Ford Ranger 2021 review: XL Cab Chassis 4×4 GVM test

There'S, no nonsense about it. This is the ford ranger, xl and it's in single cab, cab, chassis, guys, what's. It like to drive every day, but, more importantly, what's. It like to drive with a load in the tray, well that's. What we're to find out so stick around for even more details on this vehicle. Read my full review at the car's guide website and, if you're watching this video on youtube hit like hit subscribe, hit that bell icon to stay up to date with all of our content and while you're at it. Why don't you share it with your mates. Our test vehicle has a 3.2 liter, 5 cylinder turbo diesel engine, a 6 speed automatic transmission and it is four wheel drive. It has a listed price of 45 290 dollars, but it also has an optional heavy duty pack and that tacks on sixteen hundred dollars but i'm, going to tell you more about that pack. Soon standard features include an eight inch multimedia touchscreen and that's with ford's sync. 3 system it has apple carplay and android, auto aeb and a rear diff lock. Our test vehicle has the arctic white exterior paint, Music, okay, so the business end of any ute is obviously the tray will put exact measurements up on screen right now for this one. But what i want to tell you about is this heavy duty pack option now that includes the black steel wheels, the all terrain, tyres, the heavier duty leaf springs and the rear view camera right, let's check out the cabin Music.

The cabin is a work ready, space, hard plastic surfaces, cloth seats, vinyl flooring, the controls are easy to find and easy to use on. The move. You'Ve got bottle holders in the door. You'Ve got cup holders in the middle here. A nice center console you've got some shallow storage behind the front seats and you've got that little storage bin there, all in all, it's a neat tidy space. But what is it like to drive Music steering? Is nice and light and precise, but really that's, no surprise, because that's, a common trait in ranges that 3.2 litre engine works really nicely with that 6 speed, auto, probably even better than the 2.2 liter or the 2 liter? It really is a quietly effective combination. Acceleration is smooth with an even handed throttle response that makes driving a a settled and considered experience. Ride and handling are really quite impressive for a unlaid and cab cab, chassis ute. It always feels settled and it's only ever really knocked off of its game by harsher surfaces in the road visibility is good. You'Ve got an open field of vision in every direction. Its turning circle is 12.7 meters and that's the same as a dual cab. It never feels ponderous, but you can feel its size a little bit on tighter roads and, if you're, going for driving on tighter tracks, but overall, without a load, this range it does really well. But how does it do with a load? Well, we put one tonne of fertilizer in the tray, and that was courtesy of our mates at agri, west rural crt bomber dairy to see how it would cope on a mixed drive loop.

This auto ranger has a claimed payload of 1313 kilograms and we were comfortably under that. So how did it do if you've ever driven a ute? It will come as no surprise that a load in the tray settles everything down. It really rains it all in and tightens it up fair enough. We haven't maxed out the gvm, with this load we're a little over a ton with the fertilizer on the tray and with me, and some gear inside we've probably got another 100 kegs, or so i reckon the 3.2 litre engine in this makes a real difference because It just gives you that extra punch, that extra power and torque that you need when you get onto an incline and you have a weight on the back. It just keeps things moving along. You keep motoring and it's all under control. The ride and handling with a load remain composed, we've gone through some exposed, train tracks and some sections of chopped up back country bitumen and the automatic transmission, even with that one ton load in the tray remains very clever. What has impressed me most, though, is that even laden the ranger remains quite refined and that's a pretty big deal for a single cab, chassis, ute, towing capacities are 750 kilograms, unbraked and 3500 kilograms braked. This ute has a five star end cap safety rating from testing. In 2015, 2015. safety gear includes six airbags aeb with pedestrian detection traffic sign recognition and more fuel consumption is acclaimed 8.

7 liters per 100 kilometers on a combined cycle. Actual fuel consumption on this test was 11.2 liters per 100 kilometers, and that was including our loaded loop. This ranger xl holds plenty of appeal as a work, ute it's, functional, it's comfortable and it even manages to be refined, whereas no single cab, chassis, ute really has the right to be. This is well and truly job ready and the fact that it has the heavy duty pack is the cream on top of the work package.