The cabin design draws much from Ford’s latest cars, with a large touchscreen dominating the centre and a smaller configurable screen directly ahead of the driver. Seat designs and cabin trim loudly spell durability but are still considerably more luxurious than people new to this kind of machine expect.
The £40,000 2.0-litre diesel Wildtrak (tested here) has been the best-selling Ranger in the UK for years, accounting at times for up to 60% of sales. From now on, Ford will offer buyers more choice. A 3.0-litre twin-turbo diesel V6 is waiting in the wings – although it seems that Wildtrak owners are in no hurry for the launch of an EV.
On the road, the Wildtrak very much remains the vehicle that its long-time devotees would expect. Its lusty 202bhp diesel, smoother but still vocal enough to be easily identifiable as a four, has decent performance, and the automatic box has more than enough ratios – 10 – to provide both lively step-off from rest and long-legged cruising.
It’s quieter than the outgoing Ford Ranger (2015-2022), and there’s notably little wind noise even at high speeds. At 5360mm overall, it doesn’t fit car parks too well, although veteran owners somehow seem to make it work. The 2028mm-wide body fits narrow streets better than you would think, though, especially since the elevated driving position (you look down on Range Rovers) gives a great view and the body sides are relatively straight.
Even the mighty frontal area doesn’t seem to hurt fuel economy too badly: our brief test on an energetically driven Warwickshire test route returned 28mpg, and Ford predicts 32-35mpg in normal use.