Just how good is Ford’s new flagship Ranger dual-cab ute? We’ve pitched the Wildtrak V6 against the excellent Isuzu D-MAX X-Terrain to find out…
- Top of the pops
- Bells and whistles
- Raise the game
- All animals are not equal
- Learn your manners
- A higher benchmark
Top of the pops
We came away from the recent launch event impressed with the new-generation 2022 Ford Ranger Wildtrak, but it’s not until it enters the cold crucible of comparison that we find out its true talents. Enter the 2022 Isuzu D-MAX X-Terrain.
Why not the Toyota HiLux, you ask, the Ranger’s nemesis at the top of the sales charts? A valid question, but with its updated Rogue and Rugged X models still a few months away at the time of testing, there was no fair foe for the flagship Ford.
Stay tuned for that test in due course, as well as a mid-series Toyota HiLux v Ford Ranger ute showdown coming soon.
As such, we move one rung down the popularity ladder to the top-spec Isuzu D-MAX, which is well regarded and came in second behind the previous Ranger in carsales’ Best Dual-Cab 4×4 Ute 2021 mega-test.
The D-MAX X-Terrain is also a close match for the Ranger Wildtrak on specification and pricing. Or it would be if Isuzu wasn’t currently offering the X-Terrain at $64,990 drive-away.
That is a substantial saving over the $67,500 plus on-road costs you’ll need normally, plus another $650 for premium paint, but be aware that this deal won’t last forever.
Nevertheless, it gives the Isuzu a significant price advantage over our tested Wildtrak. The basic price of $67,190 plus on-road costs is neck-and-neck with the X-Terrain’s RRP but add $3000 for the new 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel, $1500 for the Premium Pack and $675 for premium paint and the grand total is $72,365 plus ORCs.
Ford’s website estimates a drive-away price of $77,469 for Melbourne buyers – other states will vary slightly – so it’s a big chunk of change more than its rival.
It’d better be good…
Aftersales coverage is a bit of a coin toss. Isuzu offers a six-year warranty to Ford’s five (both unlimited kilometres) but costs $1996 to service over the first four years compared to $1316 for the Ranger.
Then again, the D-MAX is covered by seven years of capped-price servicing ($3513), and while Ford has 12 years of visibility on the previous Ranger, it’s only revealed the first four years thus far for the new model.
Bells and whistles
As you’d expect given their position at the top of their respective range, the 2022 Isuzu D-MAX X-Terrain and Ford Ranger Wildtrak are filled with plenty of fruit.
On the outside Isuzu’s offering includes 18-inch alloy wheels, auto-levelling LED headlights, a sports bar, black exterior trim, steel underbody protection, a lockable tailgate and lockable roller tonneau covering the load area.
Speaking of which, the tub is 1570mm long, 1530mm wide and 490mm deep with 1122mm between the wheel-arches. Maximum payload is 935kg, though at the maximum 3500kg towing capacity this shrinks to 335kg.
Step inside and there’s keyless entry and start, eight-way adjustable powered driver’s seat (manual passenger), an eight-speaker stereo, heated front seats and dual-zone climate control, while in the rear there’s not only plenty of space but a pair of vents, single USB-A outlet and door bottle holders that will helpfully swallow a 1.5-litre bottle.
There are numerous storage solutions inside the D-MAX, including a cubby hole on top of the dash, upper and lower glove boxes, the centre console, pop-out cup holders for the driver and passenger and tool storage behind the rear seat.
It’s well equipped but quality does leave a little to be desired, keeping in mind of course that this is a work vehicle. Nevertheless, it still carries a substantial price tag and the shiny, slippery leather steering wheel, coarse interior trim and hard, scratchy plastics may well be hard-wearing, but they do feel quite cheap.
The Ranger’s interior brings this into stark relief. One example: the D-MAX’s hard plastic door trims make a rat-a-tat sound when tapped, whereas the Ranger’s are plushly padded in leather. In general its surfaces are nicer to touch, though the steering wheel feels closer to plastic than leather.
