The Ranger is probably the most boring car I’ve ever owned. When I first got it, I viewed it simply as an appliance. Other than having a manual transmission, there’s nothing inherently interesting about it. In all honesty, if it didn’t have a manual I would have sold it six years ago when I got my Gladiator.
What stopped me from selling it, apart from its transmission, was its almost unparalleled practicality in so many different circumstances. Whether I need it to navigate small inner-city streets, tow over three tonnes, go on an interstate road trip or perform general duties around the farm while still comfortably seating four, the Ranger does it all.
I can’t even say that it’s been unreliable, because, to my absolute shock, it has been the most unbelievably reliable car I’ve ever owned. In the 11 years I’ve owned it, literally nothing has gone wrong. Not even the battery has had to be changed.
The Ranger is an extremely practical vehicle that is seemingly the ideal choice for many different people and circumstances. Yet if you look anywhere online, it is seemingly the most hated car in Australia, and that reputation admittedly isn’t entirely undeserved. The often-repeated phrase “You can’t spell Ranger without Anger” is a pretty accurate summation of the average Ranger driver.
To add to the Ranger’s negative reputation, pretty much all of the engines and automatic transmission options have a fair few issues that often result in catastrophic failure. With that in mind, you may be wondering how the Ranger has remained one of the top-selling cars in Australia for the past decade. As someone who bought one brand new and has gradually grown to love it, I will attempt to explain why.
When Ford released the T6 platform and the PX Series Rangers all the way back in 2011, it represented a turning point in the Australian ute market. The PXI, though awkward looking, was the first dual cab ute that could get buyers to consider a dual cab for family duties. For many buyers, including myself, it replaced the traditional sedan and even the SUV as a daily driver. For the first time, buyers in Australia could buy a ute that didn’t force them to put up with the compromises of most utilitarian vehicles.
Prior to this, I had a 79 Series dual-cab LandCruiser (which burnt down on the side of the road coming home from Melbourne on the first day I had it), and I’ve had a lot of experience with the N70 Hilux as well as Navaras and Tritons from the period. Though they are all supremely capable and relatively reliable (especially the Toyotas), they were far from comfortable daily drivers. They all had cramped cabins, harsh leaf-sprung rides and agricultural power plants that made them unappealing for daily use.
The Ranger changed all of this. Especially once the PXII facelift came out, these were, and still are, among the best-looking, best-driving and most capable vehicles in their class. For the first time, you could buy a ute that handled properly and had a decent ride while still being able to tow 3.5 tonnes and perform reasonably off-road. Viewed from that perspective, it’s easy to see why it became and remained so popular.
I enjoyed driving my LandCruiser, and now my Gladiator, more than the Ranger, but if I had to own only one of my cars and was being entirely logical, this is the one I would choose. It’s difficult to overstate how supremely practical this car is, and in Wildtrak spec you aren’t really giving up any of the essential creature comforts.
What specifications are available? Everyone knows at least someone who owns a Ranger, and a lot of that popularity came down to the huge number of trim levels you could choose from, as well as the updates over the PX Ranger’s life cycle that meant you could tailor your Ranger exactly to your needs. There are five core trim packages to choose from: the XL, XLS, XLT, Wildtrak and Raptor, which were available with a variety of engines and transmissions. There were four main engines and three main transmissions offered over the life of the PX Ranger, and their driveability and quality varied widely.
For engines, there was a 3.2L five-cylinder available for the whole production run that produced 147kW of power and 470Nm of torque, a 2.5L petrol as well as a 2.2L diesel in the PXI and PXII lower trims, and a 2.0L twin-turbo introduced in 2018 with the PXIII that was paired exclusively with a 10-speed automatic transmission. For the entire run, you also had a choice between a pretty much bombproof six-speed manual and a problematic six-speed auto. The one I have is a 2015 Ford Ranger Wildtrak PXII with the 3.2L inline-five diesel paired with a six-speed manual.
Like most higher-spec Rangers, it has the technology pack, which means it has a lot of pretty decent technology even by today’s standards, such as radar cruise control. Because of the combination of that technology with a relatively good driving experience and decent-quality materials, the Ranger feels surprisingly car-like despite its relatively large size and weight. Even a base 2.2L XL, which I’ve had a lot of experience with as a work truck, is a solid daily driver and a good, cost-effective option.
