Before you all start, yes, I know - I was curious & happened to be passing.
Dropped into my nearest, not very local, Ford dealership enroute back from a hospital appointment to have a look at the current Ranger.
An interesting 20 minutes & enough to persuade me that should I go down the route of chopping in my two Discos for a dcpu of some description it won’t be for one of these.
The interior was well set out & for the short time I was in it felt comfortable - ‘entry level’ is the Wildtrack model which comes as standard with heated leather seats & steering wheel
Pick up bed apparently comes with a bed liner as standard & the bed itself wasn't visible. However, with the tailgate down the pressed metal panel visible seems somewhat thin & full of punched holes that had nothing in them but allowed a clear view of the showroom floor so likely exposed to road dirt, salt, mud, etc. & a likely point for corrosion. It looked cheap & not well thought out.
Next was a look under the bonnet - this one had a 4 pot motor sat in it but again the tin work looked thin & not fit for purpose.
What really struck me, as both not well thought out or fit for purpose, was the engine air intake… this was on the top of the slam panel just behind the leading edge of the bonnet, to which was fitted a rubber seal to direct air into the inlet. Oh, yes, & would also work perfectly to direct water into the intake too should any make its way in that direction from fording deep water or splashed up from puddles in the road.
Oh, & the price?
After the salesman had said that it wasn’t possible to order a new build because there were so many unsold in the UK due to the new tax rules for businesses who have stopped buying them & Ford have been giving dealers money to let them shift the current stocks… the price he offered me one of their stock vehicles for was £45.8k - less than £3k below list, plus the VAT of course!
Don’t even ask about service intervals or warranty extensions!
Dropped into my nearest, not very local, Ford dealership enroute back from a hospital appointment to have a look at the current Ranger.
An interesting 20 minutes & enough to persuade me that should I go down the route of chopping in my two Discos for a dcpu of some description it won’t be for one of these.
The interior was well set out & for the short time I was in it felt comfortable - ‘entry level’ is the Wildtrack model which comes as standard with heated leather seats & steering wheel
Pick up bed apparently comes with a bed liner as standard & the bed itself wasn't visible. However, with the tailgate down the pressed metal panel visible seems somewhat thin & full of punched holes that had nothing in them but allowed a clear view of the showroom floor so likely exposed to road dirt, salt, mud, etc. & a likely point for corrosion. It looked cheap & not well thought out.
Next was a look under the bonnet - this one had a 4 pot motor sat in it but again the tin work looked thin & not fit for purpose.
What really struck me, as both not well thought out or fit for purpose, was the engine air intake… this was on the top of the slam panel just behind the leading edge of the bonnet, to which was fitted a rubber seal to direct air into the inlet. Oh, yes, & would also work perfectly to direct water into the intake too should any make its way in that direction from fording deep water or splashed up from puddles in the road.
Oh, & the price?
After the salesman had said that it wasn’t possible to order a new build because there were so many unsold in the UK due to the new tax rules for businesses who have stopped buying them & Ford have been giving dealers money to let them shift the current stocks… the price he offered me one of their stock vehicles for was £45.8k - less than £3k below list, plus the VAT of course!
Don’t even ask about service intervals or warranty extensions!
my Plan A is to keep the D4 & turn it into the stalking motor, sell the D2 V8 & buy something like a C class or A4/6 estate as my everyday car.
