Ford Ranger 2025 review: Platinum long-term | Part 3

And so it’s farewell to our faithful Ford Ranger Platinum — easily the most surprising vehicle I’ve had through my long-term garage.

Sure, I never put anything heavier than a baby’s crib in the tray and the only time I used the bank of aux connections above my head was when I wanted to annoy my wife with incessant Top Gun references on longer road trips, But still, the big bruiser fit into our life perfectly.

And I guess that’s the point. There might have been a few hiccups lately, but dual-cab utes have long been one of the country’s biggest segments — and it often produces Australia’s best-selling vehicle, in either the Ford Ranger or the Toyota HiLux — and as such, new brands are flocking to the space.

But… they’re not all flocking to deliver proper rough-and-tough utes. Lots — think the JAC T9, the incoming MG dual-cab, or even the BYD Shark 6 — forgo the once non-negotiable towing or payload stats in favour of a more lifestyle focus, targeting people who want the practicality, but not all the rough-and-tumble performance.

That person, as it turns out, is me.

And overseas it's even more apparent, where smaller utes like the Ford Maverick or Hyundai Santa Cruz are doing real numbers, too. Some of those will no doubt come to Australia and I suspect they'll find a market here when they do. 

But before we get to all that, I want to take a second to talk about safety. Because I have absolutely no idea how Ford has managed to get the active safety systems so close to right, while so many other brands — and almost all the litany of Chinese newcomers — don't.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re still not perfect. The active lane keeping, for example, does not work well with storm-ravaged country roads. Try to dodge a pothole by momentarily crossing the centre line (when the oncoming lane is very much empty, of course) and you’ll feel like you’re wrestling a robot, but largely the safety stuff has been unobtrusive.

Like most cars, the Ford often has no idea what the speed limit actually is, nor is it acutely aware of where each and every lane marking is, when a driver is actually distracted or how what the cars around it are always thinking. But it at least has the good grace to keep its opinions to itself, rarely binging, bonging or squawking at the driver.

What I don’t get is how the Ranger is a maximum five-star ANCAP vehicle, tested under 2022 protocols, and the way more annoying cars are also five-star ANCAP vehicles. Yet I was never tempted to start switching systems off in the Ranger, whereas I definitely am in some cars.

Next year ANCAP will apparently start looking at the efficacy of these active safety systems and hopefully start pulling a few brands into line.

I’ve also settled on what I think are the two non-negotiable items when buying a ute, be it the Ranger or any of the others. The first is tray steps, which I mentioned last month. So simple, but so useful, the little integrated step-ups make accessing the back of the bed so much easier.

And the second is a power roller cover that acts like an automatic garage door for your tray. It’s standard on this mucho-expensive Platinum, or an almost-$4K option on other models (there are heaps of aftermarket options available for almost any ute, too, and some are much cheaper) and it’s the thing I’ve just about valued the most over the past few months.

Sure, you obviously can’t carry taller items in the bed and have the shutter closed, but for road trips it’s awesome. You throw all the gear in the back, kind of wedge it all into place like one of those dry stone walls from Clarkson’s Farm, then close the shutter. No need to tie anything down, or risk a suddenly-airborne pair of underpants causing carnage on a freeway. Easy.

A word that just about sums up my experience with the Ranger Platinum, which has fit so neatly into my urban family life that I’m genuinely a bit shocked by it all.

The fuel use is painful, and expensive, and I’m not close to sold on the transmission - which continues to feel like it’s slipping at freeway speeds - the glitchy CarPlay connection, or the near-$90K price tag this model demands. But I am sold on the the space, the power, the comfort and the ridiculous levels of practicality this Ranger provides.

And, though I never put it to the test, it’s nice to know off-road adventures are at your feet, too.

It took having a baby, and having to cart an entire Baby Bunting showroom with us every time we leave the house, but I genuinely think we could be a ute family now.

Acquired: April 2025

Distance travelled this month: 1615km

Odometer: 6670km

Average fuel consumption this month: 11.6L/100km