Unsurprisingly, because there are so many options, the range of prices is as big as for any car you can find on the used market. Early examples in poor condition routinely sell for under $10,000, and there are people asking up to $90,000 for low-kilometre, pristine examples of higher trims like the Raptor. However, for most people looking to buy one, a good example with regular mileage can be had for between $20,000 and $50,000 depending on the year, trim and drivetrain.
Compared to the competition, like the Hilux, Navara, D-Max or Triton, the Ranger is way ahead in terms of interior fit and finish as well as overall comfort and ride quality. That, however, did not mean you had to compromise on practicality.
This was the ute that ramped up the tow capacity wars, and it’s the reason that most standard dual cabs now tow 3.5 tonnes. Payload was also quite strong, between 900 and 1132kg depending on the model and driveline.
All variants feature a 230V household outlet, three cigarette lighter sockets and a USB outlet, as well as a 12V outlet in the tub. Most importantly, these cars started the trend in dual cabs of having lockers available as factory-fitted equipment. The XLT and Wildtrak grades came standard with a rear locker as well as other off-road-focused features such as a low-range transfer case and hill descent control.
The class-leading features did not stop at practical, utilitarian items. The interior features a lot of excellent technology and creature comforts that were impressive by the standards of 2015 and that the Ranger’s competitors have only really caught up on in the last five years.
The Wildtrak came with heated front leather seats. The seats are large enough to accommodate even large adults with ease and remain comfortable over extended periods on long road trips. The PXII did, however, come with an odd fabric in the middle of the seats that was extremely firm and uncomfortable over long drives when new. That fabric subsequently softened, particularly over the first 10,000km, and the seats are now extremely comfortable. One of the best updates to come with the PXIII was seats almost entirely covered in leather, which was a huge improvement in comfort over the older model.
If you elected to pay roughly an additional $2000 for the tech pack, you got radar cruise control, lane keep assist and auto emergency braking. Lower grades such as the XL and XLS come without a screen, instead having a large SYNC 1 radio with AM/FM in its place. In higher grades such as the XLT and Wildtrak, the PXI and first-year PXII had the SYNC 2 infotainment system, which has a standard AM/FM radio as well as DAB, Bluetooth and a CD player. The system also featured voice control, which takes a number of years to adapt to your voice and work properly. It still doesn’t understand every address perfectly, but it’s reasonable for a system from the period.
The navigation system also has live traffic, which was a big deal back in the early 2010s. The PXII introduced SYNC 3 in 2016, which brought Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to the XLT and up. Having experienced both SYNC 2 and SYNC 3, I find the latter a huge step up. It’s a far more responsive system, but it changes the gauge cluster setup to one that I actually prefer less. It becomes a single-screen setup, trading the second screen for an analogue tachometer, which took away some of the practicality.
Overall, the PXII Ford Ranger Wildtrak has some pretty decent technology for a car that is over 10 years old, but if technology is your focus, you would be far better served getting a newer-model PXIII Ranger. The PXIII introduced a whole suite of features including keyless entry, a heads-up display, a 360-degree camera system and self-parking, which is far more in line with the technology you would expect of a car manufactured in 2026.
The reliability of the Ranger really seems to come down to how well each specific car was driven and maintained and, honestly, how good the quality standards were in the factory on the day that car was built. It can be a bit of a lottery with these cars, but overall they’re decently reliable if you can find a good one. From everything you hear, people either have no problems for 100,000km or more, or constant issues from the outset. There’s seemingly no in-between.
In this section I’m going to focus primarily on the 3.2L, as it is the most common engine and probably the one I would recommend.
The most infamous issue is the variable-pressure oil pump, which means you have to do an oil change within 10 minutes so it doesn’t lose pressure and risk damaging your engine. The 3.2L’s top and bottom intercooler hoses can crack or split, and because these hoses sit after the airflow sensor and the turbo, a split causes the engine to run rich, blow black smoke and go into limp mode. A few other people I’ve met who own Rangers with the 3.2L have personally warned me about this issue.
The 3.2L also has further, but less common, issues with the EGR cooler and the oil cooler failing. If the EGR cooler fails, the engine overheats and you can be up for a big bill for the damage that can be done.
