Ford Ranger 2023 review: Sport Bi-Turbo

My first thoughts? It’s big enough that you could imagine Martin Riggs owning one, for any Lethal Weapon fans out there, but not so daunting that you feel you couldn’t handle the local Westfield car park!

When you’re standing next to it, it does feel quite big and that’s probably got a lot to do with the ‘go large, or go home’ motto that seems etched in every design aspect.

The shape is very robust, squared off and there’s no sleek tapering in sight. The large LED headlights look awesome and wrap around the wide dark grille menacingly.

The pronounced nose and dark accents make it look mean – my family nicknamed it ‘Bruce’, after the shark in Jaws (or Finding Nemo, for the toddler parents).

The shape is very robust, squared off and there’s no sleek tapering in sight. (image: Glen Sullivan)

The interior carries through the sense of space with its big multimedia screen, cool honeycombed air vents and wide seats.

The doors feel and look solid, like slabs of steel protecting you from the elements without feeling clunky to use. The tray sides are tall and thick, giving a greater sense of space because of the added depth.

It’s a design that means business and actually looks like it can work under tough conditions. So, it’s big but it’s not all puff.

The large LED headlights look awesome and wrap around the wide dark grille menacingly. (image: Glen Sullivan)

It’s quite generous with space but front passengers will benefit the most. Back seat occupants will still be reasonably comfortable in everything but legroom. It is a little tight and is something to consider if you transport taller teens or adults regularly.

The storage throughout is quite good. The glove box is shallow but the front passenger gets a little shelf for their things, plus there is a little cubby on either side of the dash. But it’s really only suitable for a small wallet (men’s wallet, mind).

Each door has a storage bin and a drink holder, plus each row gets two cupholders. The middle console is big enough for decent storage.

The back enjoys map and device pockets plus under-seat storage. The extra space is always handy but if you have kids in car seats, you won’t be able to access it unless you take out the car seats (which will be a pain).

The rear tray has been designed to fit a forklift pallet – so it’s definitely large enough to fit your gear.

It’s not a hard car to drive and parking is surprisingly good, too. It is long, so there were some smaller car parks where I had to do six-point turns to move it out of a spot, but the optional 360-degree camera and reversing camera takes out any fear you might have. And before the end of the first day, I had no qualms about tackling a park. 

The sidesteps are needed, and because of them, I didn’t have to lift my five-year old in and out, which saved time (and my back). It’s a bit of an effort fitting a child seat but it won’t annoy you if you ‘set and forget’.

If you have to move them regularly because you share seats with in-laws etc, it will become very tiresome.

Everything is sort of where you expect it to be, buttons and controls are easy to access from the drivers position, and visibility out of the windows is fantastic.

It’s a bit of an effort fitting a child seat but it won’t annoy you if you ‘set and forget’. (image: Glen Sullivan)

A lockable hardtop for the tray would have been welcomed but you can get this fitted aftermarket for around $4000. It seems almost redundant to fit one, though, when you can shop up to the Wildtrak model for basically the same cost and you get extra luxury features thrown in for the upgrade.  

The optional liner is sprayed on and aids with gripping your gear, so things don’t slide around as much. It costs an extra $500 but does seem to help.

If things do slide to the back, there are handy side steps next to the back wheels to help you access the tray. It is easy to operate the tailgate. It’s light and very wide.

You also have clamp clip points, to help you create a proper workbench when you’re on a worksite or just working on a project at home. The Sport comes with a tow bar and full-size spare wheel, so you should be sorted for whatever adventure throws at you.

The optional liner is sprayed on and aids with gripping your gear, so things don’t slide around as much. (image: Glen Sullivan)

You want some good safety features on a big car and the Sport doesn’t disappoint. It comes standard with rear cross-traffic alert, a reversing camera, blind-spot monitoring and lane keeping and departure aids.

It also has AEB and nine airbags, which is more than most utes. At the time of this article, it hasn't been crash tested by ANCAP.

There are ISOFIX mounts on the outboard seats and two top tether child seat mounts. It’s wide enough that you’d probably get three seats side-by-side if they're the right size, so it’s disappointing that this doesn’t have a third top anchor point. This does limit some flexibility for families with three younger children.

At the time of this article, the Ranger Sport hasn't been crash tested by ANCAP.

Fitting a child seat is an experience. To fit a seat, you have to push the front seat forward to enable you to pull the back seat forward enough to access the tether point. I find this on other utes, too, but I can’t get my top tether as tight as I would normally, which irks me.

There’s an okay amount of space for the front passenger when a 0-4 rearward facing child seat is installed, but it will encroach on the drivers position a lot more, and if you’re tall, that could get uncomfortable.

The Ranger Sport is the model before you get into the flagship ‘Wildtrak' and macho 'Raptor’ versions, and in Bi-Turbo form will cost you $63,690, before on-road costs.

The model I’m driving has the optional 'Touring Pack', which adds a trailer brake controller, 360-degree camera, four-zone exterior lighting and puddle lamps for an extra $900. Because it helps so much with parking, the 360-degree camera alone is worth the extra money for me.

You do get more luxury features on competitor models for the same price and because this model misses out on items like heated and ventilated seats, heated steering wheel, tray cover and electric passenger's seat, the price tag starts to feel a little high once you get into the nitty gritty details.

The Ranger comes with Ford's five-year/unlimited km warranty, which is standard for this class. However, it does come with an unusual guarantee, that if your Ford is beyond repair and less than three years old, Ford will replace it with a new one.

It comes with four years capped-priced servicing, which is less than average, but services are reasonable at $329 annually.

Servicing intervals are standard at every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.

The official combined cycle fuel figure is 7.6L/100km, and I averaged 7.8L/100km on a mix of open road and city driving.

The fuel consumption is impressive, especially given how massive this car is to move. Naturally, if you’re in the city or heading off road, expect that figure to be higher, but the diesel engine has proven to be quite economical!