2021 Ford Ranger review: It’s the Big Mac of dual-cab utes

CarExpert

The Ford Ranger is becoming hard to beat in the dual-cab ute segment. The latest update brings with it a few extra features plus FordPass Connect. Paul Maric tests out the 2021 Ford Ranger XLT to see if it’s still the ute to buy in this segment.   Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior 01:03 Interior 04:06 Infotainment 05:34 Safety Tech 08:34 Practicality 09:25 On-road 12:10 Off-road 17:13 Verdict 20:14  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  #review #ford #ranger

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. So us Australians have gone dual cab ute crazy.

00:04 Both the Ford Ranger and the Toyota Hilux are generally both the best-selling vehicles in

00:09 Australia every single month, and this is kind of the big Mac of dual cab utes.

00:15 They haven't really changed the formula all that much. You buy it knowing what to expect.

00:20 It is the Ford Ranger. This is the XLT, which is right up at the top there before you get into all

00:25 those little special editions. It's priced at just under $61,000. This competes with that entire dual

00:32 cab ute segment that includes things like the Toyota Hilux, the Mitsubishi Triton, Volkswagen

00:36 Amarok, Isuzu D-Max, you name it, there is a competitor in that segment. So today we're going

00:42 to do a detailed review of this with just a little bit of off-roading as well to see if it's any good.

00:47 If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review, you can use the time codes up on

00:51 the screen there, or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down and use the chapters below. Please

00:55 subscribe if you haven't done so already, and make sure you hit the bell icon as well,

00:59 because that'll tell you every single time we drive a popular vehicle.

01:01 Let's have a look at the exterior. Before we start though, this is the 2.0-litre diesel.

01:07 If you are interested in the 3.2-litre five-cylinder version, we have reviewed that in

01:13 the FX4, and you can watch that review up here. Today's going to be all about the 2.0-litre.

01:17 So you've got seven exterior colours to choose from, and all but white and firetruck red are an

01:22 additional $650. So let's have a look at the design. This hasn't changed a great deal. Before

01:28 when I mentioned that the Ranger is the big Mac of dual-cab utes, it's because you just know what

01:33 you're getting. Nothing is really different every single year with this car, and that's a good thing,

01:38 because they've got the formula right, and they just keep building on it and improving on it

01:42 slightly. So you've got this big grille here with the chrome, and then it's offset with the colour

01:47 there, and then you can see down the bottom here front parking sensors, and if you do get the

01:51 optional pack with the radar cruise control, you get a little radar cruise sensor in there as well.

01:55 In terms of headlights, you have bi-LED headlights with daytime running lights off to the side.

02:01 This is a new headlight cluster that was rolled in with a Ranger update recently. By the way,

02:06 we do know what the 2022 version of the Ford Ranger and the Everest are going to look like,

02:11 so if you want to see a little bit more detail on that, click up there. Jump around to the side

02:15 here, you get standard 17-inch alloy wheels, and then you get this all-terrain tyre as well. This

02:21 is going to help you with light off-roading, and in theory this will provide a little bit of extra

02:26 road noise, but we do know after having driven the Raptor, which has a big old meaty set of

02:31 all-terrain tyres, the cabin's really well insulated, so I'm hoping it's the same story

02:35 here when we hit the road. We're not going to hear too much inside the cabin as we rumble along,

02:39 so you'll be able to tell the difference between the 3.2-litre and the 2.0-litre with this badge on

02:44 the side. The 2.0-litre says 'bi-turbo', so keep that in mind. Over here, you've got some chrome

02:49 on top of that wing mirror with an indicator built in, some sidesteps, and then privacy glass,

02:55 and then come around to the back. Now, you'll notice here, unlike the new Hilux, which has a

03:00 really cool set of LED taillights, this still uses those incandescent globes, which is, yeah,

03:05 same thing, but it would be nice to see an LED set up on the rear here, kind of like the F-150

03:10 in the States. So, this tray, you can see big Ford logo Ranger down the bottom, and then they

03:14 integrate the camera just under there, so it's tucked in very nicely, but it does mean when the

03:19 tray is down, you're not going to be able to see anything. I think it's the Amarok that has a

03:23 camera base down here, so you're able to see things when you're reversing. Now, what about

03:27 tray? Let's have a look at that. Now, before I run you through the dimensions here, I like this

03:31 torsion bar, so this means that this tray is easy to close and open. Again, some of the units in

03:36 this segment don't have this, so you just have to put a little bit of extra weight in. You've got

03:39 some cup holders, as I like to call them, up here as well. Now, in terms of payload and dimensions,

03:45 you've got just over one tonne of payload, a little over 1500mm of load length, a little over

03:50 1500mm of load width, and then 1139mm between the wheel arches, and then down the front there,

03:56 you've got a waterproof 12-volt outlet, three and a half tonne braked towing capacity as well. So,

04:02 in terms of the specifications, this ticks all the boxes. So, we're inside the Ford Ranger. Let's

04:07 kick off with the key. This is what it looks like. You have unlock, lock, and then some blanks,

04:13 and then a Ford logo on the back. It's a proximity sensing key, so you just leave that in your

04:18 pocket, grab the door handle, and then use the push button start. Okay, what about the styling?

