2016 Ford Ranger Wildtrak - Full Review

The refreshed Ford Ranger Wildtrak is back and hoping to keep its title as Australia’s best all-round dual-cab 4x4. Does it? We test it on- and off-road to find out.

VERDICT: The refreshed Ford Ranger Wildtrak thanks to tweaks to its snout and interior remains the best-looking dual-cab ute on the market. That it’s excellent to drive on-road and impressive when the going gets rough is icing on the cake. It’s a bit more expensive than some rivals, but in Wildtrak form gets a lot of stuff its competitors don’t. If you want to 4x4 to get you around town in style and then out into the bush on weekends, then the Ranger should be on your shortlist.

EXTERIOR

The refreshed Ford Ranger arrived on the market at around the same time as the new Toyota HiLux (September 2015), and it almost instantly stole away the nation’s attention from that legendary off-road ute. And it does the same on the road. Thanks to a new grille and headlights, bumper and front quarter panels with vents (which are just blanks) the new Ranger continues to turn heads, and in our test cars eye-melting ??? Orange it’s even more eye-catching.

Beyond the front end, there are also some new wheel designs and the plastic covered sports bar in the tray now features a downlight for seeing what’s in the tray in low light situations. It can be turned on from inside the cabin (the switch is near the headlight dial).

There have been no changes to the dimensions, towing capacity, off-road ground clearance and angles or tray size.

INTERIOR

More so than the exterior, the interior of the Ranger has copped a significant overhaul with a new dashboard and dual colour LCD screens that sit either side of the central-mounted speedometer (behind the steering wheel). The dashboard itself is dominated by an 8-inch colour touchscreen running Ford’s SYNC 2 infotainment and communications system.

Ford calls its new dashboard design a ‘beam’ style, whatever that means. The new dash manages to make the interior feel a lot wider than it probably is. The plastics used are all good-quality soft-touch with the result that it looks and feels more like the interior of a Ford sedan.

All of the buttons and dials are chunky and easy to use on the fly, and SYNC 2 responds well to spoken english and there are steering mounted controls to ensure you don’t have to look away from the road to choose a new song…

The front seats are part leather and part eye-burning orange insert panels which help to keep you in place when driving off-road. The seat bases have side bolstering which means you’ve got to swing up and over, or over and down to get out or in and avoid knackering yourself in the process. The back seats are also comfortable and there’s plenty of head and legroom for three adults in the back, or two children in child car restraints.

PRACTICALITY

Despite the new-look nose, the Ranger Wildtrak is basically unchanged on the outside from its predecessor and that means all of its off-road angles, ground clearance and wading depth remain the same. And that’s good, because with the 230mm of ground clearance, and decent approach and ramp over angles the Ranger is pretty handy in the rough stuff.

The one letdown is that Ford didn’t do something about mounting the towbar up higher as it compromises the departure angle, which against key competitors is right at the back of the pack.

The tray runs the same dimensions as before too, and these are 1549mm long (at the floor) and 1485mm (at the top of the box), 1560mm wide and 1139mm between the wheel arches, although we measures 1120mm between the wheel arches and we measured that against the floor, the floor height to the ground is 840mm. And the tray sides measure 511mm high.

PERFORMANCE

The refreshed Ranger Wildtrak runs the same 3.2-litre five-cylinder turbo-diesel as its predecessor and that means 147kW at 3000rpm and 470Nm of torque from a low 1500-2750rpm. This is mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. Fuel consumption is a claimed 9.6L/100km on the combined cycle.

RIDE AND HANDLING

The refreshed Ford Ranger Wildtrak offers near car-like levels of ride and handling even when running unladen. The suspension is supple on-road and able to soak up even hard-edged hits without shuddering through the cabin or being bucked off line.

The steering, which is a new electric power-assist system that replaces the rack and pinion steering set up on the old model is nice and light at around town speeds and then builds weight as the speed rises.

Driving off-road the Ranger’s recalibrate traction and stability control systems work well, although the Ranger doesn’t have the suspension flex of some competitors (like the Toyota HiLux, for instance).

Switching between two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive high range and then low range is as easy as turning a dial. There’s a locking rear differential for when the going gets really tough, and this now works with downhill assist which is excellent news.

SAFETY

The refreshed Ford Ranger gets a five-star ANCAP crash safety rating when it was tested in September 2015 (remember that ANCAP now places a date on its ratings, and so a five star three years ago might not be a five star car in 2016… frustrating).

Other safety features include remote keyless entry, although it’s a key start, rear parking sensors and reversing camera, alarm, six airbags and seatbelt reminder for the driver and front passenger. It also features dynamic stability control, hill launch assist, trailer sway control, load adaptive control, roll over mitigation, emergency brake light, traction controls and hill descent control as well as a locking rear differential.

EQUIPMENT

New features on refreshed Ford Ranger PXII Wildtrak (and XLT):

• SYNC2 with a high-resolution 8-inch touchscreen (XLT and Wildtrak);
• Navigation with Traffic Management Channel (XLT and Wildtrak);
• Electric Power Assisted Steering (EPAS);
• Adjustable Speed Limiter;
• Cable shift manual transmission;
• Auto Stop/Start on manual transmission (4x2 Hi-Rider and 4x4 models);
• 230V Inverter (Double and Super Cab models);
• Tyre Pressure Monitoring System;
• Projector headlamps (XLT and Wildtrak);
• Rear box illumination (when Sports Bar equipped); and
• Dual colour 4.2” instrumentation screens (XLT and Wildtrak);

Tech Pack Option on XLT and Wildtrak:

• Adaptive Cruise Control with Forward Collision Alert;
• Lane Departure Warning;
• Lane Keep Assist;
• Driver Impairment Monitor; and
• Reverse camera (standard on Wildtrak).

WHY YOU’D BUY IT

If you’re after the best on-road riding and looking dual-cab 4x4 ute then the Ford Ranger is hard to go past. The Ranger Wildtrak is more expensive than its key rivals, but it’s well equipped and very capable when the going gets really rough. If you’re planning on towing with it, you’ll have to ignore its headline grabbing 3500kg towing capacity as that doesn’t reflect the maths. All in all, though, this is a very good dual-cab 4x4 that, if your budget will stretch, won’t disappoint you.

THE COMPETITION

The big players are obviously hot on the Ranger's heels, trying at every turn to unseat it as the most capable all-round pick-up on sale. Fortunately for Ford, the Ranger is still adept at tackling the odd corner and is more than composed enough in the urban environment to argue for its place in a city-dweller's garage. 

The main competition comes from the Toyota HiLux SR5 (which we've recently reviewed). Then there is the Nissan NP300 Navara ST-X 4x4 and the Mazda BT-50 Dual Cab Utility GT. Truth is, all these more expensive pickup trucks are after that same 'lifestyle' formula that Ford has executed well with their utilitarian Ranger, something that certainly helps justify its more expensive price. 

And while rivals do exceed the Ranger in certain areas, such as the Toyota HiLux in pure off-road ability, the competition are still just shy of that almost sedan-like feel that the Ranger gives, especially in it's highest Wildtrak spec. 

Visit our Showroom for a full breakdown of specification and price for the 2016 Ford Ranger Wildtrak 3.2.