ON THE ROAD
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The Ranger soon unravels the notion that the back of a pickup is continually trying to overtake the front (as an American writer once quipped). It offers an easy, comfortable drive without any nasty surprises and should pose no problems to even the most inexperienced.
Despite its tail-down appearance when loaded, we were pleased to discover that it handled extremely well. Judging on looks alone you might think the loaded Ranger's front wheels would have hardly any purchase, but it's very well balanced.
We had to really try on the snakes at the test track to get the back out and this was on an ultra-slippery surface of fallen leaves. In general the Super Cab understeers if pro0
0 yoked, but this is easily countered by easing back on the throttle. Out on the road the worst we can say about the Ranger is that taking a roundabout too fast will result in the pickup tramming slightly. Otherwise it corners well and holds a straight line on a blustery day along the motorway in fine style.
As far as out and out speed goes, it isn't going to beat any records. But the figures aren't disastrous either. Track figures show that while the Super Cab hasn't anything to be ashamed about, it would be nice to have a little more go, taking 18.5sec to get to 50mph; risec from 30-50mph; and 15.5sec for 40-60mph.
For the record, the turbo-diesel version of the same engine takes up to 4sec off these times, even with the heavier 4WD Double Cab (CM 3-9 June 1999). In any case, the other vehicles in our comparison table don't offer much in the way of competition (0-50mph in 24.4sec for the LDV, with the Tata arriving six seconds later).
Hills can demand some nifty changing down the box so a little more forward planning than usual is advisable. On our M20 climb, which most vehicles now romp up in a benchmark time of amin 525ec at 70mph, the Ranger's speed fell to 55mph to complete the ascent in just over three minutes.
Shifting is very smooth but the gearing is ridiculously short. First gear disappears in a split second and block shifting quickly becomes the order of the day. We kept on thinking the pickup was in fourth as we cruised along the motorway while it was actually in fifth.
Torque isn't available in bucket loads, but we still feel the gearing could be a lot longer, even for the start-stop work that Ford may have in mind.
Braking feels very safe indeed: we don't feel that the true stopping power is reflected in the figures we got from the track. We were using a brake tester which had been flung onto the
motorway after a collision between a Relldllit Clio test van and an artic so perhaps this has something to do with it.