04:24 So, look, this is starting to feel a little bit old now. This has been out for a while. You can

04:29 remember the original PX Ranger had a little tiny screen up the top, and then they evolved into

04:34 using SYNC and now SYNC 3, but what hasn't really changed is the materials that they've used

04:39 throughout the Ranger range. So, for the moment, this is going to do the job, and look, if you

04:43 think of this as a dual cab, it is okay that all of this stuff is scratchy and hard-wearing. It

04:48 just doesn't feel as premium as some of the other competitors in this segment, and it becomes more

04:52 of an issue when you head beyond the XLT. This used to be the top spec before the Wildtrak came

04:57 in. Now, if you spend a bit more money, they all kind of still feel the same, so you don't really

05:01 feel like you're getting that sort of premium feel, but what about the touch points? Good news,

05:05 they are nice and soft here on the door and also there as well. How soft are they? Well,

05:11 we have our durometer. This tests surface hardness, and we have tested the surfaces on

05:16 this car. If you want to see how this compares to other cars that we've tested, use the link

05:20 in the description below. And finally, build quality. Everything kind of moves around a

05:27 little bit. Up here's okay, actually. It's just this sort of lid that is a little bit wonky, but

05:31 I guess it'll be okay. Moving on to infotainment, this is Ford Sync 3. That's what Ford calls their

05:39 infotainment system. Today, we're going to do just a brief overview, but if you want to see a

05:43 detailed review of this, click up here to watch the video we have already recorded. So, this is

05:48 what the main menu looks like. Audio, we have AM, FM, DAB plus digital radio, and you also have the

05:55 ability to stream via Bluetooth or USB connectivity. I'll run you through smartphone mirroring in a

06:00 second as well. There's also a menu here for the climate. So, while you do operate your climate

06:04 controls down lower, you still can operate them up here and change things like whether the AC's

06:09 on or off and which direction everything is heading in. In the phone menu, this is where you

06:13 connect your Bluetooth device, but this is also where you're able to set up things like smartphone

06:18 mirroring and also settings for things like text messages. Now, in terms of smartphone mirroring,

06:22 you have wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. I'll show you what those look like.

06:27 So, full screen integration there of Apple CarPlay, super high resolution as well,

06:32 and really quick too. It flicks between those screens with ease. Now, while this does have an

06:37 inbuilt voice recognition system that you activate on the steering wheel and it actually works really

06:41 well, a long push of this sends those voice commands through to the phone and then it's

06:46 able to use your phone's voice recognition system to send commands through to the cloud to give you

06:51 expanded ability to send text messages and call people, put in addresses and that kind of thing.

06:56 I'll show you what Android Auto looks like. So, another full screen integration, that all seems

07:01 to work well. Let's look at the maps. They all move around super fast as well. So, lots of phone

07:06 connectivity there. The big news here with Ranger though is that they all now come with FordPass

07:12 Connect. What is that? Well, it allows you to put an app on your telephone and the app allows you to

07:17 remotely start your car and interact with your car remotely. It has an inbuilt SIM card that then

07:22 communicates with a third-party server that then communicates with your phone. So, if it is a hot

07:27 day outside, you can start the car, get it to cool down or a cold day, vice versa. You can also

07:32 remotely unlock the car as well. So, that is now standard on the Ranger. So, really good technology.

