RANGER SPORT V6
THE previous Ranger already had one of the longest wheelbases in the class providing a stable platform for towing but Ford has taken this further with the new model, adding 50mm to the wheelbase for a total of 3270mm, and also 50mm to the wheel track to further improve stability.
This provides the Ranger with a large ‘footprint’ on the road and this in turn works with a very well-calibrated suspension to deliver smooth travel over rough roads. There is very little if any of the pitching and porpoising that you might get in many vehicles when towing on the factory-fitted standard suspension. The chassis remains smooth and balanced over the rougher terrain to give the driver control and a feeling of confidence in the Ranger’s abilities.
The roads were wet on this day and pulling away from a standstill on a hill produced wheelspin with the system in the 2WD setting. Selecting 4A full-time 4WD allows you to run in 4x4 on sealed roads and removed that problem of rear wheelspin in the wet. Very few 4x4 utes offer this fulltime 4x4 setting; only the Mitsubishi Triton and outgoing Volkswagen Amarok among the popular models, so it’s great to now have it on the new Ford.
The V6 diesel engine pulls the 2100kg Jayco van with ease and has plenty in reserve for overtaking and climbing hills. It’s relatively quiet and refined in the way it gets on with its job, again making the task of the driver easier.
The 10-speed automatic transmission performs well when left to its own devices, and manual shifting is done using buttons on the right-hand side of the transmission shifter. This is especially useful when you want to downshift to give a bit of trailer braking when slowing down.
We did find that the transmission was shifting through to higher ratios sooner than what was ideal. This was with the drive mode in the Normal setting but after switching it to the Tow-haul mode, the transmission holds the gears longer and made driving even easier. With Tow-haul mode selected, the background of the gauges lights yellow and it has different colours to let you know you are in the other drive modes.
Ranger’s chassis electronics include trailer-sway control which works with the vehicle’s Electronic Stability Control (ESC) system to detect if and when a trailer might start to sway or fishtail on the road. This wasn’t the case on this drive with the Jayco but could happen with an incorrectly balanced or set-up trailer.
Interestingly, the Jayco Journey is equipped with its own ESC system but when plugged in to the Ford, it was automatically disabled. This didn’t present any issues on this drive.