Finally, with tightening emissions regulations, a DPF was introduced in 2017. This is something to look out for, as with most other utes. It ultimately means that extended drives need to take place regularly for the burn-off.
Turning to the transmissions, the six-speed manual was pretty much unkillable, with the exception of some issues with the throwout bearings in the PXIs. Otherwise, they are unkillable in the later models like the one I own, even under major stresses such as towing and more difficult off-roading. By contrast, the six-speed automatic had a number of serious issues that were never resolved throughout the production run. These were mainly caused by the insane 250,000km service interval for the transmission, which should definitely not be followed if you want your automatic Ranger to stay alive.
The other main issue with the six-speed automatic was the location of the transmission cooler. Because it sits behind the engine, the cooler can struggle under strenuous driving conditions like heavy towing or beach driving on a hot day, leading to the transmission overheating. Having put 100,000km on mine over the last 10 years, with a fair bit of off-road driving as well as heavy towing, I can say it has been flawless.
The only issues I have had have been minor. The tyre pressure sensors play up on occasion, and they will probably have to be replaced soon, as the batteries are likely dying given the age of the car. Another minor issue is that when you wash it, or if there is heavy rain, water leaks through the antenna and into the dome light, where it goes down into the interior. It’s nothing particularly serious, as only a few drops get through, but it’s still somewhat of an annoyance.
However, the biggest annoyance I have experienced has come from the poorly designed roller cover. If you place longer items diagonally in the tray, such as a whipper snipper, a poorly placed button releases the tension on the roller door’s spring, which makes the cover difficult to open. The roller cover is also far from waterproof, so expect anything you leave in the back to get somewhat wet.
Still, when you put it into perspective, these are the most minor issues I’ve experienced with a car I’ve owned for this long. As I said earlier, my Ranger even still has its original battery. It’s been a perfect car mechanically, and I haven’t had to do anything to it other than keep up with its regular service intervals. I credit most of this reliability to the transmission, as the manual is the far better option if you demand a lot from your Ranger’s capabilities and require absolute dependability.
Because Rangers are so common, I have driven basically every engine and transmission combination available, with the exception of the petrol engine, which is so rare I often forget it was even an option. The 3.2L is by far the best engine, especially when paired with the six-speed manual, but the auto is a good pairing as well. The 2.2L is the second-best engine and, honestly, a great option, especially now given the huge price difference from the 3.2L. The 2.0L bi-turbo with the 10-speed is definitely powerful and might be the quickest, but it can’t compare to the torque you get from the 3.2L. The power of the 2.0L bi-turbo comes on far later in the rev range, and the 10-speed automatic is always hunting for gears, which makes it unappealing to drive and undesirable in situations such as heavy towing, where low-rpm torque is paramount.
The main thing that makes the Ranger’s driving experience enjoyable is its manual transmission. The throws are relatively short for a vehicle of this kind, and the clutch is so light that you feel like you’ll put your foot through the firewall when you get out of any older car.
The only oddity is the spacing of the gears. Second occupies an odd position of somehow being both too far from and too close to first at the same time. It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t driven one, but everyone I know who has driven one has the same complaint. The ratios in the gearbox only really begin to make sense when you tow heavy and change gears at a higher rpm than you ordinarily would.
As for the handling, the Ranger was then, and still is, the class leader in dynamics, with the potential exception of the Amarok. It drives brilliantly. Whether laden or unladen, it’s the best-handling vehicle in its class, leagues ahead of its main competitor, the Hilux, which still drives like the old breed of work utes that were prevalent in the 2000s. My biggest complaint with the handling is the over-assisted power steering. The electric unit fitted from the PXII onward works well at low speeds and is weight-sensitive, but it’s too light at any speed above 30km/h. The rack-and-pinion setup does mean it is quite precise and predictable.
Where the Ranger particularly shines is its manners when towing. It is definitely the most stable and best tow car in the dual cab ute segment. Having towed with a fair number of cars, I find the Ranger is only really beaten by the large American utes, which leverage their larger, more powerful engines and longer wheelbases to create the ultimate tow vehicles. Among the mid-sized dual cab utes that are so prevalent in Australia, however, the Ranger is the best. Leaf springs are still the best rear suspension setup for heavy towing, and the set fitted to the Ranger is extremely competent at managing both heavy tow ball weights and the lateral forces applied by heavy trailers.