07:37 Then, moving on from this, you also have the ability down here to change all of the car's

07:42 settings and there's a fair bit to go through in this. So, if you do want more detail, have a look

07:46 at our detailed infotainment review. Ahead of the driver, there are two screens either side of the

07:50 speedometer. So, the two screens allow you to control functions of the car. On the left-hand

07:55 side, and that's controlled on the left-hand side of the steering wheel, you have entertainment,

07:58 navigation and phone. You can change those settings as you go. Then, on the right-hand side,

08:02 you have your fuel gauge. You also have the ability to go through the trip computer,

08:07 different display modes, your off-road settings come up there as well. You have your fuel economy

08:12 and finally driver assist settings and also settings for the car in general. It's a really

08:16 good setup, easy to use and also, importantly, easy to use while you're driving. You've also got

08:20 a six-speaker sound system and then connectivity options come in the form of two USB ports,

08:25 a 12-volt outlet and, check this out, a USB port up the top here for dash cam integration. I really

08:32 love ingenuity like that. Let's talk safety tech. So, you have autonomous emergency braking with

08:37 pedestrian detection. You have a lane departure assistant. So, because this is an EPAS system,

08:43 an electrically assisted steering rack, it can pull you back into the lane ever so slightly

08:48 if you veer out. Now, keep in mind here that blind spot monitoring, a semi-autonomous parallel

08:53 parking feature and also radar cruise control is part of an option pack. So, that'll cost you

08:58 $1,500 and that adds in a few other bits and pieces as well. Auto-dimming rear vision mirror

09:02 up here. Finally, you have both front and rear parking sensors and let's have a look at the

09:06 reverse view camera. Quality of that isn't too bad. Like, it's not super clear but you can see

09:12 what you need to see. Clever thing is that you have not only the outer guidelines but also

09:16 guidelines for the trailer hitch and then on top of that with one button, I'm able to zoom in and

09:21 see how close I'm getting to that. So, that's going to make attaching a trailer much easier.

09:25 Right, moving on to practicality and we'll start with storage. I'll disconnect the phone so we've

09:29 got a little bit more room to work with here. Where are you going to put it? Well, you've got

09:33 plenty of room there in the cup holders. You've also got a slot down the bottom there which fits

09:37 even big phones. It's not wireless charging so it'll just sit down there. You'll need to plug it

09:42 in if you want to charge it. What about bottles? Easily fit into there. We'll get rid of that key.

09:46 Also, teeth on the side which will mean the bottle won't move around too much and it's

09:50 slightly grippy as well so it'll hold things in nicely. You can also whack this one inside

09:54 the door where you've got room for a bottle plus extra storage. Centre console, dual-tiered,

09:58 so you've got a spot up there for your sunnies and other bits and pieces and then a secondary

10:03 tier. Watch this, dives right in there. It's also air-conditioned too. Glovebox, let's look at the

10:08 size of that. Hey, that's massive. So, that will easily fit in there and then finally you have a

10:13 spot up here for your sunnies. Okay, moving on to comfort. You have dual-zone automatic

10:18 climate control. Now, even though these are cloth seats, you can add leather seats and 18-inch alloy

10:24 wheels as part of that option pack I mentioned before that brings with it extra safety and

10:29 convenience tech for just $1,500 and I think it's probably worth it. These look fine but

10:33 leather's easier to keep clean and all that kind of thing. Either way, they are comfortable. It's

10:37 a good place to be seated and the steering wheel sits nicely in the hand, although it only goes

10:41 up and down. It doesn't have any reach adjustment, which is a little bit disappointing, but all of

10:45 this stuff's super easy to reach and then you have your voice recognition to back everything up.

10:49 Okay, second row of the Ranger. Now, you can do a fair bit of stuff here. So, let's start up the

10:55 top here. You can drop this all the way forward. That reveals a jack and also, I wonder what that

11:03 is? Ah, tie-rye. It also reveals your two top tether points and then in addition to that,

11:10 you have ISOFIX points for the outboard seats and then if we pull this little lever here,

11:14 this pulls the entire bottom of this up. Have a look at how much storage you have under here

11:18 and just to give you an idea, basically lose an entire bottle in there. You could potentially

11:23 even fit a laptop in there as well to hide it from prying eyes. What about room? There's no

11:29 grab handle. Would it be nice? Okay, so in terms of room in here, knee room is reasonable. I'm sort

11:37 of hard up against that seat but keep in mind this is quite far back. Toe room's pretty reasonable.

11:42 Headroom is okay. I think if you were taller than me, you're probably going to be touching that ever

11:46 so slightly. In terms of centre armrest, two cup holders in there. They're rubberised as well and

11:53 then inside the door, you can put a bottle too. There's no air vents back here but they do fix

11:58 that compromise by giving you an actual power outlet which is pretty cool plus a 12-volt

12:03 outlet, no USB. Then you have mat pockets behind the seats and then grab handles up the top.

