Ford Ranger Wildtrak 2017

Australia’s Product Development and Design Centre led design and development of the new Rangers and last year’s facelift delivered a nicely tweaked interior.

The Wildtrak has a striking hand-stitched and -crafted look to the inside of its cabin; it’s cool. The highly stylised, leather-accented design is not for everyone – especially those seeking out a touring-friendly, hose-out interior – but if you’re spending $60,000 or more for a ute, chances are you may prefer a little more style over substance. Otherwise, for a ute, fit and finish can’t be faulted.

What’s immediately evident when you climb inside is the 'big man' dash, built into the chunky beam spanning the space between driver's side door to front passenger door. The clean layout incorporating the new instrument cluster and centre panel has a real substantial feel to it and is well suited to the tough-truck persona this Ranger so comfortably conveys, inside and out.

For a ute, fit and finish can’t be faulted.

The driver's seat is eight-way power-adjustable with lumbar support; both front seats are heated. Steering is rake- but not reach-adjustable.

There are steering wheel mounted controls for entertainment, phone, instrument display, etc, and controls for dual-climate and more in the centre dash. Everything is well-placed and spaced for ease of use on the go.

The new integrated in-car tech slots in well with the horizontal block of the dash. The dash display includes plenty of information options, all clearly displayed.

'SYNC2', as found in our Wildtrak tester, has a few problems. It’s divided into four modes – entertainment, navigation, telephone and climate control. No strife there, but the system is still not as simple to operate as other ute multimedia units, including the HiLux’s. 

Navigation mode, especially, is on the wrong side of annoying because it’s not intuitive at all. Your finger has to tap all over the place, in no logical way or order, to punch in an address and work your way through the destination-setting process. It feels at odds with the rest of the ute because everything else – well, almost everything –works so well. The new system, 'SYNC3', will likely have addressed any SYNC2 niggles.

‘Feel’ is an important aspect of this ute because it’s a notion that’s applicable across the board. While there is a definite work-truck feel to the structure around you, supportive seating all-around (yes, even in the rear), and the use of soft-touch materials make the interior a more appealing and comfortable prospect for long trips over varied terrain.

The cabin is packed with real-world-useful features: a split, cooled centre console, grab handles on both A-pillars, two covered 12V sockets, two USB ports, glove box with a compartment for the owner’s manual, sunglasses holder in the roof, and light and mirror in the sun visor (something HiLux drivers would shudder at the thought of).

The Wildtrak has a striking hand-stitched and -crafted look to the inside of its cabin.

There are bottle holders in every door and cup-holders for driver and front passenger in the centre console; fold-down cup-holders for the rear-seat passengers. The Wildtrak lacks HiLux’s convenient  push-in/pop-out cup-holders mounted on the dash.

Rear-seat passengers get air con vents and 12V and 230V plugs, plus there are storage bins under the rear seats.

Test-driving a loan vehicle for longer than a few days gives a writer time to live with the vehicle, driving it, day in, day out, and to pick up on any niggles or flaws that may only be noticeable once someone has experienced it as a regular driver would.

One of the things we noticed was that it’s not quick and easy to fit booster seats to the rear seat. In something like the HiLux, it’s a simple process of removing the headrests, using the convenient push-buttons, and then looping restraining belts through to the easy-to-access, high-mounted anchor point. 

In the Wildtrak you need a tool, or at least something small and pointy, to help depress one side of the buttons at the base of each headrest ‘leg’ to get the headrests off. Then the whole seat needs to be folded forward, so you can get the restraining belt from each booster seat to its own anchor point.

Not easy when you’ve got to belt in two seats and they both get in the way – even trying to do one seat at a time – when you have to fold the rear seat forward to access that aforementioned anchor point.

The Wildtrak has six airbags and a maximum five-star ANCAP rating.

Did Ford Australia actually invent the ute, way back in 1933, right here in Australia? Some vehicle historians would have us believe so, but we tend to agree with Aussie off-roading legend, and old mate of ours, Allan Whiting, who has an alternative view.

Big Al reckons the first ute was developed in the very early years of the 20th century, when a 1903 Oldsmobile was fitted with a ute-like tub.

Dodge or Ford USA might also be able to lay claim to having developed the first ute due to Dodge’s 1924 soft-top pick-up, or the ute-like 1925 Ford Model T.

The Aussie ute’s origins are thought to have started in 1932. According to information from history buffs at Sydney’s Power House Museum, a farmer wrote to the then boss of Ford Australia that year asking for the carmaker to build, “a two-in-one car and truck, something I can go in to church on Sunday, and carry pigs to market on Monday”.

A designer at Ford’s Geelong plant, Lew Bandt, set to work modifying a 1933 two-door Ford V8 Coupe. He built a tray and reinforced the chassis for load-carrying duties. Ford Australia gave it the green light and the ute went into production in 1934.