However, like all utes this size, towing 3.5 tonnes remains ill-advised. Any trailer heavier than 2.5 tonnes will mean you are stuck going up steep hills at 40km/h in second gear. As a general rule of thumb, you really shouldn’t tow a trailer heavier than the vehicle you’re towing it with, and the Ranger is not an exception to that rule. If you’re going to tow over three tonnes, you’re better off getting an American-style ute such as a Silverado or a Ram, which is far better equipped to deal with the weight.
Like all light-duty dual cabs, the Ranger is a moderately capable off-roader. While it has some excellent off-road-focused features such as a locking rear differential and a low-range transfer case, its off-road ability is limited primarily by its suspension design. The combination of independent front suspension and a leaf-sprung rear, though well suited to on-road handling and towing, is not conducive to suspension flex. The flex the Ranger has isn’t bad for this style of suspension, but it doesn’t compare to that offered by a vehicle with coil-sprung solid front and rear axles.
The Wildtrak trim package further hampers the Ranger’s off-road capability with its 18-inch wheels, which have an inexplicably ridiculous positive offset. A standard-sized 31-inch tyre mounted on a rim larger than 17 inches doesn’t offer enough sidewall to be deflated to the extent needed for an adequate contact patch off-road. Further, the positive offset of the Wildtrak rims means they scratch extremely easily off-road. All of the scratches on my wheels have come from rocky creek crossings or driving in ruts, where the sidewall of the tyres on most cars would ordinarily take the impact. Ultimately, the Ranger is decent off-road, but it doesn’t compare to dedicated off-roaders.
My LandCruiser and Jeeps are far more capable off-road, but they definitely do not handle as well as the Ranger on the road. In stock form, the Ranger is really good for light off-road touring such as beach driving and relatively easy tracks. It’s far from a rock crawler, but it makes no pretence that it is one. If you’re searching for the most capable off-road vehicle you can find, you should look at something else.
Should you buy one? This is the ultimate question. I love mine, and having had it from new, I would never get rid of it. It’s been extremely practical, and it constantly gets used for a variety of ute-specific tasks.
If buying second-hand, there are a number of serious considerations to take into account given the reliability issues these have. Only buy one that has been meticulously serviced, and I wouldn’t recommend buying the cheapest one possible. A lot of Rangers have unfortunately been flogged by P-platers or stereotypical Ranger drivers who stuck on a throttle controller because they thought it would give them more power to tow their jet skis. But if you can find a good one and you like it, I would say go ahead and buy it.
These are among the best-looking dual cabs available, and the PXII is the best looking by far. The ideal pick would be a 2016 PXI, as it was the only model year that got SYNC 3 without a DPF. The PXIIIs would be my second choice, but the subtle changes they made to the front end, with the square fog lights and the weird shiny materials used in the interiors and for the exterior stickers, made it look arguably worse to me. Finally, though the looks of the PXI have grown on me, it remains awkward looking. It is, however, cheap, and if you can put up with that front end, perhaps by installing a bulbar to hide it, it’s a great option.
What stopped me from buying the new Ranger, and why am I keeping this one forever? While there have been a huge number of great improvements with the new Ranger that fix most of the complaints I have about the PX series, I still wouldn’t buy one. The new one has been sterilised to an even greater extent than before, and the new engines aren’t proving to be particularly reliable so far. The biggest reason I wouldn’t buy one, though, is that there is no manual transmission option available. If a true six-speed manual paired with that powerful 3.0L V6 were available, I think I would take my chances on the reliability.
Ultimately, then, I think I’ll be sticking with the Ranger for as long as possible. As long as it remains relatively reliable, I see no reason to sell it. It continually impresses me with its competency and practicality, and as such I’ve slowly learned to love it over the years. The Ranger isn’t an outwardly exciting car. Nothing about it immediately endears you to it, but as you live with it, it slowly wins you over by consistently proving itself a strong performer in every task you ask of it.
As I said at the beginning of this review, the Ranger is an appliance. However, it just so happens to be so competent as an appliance that it transcends that label and becomes a car that will one day be worthy of peripheral enthusiast status.
Owner: Peter
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