worth keeping in mind.
03:43One of the things that I really like, obviously, going from, you know,
03:46the Raptor that I had is stuff like this.
03:47You've got plastic side steps there and the Raptor has that sort of really cool,
03:51I guess, metallic setup, whereas this plastic setup isn't going to be as durable.
03:55But, again, because he isn't doing a great deal of off-road driving,
03:58that's not going to be the end of the world.
04:00Come around to the back with me.
04:02Now, around the back here, tow bar.
04:04You've got three-and-a-half-ton brake towing capacity.
04:05The entire range of sport vehicles comes with an integrated brake controller,
04:10which means you can hook up a trailer directly to this
04:13and have a brake controller ready to rumble.
04:15You don't need to go and do it as an aftermarket installation,
04:17which I think is fantastic.
04:19I'll show you this as well.
04:20So, Ford was doing a stack of deals on in-stock ranges.
04:24So, they were model year 24 cars that Ford was trying to get rid of.
04:28What Ford has changed here with the model year 25 cars is the addition of this.
04:32So, this used to be a 12-volt outlet.
04:34That's now basically a 230-volt outlet with 400-watt supply.
04:38So, they've changed this from a 12-volt and also the interior from a 12-volt
04:43to the addition of one of these plugs.
04:45It gives you a little bit more headroom if you're doing some caravanning
04:48and you want to be able to run some accessories off your vehicle.
04:51That wasn't available prior to this, so they've now added that,
04:53which is why I kind of steered him towards getting this instead.
04:56We'll jump inside the cabin and I'll run you through one of the other option packs
04:58I told him to go for as well.
05:00Okay, so we're inside the Sport.
05:03One of the options that I went for here is the Touring Pack.
05:06And Touring Pack adds a number of things, but one in particular that I thought was
05:11quite useful for Dad, and that is basically the Pro Trailer Backup Assistant
05:16or whatever the marketing term is for it.
05:18But basically it allows you to control the direction of the trailer
05:20using the drive mode selector over here and also has a towing mode as well.
05:26Useful because if you're not confident with reversing a trailer,
05:30A, you should get confident with it, but to save you the hassle,
05:33you also have this option as well to basically direct the vehicle where it needs to go.
05:38Great feature, and I think for the price of the pack, it's like $1,600 or something like that.
05:43This, in addition to the zone lighting, the auxiliary switch bank, and all the other stuff that it adds,
05:48I think it's just worthwhile adding that if it doesn't come standard with the spec that you're going for.
05:52We were originally going to look at the XLT, but Mum didn't like the cloth seats,
05:56so that's why the Sport comes standard with this, you know, I'd call it leather,
06:00but it's probably not leather material there.
06:02So hotter on a hot day, you can't get cooled seats, but anyway, she wants what she wants.
06:08So Sport's separate to other specs in the range, and coming from, you know, a Raptor where I've got a big screen,
06:14this has this tiny little screen, which I'm not a huge fan of.
06:16It's got a tiny, or not tiny, but a smaller infotainment display compared to Raptor.
06:21Probably one of the things that annoys me the most is there's no cup holders.
06:24I mean, seriously, you've got holes for the cup holders there.
06:27They've just cheaped out and just added these pointless, like, nothings there for you to not be able to store anything in
06:34when you should have a cup holder.
06:35So with this slot up the top there, it's empty because it's available as a holder in the Raptor,
06:41but here it just does nothing.
06:42So I hate it when they cheap out on stuff like that, when it should just be included.
06:46I mean, it's just a redundant thing to be saving money on.
06:49The other thing I noticed as well, which is just really weird, seatbelts.
06:52It's not adjustable here.
06:53It's adjustable in the Raptor, but not here in the Sport for some reason.
06:56And, you know, that coupled with all this other cost-saving stuff,
07:00it just feels really cheap when brands do that.
07:03For something as simple as seatbelt adjustment, why would you not just have that as standard?
07:07Cup holders, you know, it's just like, guys, stop being tight asses.
07:10So anyway, it does have the rest of the bells and whistles you need, though.
07:13So you've got the dual-zone climate control, you've got the wireless charging there,
07:17you know, comes with everything else that's going to keep you happy while you're driving.
07:20Now, why did I settle for the Ranger?
07:23Well, you guys would know better than anyone that I test every single,
07:27virtually every single car on the market,
07:29and certainly every dual-cab ute on the market here in Australia.
07:32And to me, if I'm going to endorse a product to buy for something like towing
07:37and, you know, that is going to be used by a family member,
07:41I'm obviously going to go for the best option that's available,
07:44and that is this vehicle.
07:45With all of the testing that they've done in Australia
07:47and, you know, the engineering work that has been put into this vehicle,
07:52knowing some of the team that works on this,
07:54I'm confident in saying that you can't go better than this when it comes to towing.
07:58It really does tick all of those boxes.
08:00Normally, though, if someone is going to be driving around Australia,
08:03I'd recommend a Toyota product simply from the point of view
08:05that there are more Toyota dealers regionally.
08:08So that is typically my go-to, but in this instance here,
08:11I think that this is a better compromise in terms of value for money,
08:14because if you're going to step into a Toyota that isn't four-cylinder like the Hilux,
08:17you're going to be spending money on a Land Cruze, a 300 Series,
08:20and that's going to cost you closer to $100,000 if you want just like a base model,
08:24and well over that if you want something a little bit nicer.
08:26So that is how I landed on a Ford Ranger for dad and for mum for their towing adventures.
08:34They're going to be hooking their van up to this and doing a test run pretty soon,
08:38but I am sort of pretty happy with how this has panned out.
08:41I also have to give a massive shout-out to the guys at Western Ford
08:45who basically, you know, went through the process of ordering and delivering the vehicle for me.
08:51They were fantastic to deal with,
08:52so if you do need someone who will look after you, listen to your requests.
08:55I had a really narrow band of what I wanted.
08:58They found the car.
08:59They had all the accessory stuff installed from ARB.
09:03It was like a really simple and straightforward process,
09:05so thank you again to them for making that really easy.
09:08Anyway, so there it is.
09:09Let me know what you reckon.
09:10Did I make the right choice or have I given dad a dud?
09:13I'll keep you posted on how reliable the car is.
09:15I'm sort of running it in at the moment before I sort of toss in the keys,
09:18but we're at the sort of 250k mark now of being sort of running it in.
09:22How do you run it in?
09:24I don't know.
09:24These modern cars, there's no real run-in procedure.
09:27To me, it's a balance of being gentle and a little bit nasty at times to it
09:31because you want to give it the full spectrum.
09:33My opinion is that if they fit a stop-start system
09:36and that thing is activating when the engine is cold,
09:39warming it up is kind of pointless these days,
09:41so I am going to look into getting a forescan tool to basically disable some of the annoying stuff
09:45like stop-start and memory on lane departure stuff
09:50because that stuff can get a little bit annoying
09:52having to switch it off each time you drive the car.
09:54But anyway, yeah, let me know.
09:56Did I make the right decision?
09:57Let me know in the comment section below.
09:58If I didn't make the right decision, what would you buy instead?
10:02I'm keen for your feedback.
10:04If you did enjoy this video, please make sure you like it and share it with your mates,
10:07and if you haven't done so, already subscribe to the channel.
10:09Press the bell icon.
10:10But until next time, take it easy.
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