Because Wildtrak owners are likely to do a bit of towing, we decided to throw a decent-sized boat and trailer – more than 1500kg and 7.5m long (including the outboard-motor leg) – on the back and do some testing of our own. 

Maximum towing capacity is 3500kg, so we were nowhere near it, but any sensible driver won’t push the limits because car makers’ towing capacity figures are, at best, approximations.

The purpose of our towing loop was to test the Wildtrak’s driveability, fuel consumption and safety with a big load.

The drive-loop was a 100km through city streets, coastal roads and highway stretches with plenty of uphills and downhills thrown in for good measure.

The drive-loop was a 100km through city streets, coastal roads and highway stretches.

We were fully fuelled and weighed at a weighbridge at the start of each loop, then we filled after the entire distance had been driven to see how much go-juice we’d used.

The Wildtrak’s 3220mm wheelbase (the same as the BT-50’s) is the longest of the current dual-cabs. That stretch gives it a damn good platform on which to tow.

According to Ford specs, the Wildtrak auto has a claimed kerb weight of 2271kg and a payload of 925kg (same as current HiLux’s) and a GVM of 3200kg, the best of any ute.

When towing with the Wildtrak, for starters, hitching up is no problem: this Ranger’s reversing camera depicts a centre line on its screen, so even if you’re usually a bit of a shocker when backing up to a trailer, you’ll have no issue here. And there's a 12-pin plug standard.

Hitching up is no problem.

With the boat and trailer on the back, driver, front-seat passenger, camera gear and a full tank of diesel, we tipped the scales at 4300kg. Maximum gross combination mass is listed as 6000kg, so we were well within that limit.

From the get-go, the Wildtrak settled nicely with the load and drove supremely well; on stretches of highway, along windy coastal roads, on long sweeping downhill bends and in and out of traffic.

It's worth noting, trailer sway control is standard.

Acceleration is smooth, strong and reliable – no faltering under load at any time. On-road, it’s a smooth and quiet tow truck – like the load wasn’t there at all.

If it was working hard to do anything – especially get up the long, twisting hills we tackled – we weren’t aware of it. And it's worth noting, trailer sway control is standard.

The Wildtrak’s engine power and torque meant it blasts through any challenges. Its engine braking on downhills is solidly reliable.

Towing can be stressful; a driver has to be comfortable and have confidence in the tow vehicle to be safe on the road, and that’s easily achieved in the Wildtrak. Driving position affords plenty of visibility all-round and combined with the superb way the vehicle itself copes with the load makes for a hassle-free driving experience.

A minor niggle: once we’d crested a hill and drove onto flatter road, there was a lengthy pause between the upshift from second to third; it held the gear for too long, which was jarring.

At the end of the loop, we’d used 15.0L/100km. 

The new Ranger hasn’t lost a step in the bush; if anything, it’s a bit better than before.

We tackled water crossings, steep, rocky uphills and downhills, tight bush tracks, as well as a few, short sandy runs.

It has a part-time four-wheel drive (4WD) system with low range transfer case. The driver is able to shift from 4x2 to 4x4 high on the fly, using a dial on the centre console. The vehicle must be stationary for shifts from 4x2 high to 4x4 low.

The driver is able to shift from 4x2 to 4x4 high on the fly, using a dial on the centre console.

In the auto Wildtrak, high range is 1:1 ratio; low range is 2.717:1. Torque is available from low in the rev range, handy for that soft, sandy terrain.

There are buttons to engage the rear diff lock and hill descent control, which works below 40km/h and down to 2km/h.

If we ever lost grip in the bush it was due to the city-friendly Bridgestone Dueler H/Ts rather than any fault of the Wildtrak’s 'Brake Traction Control System' or any of its other off-road tech. The rubber’s on 18-inch alloys.

Wheel articulation is generally sound, although not as good as the HiLux.

Ground clearance (unladen) is 237mm. Wading depth, which we never got near testing (don’t blame us, blame the lack of swollen creeks nearby), is listed as 800mm. Air intakes are located up high between the inner and outer guards on the driver’s side; the alternator is high in the engine bay.

Wheel articulation is generally sound, although not as good as the HiLux’s; they don’t flex as far as the Toyota’s and so are left scrambling in the air, where the HiLux’s would be gripping, or at least flicking, dirt.

The side-steps look nice and are handy for getting in and out of the Wildtrak, but they are vulnerable to coping a hiding from logs and rocks in the bush. (Our loan vehicle had already clocked up more than 17,000km before we stepped into it and the side-steps, especially the driver-side one, had obviously taken a real hammering during its tours of duty up to that time.)

While all of the off-road numbers (approach, departure etc) check out, our towbar, ruining rampover, ran afoul of the top edges of a few ditches we threw the Wildtrak into.

The Wildtrak feels bigger, less manoeuvrable in the rough stuff than the HiLux; the difference isn’t substantial but it’s a lingering, driver-feel thing.

If you plan on getting stuck, don’t worry, because there’s solid recovery points.