12:11 So we've hit the road in the Ranger. So the 2-litre diesel version of this which is fitted

12:16 to this car, it's a four-cylinder turbocharged diesel, makes 157 kilowatts of power and 500

12:22 newton metres of torque. So it's a fair lashing of torque and it really suits the characteristic

12:27 of this car because it's mated to a 10-speed automatic. By the way, when I say car, I mean

12:33 ute. If you ever hear me say that, don't think that I'm referring to a little car, I'm referring

12:36 to this. It's just an Australian thing. So what that means is that when you do punch it,

12:41 it has to find the right gear but it does it really quickly. It's not like these old-school

12:47 gearboxes where they just threw lots of gears at them so it sounded impressive. This one's actually

12:51 quite intelligent. It's fairly lag-free so once you do get stuck into it, it begins moving. Now

12:57 the big difference here with Ford as well is the characteristic of the throttle. They give you

13:02 quite a lot of surge low-end in the throttle. It makes you feel like the car is a whole lot

13:07 more powerful than it is and that translates out on the road. When you lean on the throttle,

13:11 it really starts using the vehicle's torque band to give you all of that push in the back that you

13:16 need. It's actually a really impressive setup. It's obviously not quite as smooth as a turbocharged

13:21 V6 diesel like in the Amarok but for the most part, it really suits this chassis. Now there

13:26 aren't any drive modes per se for on-road driving but you do have these shifters on the steering

13:31 wheel so you flick those down, you get a little display there but given it's a 10-speed, it takes

13:35 forever to get through the gears or you can slide it down into a sport mode which kind of just gives

13:41 you a sharper throttle and then does all the gear shifting for you and holds gears for a little

13:45 longer as well. Let's talk 0-100. Yes, I know, dual-cab, who cares but I think it's important

13:51 because we're able to compare it to other vehicles in this class so let's give it a crack.

13:54 Now what about fuel economy? The average that Ford claims is 7.4 litres per 100 kilometres.

14:13 Let's see what we're sitting on. Okay, we're on 10.3 so it's significantly higher than

14:18 Ford's claim and that's over quite a long distance as well, over 1500 kilometres so

14:22 that is much higher and look, I mean it is a smaller engine compared to a lot of the other

14:27 vehicles in this class so it has to work a little bit harder and perhaps that's the reason that

14:31 it is using a slight bit more fuel than the competitors. Let's move on to ride. Now this

14:35 is the bit that I'll probably spend just a little bit of time on. Ford, even though they haven't

14:40 dramatically changed this really a great deal since PX2 was launched, is just the class leader

14:46 when it comes to ride in these vehicles. They soak up bumps beautifully. A lot of the engineering

14:52 work has been done right here in Australia so it means that they are tailored for Australian roads

14:56 and I've mentioned this in other videos before, our roads aren't necessarily worse than other

15:00 roads around the world. It's more the conditions. So as we drive along, I'm on a single lane

15:06 country road here. If there's someone that comes towards me, I need to dart off the side of the

15:10 road. I've got potholes, I've got gravel, they're all completely different road surfaces. As I come

15:14 back on, I've got undulations, it's corrugated, I then hit the gravel, it gets even worse. So

15:20 the vehicle has to be able to deal with this whole subset of conditions and often when a car

15:26 comes to Australia it just isn't tuned right for our roads and that means that all of the effort

15:30 they've put into it really translates to a really great driving experience on the road. That means

15:36 as you hit some of these things and the lingering undulations, it's not going to buck about and it's

15:41 not going to fill you with fear every single time you need to move off the side of the road.

15:45 What about handling? If you do want to go for a little bit of a fang in your dual cab ute,

15:51 will it keep you happy? Yeah, it actually will. It's good fun. It sits nice and flat through

15:57 corners. Steering feels really good, so electrically assisted steering rack. This was

16:00 the big difference between this and the outgoing BT50 that they shared a platform with. Ford

16:05 upgraded the steering system to e-pass instead of hydraulics. That means you get a really nice

16:09 feel through the wheel. It's on the heavier side which I think is good for a ute. It makes you feel

16:13 like you're actually doing something but on the same token at low speed it's easy to manoeuvre

16:18 as well. In terms of turning circle, 12.7 metres. What does that mean? Well, that means you're

16:24 probably going to have to be doing some three-point turns every now and then. Visibility is pretty

16:30 good. The driving position has me sitting quite low. I know it's a little comical to say that of

16:35 a high-riding dual cab ute but it feels nice and comfortable. It feels like I'm driving a car in a

16:41 sense. I can see clearly down the front of the vehicle. Visibility out the rear is good. The

16:46 wing mirrors are nice and big but disappointingly no blind spot monitoring. You've got to pay extra

16:50 for that. What about road noise? The engine really doesn't make that much noise. You do

16:55 hear it a bit when you get into it but for the most part it's pretty quiet. There is a bit of

16:59 wind noise coming in but earlier I mentioned the tyres being all-terrains. I really can't hear any

17:05 thing inside the cabin. It's the same story with the Raptor, those giant BF Goodrich tyres. You

17:10 really just don't hear anything when you're out cruising on the road. Okay, let's talk off-road

17:14 equipment and I'll run through the key stats. 237 millimetres of ground clearance, 29 degree

17:20 approach angle, that's the angle of the face you can approach before hitting the front of the car,

17:25 and then a 21 degree departure angle, that's the angle of the face you can do in reverse.

