Ford: Ranger with road manners

The Ford Ranger is more than just a grunty workhorse. Photo / Jacqui Madelin

Double-cab utes are no longer merely workhorses. Many have to double as family cars for active families. Can they hack the pace?

We loaded Ford's four-wheel-drive Ranger double-cab up with two large dirt bikes - a Honda XR650 and CRF450 - plus all the riding and camping gear, and headed north for a dirty weekend.

Our chosen XLT wellside mount came fitted with the torquey 3.0-litre diesel. It pulls anywhere from a low 1400rpm, ideal for low range clambering. Yet it also delivers smoother-than-expected open road performance, the variable vane turbo cutting turbo lag as promised. The five-speed auto did a reasonable job, while two-wheel-drive, four- or four-low are available at the twist of a dial.

Past experience suggests this Ranger is impressive off-road, and makes the most of its cross-brace, ladder-frame chassis, limited slip diff and an engine with plenty of grunt from basement rpm and on up. It does still feel like a truck on road, but one with reasonable road manners, which we were grateful for in the appallingly waterlogged conditions during our drive north.

Fortunately the cab layout had allowed us to pack everything inside without dirtying the seats. The inner seat back folds down to access the pre-drilled holes for child seat tether strap mounts, and has a hard-wearing wipe-clean surface on which to put our piles of gear. Had we had the kids with us, it would all have tucked between the bikes. But having the option of using the rear pew as a boot - then folding the back to reveal clean seat cushions - was a bonus.

This $54,490 ute comes standard with a tray liner - which isn't as grippy as expected when wet - and four firmly bolted cargo hooks.

The lockable hard-top tonneau costs $2200 extra. It's great if you always carry valuable gear that needs securing, but it's a two-person job to remove, a fiddle as the brackets aren't fixed to the tray. And once it's off - and you've found somewhere to put it - you'll find it's been rubbing the paint. Given I carry bikes more often than easily portable chainsaws, I'd stick to the user-friendly soft tonneau. Otherwise spec is almost line-ball with many cars. Four airbags, ABS brakes and air con are standard; there's storage aplenty, including a split-level central cubby and document tray plus four cupholders; and the iPod port is handy to two power sockets. Unwieldy tonneau aside we couldn't have hoped for a better mount for our action-packed weekend.

Ford Ranger

We like
Hard-to-beat family motoring/ workhorse balance, torquey engine

We don't like
Optional tonneau a fiddle to remove, not the most frugal of engines

Powertrain
3.0-litre diesel with variable vane turbo, 115kW at 3200rpm, 380Nm at 1800rpm, five-speed auto drives rear or all four wheels

Performance
0-100km/h not available, 10.4l/100km (claimed)

Safety
Four airbags, ABS

What it's got
Air-con, 16-inch alloy wheels, six-stack CD player with aux, two power sockets

Vital stats
5173mm long, tows 2500kg braked, 70-litre tank