ON & OFF ROAD IN THE NEW NEXT-GEN RANGER

FORD’S NEXT-GEN RANGER UTE IS ON SALE NOW AND WE GOT BEHIND THE WHEEL AT THE LAUNCH

- MATT RAUDONIKIS

THE 2022.5 Ford Ranger is finally here and cars are now heading out of showrooms to owners who ordered their new utes months ago. Ford Australia says it has more than 17,000 pre-orders for the new Ranger and hopes to fulfil them with 20,000 vehicles arriving over July and August.

While we'd driven prototypes of the new P703 Ranger in the past, this was our first steer of the production models and, here at the launch, we had time behind the wheels of several different 4x4 models.

The regular (non-Raptor) P703 Ranger is available in five model variants - XL, XLS, XLT, Sport and Wildtrak - with prices starting from $35,930 through to $70,190 plus ORC. A new Ranger Raptor will arrive in August, priced from $85,490.

FROM THE TOP

OUR series of drives on the launch started at the top of the range with the Wildtrak, which is powered exclusively by the 3.0-litre diesel V6 engine. The ‘Lion’ V6 engine is new to the Ranger brand and puts out 184kW of power at 3250rpm and 600Nm of torque, giving the Ford Ranger the most grunt in the 4WD ute class.

As in the past, the Wildtrak is more than just a dress-up pack, and stepping into the interior of the new model you are greeted with newly designed and shaped powered leather seats and a 12-inch portrait layout infotainment screen. Lower models get a still-sufficient 10-inch version of this screen.

Even though Ford has fitted these big new screens to the Ranger, the designers haven’t forgotten about functionality and have gifted us with individual dials for HVAC temperature adjustment and audio volume controls – thank you, Ford!