17:30 Now in terms of four-wheel drive equipment, you have two-wheel drive high range, so that's your

17:34 standard driving mode and it's rear-wheel drive in this vehicle, four-wheel drive high range,

17:38 which you can switch to on the fly, so while you're moving and while it's in gear, and four-wheel

17:42 drive low range, which you have to be stationary for and in neutral and then it'll allow you to

17:47 switch into four-wheel drive low range. There's a rear differential lock and hill descent control.

17:52 Now the good thing about the rear differential lock here is that you can engage this even if

17:56 the car is not in four-wheel drive mode. There are a lot of other vehicles on the market like the D-MAX,

18:01 the BT-50, the Hilux, where you have to be in low range for the rear diff lock to work,

18:05 so it's important to note that this is the superior system for that kind of driving

18:10 compared to those. So let's give this a shot. Oh, by the way, if you don't know what any of

18:14 this stuff means or it's a little bit confusing, click up here to watch our explainer on four-wheel

18:19 drive controls where we just run through the basics. It's good to brush up your skills anyway.

18:22 Okay, so we'll flick over to four-wheel drive using our little switch. You can see 4H appears there,

18:27 it is confirmed and locked in. Let's see if we can climb our grade here. It's not overly steep,

18:34 everything's nice and dry. This feels great. It's nice and smooth, it's not too bumpy.

18:39 It's really climbing up here with ease. Even with the 10-speed auto, it's not getting itself

18:45 into the wrong gear. I'll switch that parking sensor off. Yeah, it's just walked up there with

18:50 ease and I get really good response from the throttle as well, so it's not surging and doing

18:54 anything silly. Let's see how it goes in terms of ground clearance over our rocks here. It may

19:00 look easy, but there are some scary looking rocks here that could bash a hole under this car. So

19:06 I'm going to go down nice and easy. It has hill descent controls. I'm going to switch that on

19:10 as well. I'll climb down here.

19:13 Look, it's actually really good. It's allowing me to

19:21 crawl down just with the throttle. So as I modulate the throttle, it's basically

19:27 gradually giving me more and more speed. Whoops, a little surge there. Okay, so you've got to

19:35 really stay off that brake pedal. The second you touch the brake pedal, it starts locking

19:40 it into position. I can hear it working as well. Okay, that's not too bad. Look, it works well.

19:46 I think you just have to trust in the system. And look, I'd probably prefer to just manually

19:50 control descent, but it is good to see that system there. But it does interact with that

19:55 brake pedal quite harshly. So the second you go on the brake pedal, it kind of clamps down

19:59 and stops you really quickly, as opposed to being a gradual slowdown. Now, in terms of

20:03 wading depth, 800 millimetres, which is class leading in this segment. Now, I would normally

20:08 show you this, but unfortunately, the river is high today, and this will become a boat instead

20:13 of a dual cab ute. So the Ford Ranger, I know this is going to sound lame, but I don't know,

20:19 if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And that's kind of what they've done with this. Incremental

20:23 improvements, the addition now of FordPass Connect means you do get these cool features that you

20:28 can't get in other dual cab utes. And you can be a little bit nostalgic as well, because it's

20:32 engineered and designed here in Australia. And then that Talon is exported overseas as well.

20:37 It's still a solid performer, and the 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel engine does a really good

20:41 job. So it is hard to pick faults with this. The interior is probably a little bit dated,

20:46 but with the new Ranger just around the corner, I'm really excited to see what they do with it,

20:50 and hopefully, fingers crossed, they stick a V6 diesel under the bonnet. So let me know in

20:54 the comments section below, is it overrated? Do you think its time is done, or is this still

21:00 the ute to go to in this segment? Let me know what your thoughts are below, and if not,

21:04 what are you buying instead? If you did enjoy this video, please share it, and also don't forget to

21:09 hit the like button, and subscribe, and follow it up with the bell icon as well. But until next time,

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