Ford Ranger Auto

Hi L E.

My Son uses a Ford Ranger Diesel Auto for work with Local Government, it sometimes involves towing Tandem Axle Trailers,
fully loaded with equipment on Beaches, we were discussing the
pros and cons re : the performance of the vehicle, his comment
was, it is excellent, I value his ability to assess different vehicles
which he drives, as he has had a lot of experience with 4wd's
over the years with many different brands.


Cheers
Daza

I have had 2007 auto Ranger cab chassis with Mincorp steel tray and under body storage lockers and tool box for over 12 months towed a 4.85 meter trailcraft Tweed Heads to Eyre and York peninsula and back before XMAS. Had an Adventure tray top camper on as well and that weighs about 1tonne plus the boat and trailer with bikes and extra gear on board another tonne. Auto is rated to tow 2500kg. Photos on my member page.

Tows easy and never missed a beat so far and have just had 30,000km service. Did fit overload springs in Port Pirie as found the Adventure camper a bit heavy and also far top complicated to put up and down. I have since switched to the Fibre glass Active tray top camper and it's a 300% improvement, lighter and much better fit out. Sorry havent updated the photos page as yet as can't get away at the moment.

Doing 100kph on bitumen with boat and tray top we used about 17litres per 100km, around town without significant load we get 13litres/100km.

I also drive with the overdrive off when fully loaded as per the owners manual.

I plan to keep the ranger for many years yet

I havent tried the manual as we also wanted the auto for my wife to drive with ease as when we went around OZ in 2006/7 in the Ford Courier towing and Aussie Swag she found the manual a bit hard going

I have had 2007 auto Ranger cab chassis with Mincorp steel tray and under body storage lockers and tool box for over 12 months towed a 4.85 meter trailcraft Tweed Heads to Eyre and York peninsula and back before XMAS. Had an Adventure tray top camper on as well and that weighs about 1tonne plus the boat and trailer with bikes and extra gear on board another tonne. Auto is rated to tow 2500kg. Photos on my member page.

Tows easy and never missed a beat so far and have just had 30,000km service. Did fit overload springs in Port Pirie as found the Adventure camper a bit heavy and also far too complicated to put up and down. I have since switched to the Fibre glass Active tray top camper and it's a 300% improvement, lighter and much better fit out. Sorry havent updated the photos page as yet as can't get away at the moment.

Doing 100kph on bitumen with boat and tray top we used about 17litres per 100km, around town without significant load we get 13litres/100km.

I also drive with the overdrive off when fully loaded as per the owners manual.

I plan to keep the ranger for many years yet

I havent tried the manual as we also wanted the auto for my wife to drive with ease as when we went around OZ in 2006/7 in the Ford Courier towing and Aussie Swag she found the manual a bit hard going

We now drive a twin cab Mazda BT50 t/diesel with auto . It replaced a Landcruiser manual ute that had given 18 years of great performance in the very soft sand at Ngkala Rocks on Fraser island and never missed a beat. However, shoulder surgery meant that the manual ute had to go so the auto BT50 was chosen.....and hubby was still grieving at the loss of the 'Landy' when we were on Fraser in September.........until the soft sand! The Mazda, which was fully loaded, 'floated' over all obstacles and hubby was heard to say "did better than the old ute" and he is one happy Mazda owner.
We travel with rhino racks and a rhino bag over the cab and tow a Backtrax camping trailer or a 4.5m boat. This causes some wind resistance but fuel is usually 11L-12L/100K. The vehicle price with extras was <$46000. Would recommend.

Thanks to all. Can drive one this weekend. Wont have a van on it but you've all eased the mind a lot.

safe travels.