The Ford and the Isuzu are very similar overall but the Ranger just consistently edges the D-MAX. It has virtually the same storage areas but they’re a little bigger, though it does lack the top-of-dash cubby.
The rear seat offers similar space but has both a USB-C and USB-A outlet, as well as the ability to fold the seat bench up to carry larger items and reveal another storage area underneath.
There are more toys in the Ranger, too. In addition to the keyless entry/start, dual-zone climate control and heated seats, there’s wireless charging and both driver and passenger seats are eight-way power adjustable.
Select the $1500 Premium Pack and you also score a 10-speaker B&O stereo, bank of auxiliary switches and dynamic matrix LED headlights.
Externally the Wildtrak comes from the same design school as the D-MAX X-Terrain, with blacked-out exterior trim, 18-inch alloys, a sports roll bar and a roller tonneau, though in the Ranger’s case it is powered and activated by either a button in the load bay or clicking the key twice.
The tray also includes a 12V outlet and eight tie-down points, four of which are moveable, though somewhat unusually Ford has not yet released the dimensions. A handy tape measure suggests the Ranger load bay is 1545mm long (at the floor), 1540mm wide, 540mm deep (tonneau open) and with 1220mm between the wheel-arches, allowing it to (just) accommodate a standard Euro pallet. Also be aware that the roller tonneau does take up quite a lot of space on the rear edge of the tray.
Maximum payload is 997kg but the new Ranger’s increased 6400kg Gross Combined Mass (GCM) means that even with 3500kg on the back you can accommodate 547kg of passengers and luggage on board.
Raise the game
When it first launched a couple of years back, the latest third-generation Isuzu D-MAX set new standards in terms of dual-cab safety.
It remains one of the more impressive offerings in the segment, though the new 2022 Ford Ranger – perhaps unsurprisingly being a new release – builds on this further.
Both utes have a comprehensive suite of active safety equipment, including adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), post-collision braking, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring and a reversing camera with front and rear parking sensors.
The Ranger Wildtrak ups the ante with nine airbags to the Isuzu’s eight, a 360-degree camera, park assist and blind spot monitoring that can take into account a trailer. This is no longer your dad’s farm truck from the 1980s.
Of course, the technology existing is one thing, its actual operation is quite another. The Isuzu in particular cops plenty of criticism for the calibration of its lane assist systems, though to be honest I haven’t personally found them particularly troublesome compared to the competition.
That said, both utes will regularly corrupt the steering with autonomous inputs, which never ceases to be annoying. The Ranger in particular can struggle as its wider footprint – both front and rear tracks have been extended 50mm in this new model – means it fills a lot of the lane on your typical country back road.
When it comes to interior technology things aren’t quite so close. The D-MAX includes a 9.0-inch touch-screen infotainment unit with native sat-nav, wired Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay, though the lack of wireless charging means you might as well plug in anyway.
Digital radio and voice recognition are standard and the screen works pretty well, the graphics being nice and large, though it can be difficult to see in bright sunlight. There’s also a small digital screen between the analogue speedo and tacho which can display safety, trip, vehicle and infotainment information.
The Ford is somewhat flashier. One of the new Ranger’s party tricks is the giant 12.0-inch portrait display that dominates the dashboard. Happily, it’s not style over substance as it’s quite easy to navigate and very responsive.
It would be nice if smartphone mirroring could be made full screen a la Subaru, but with it expanded to its maximum size it’s still probably bigger than all of its competitors. Wireless charging and smartphone mirroring mean you don’t have to worry about forgetting your cable, either.
Ford wisely opted to include physical buttons for the HVAC and volume, though the controls are duplicated digitally, which seems slightly redundant. Adjusting the heated seats is done via an annoying slider rather than just tapping the icon, too.
Small quirks aside, it’s an impressive set-up that immediately makes all its competitors feel a bit last century. Of course, the forthcoming Volkswagen Amarok will share the same tech.
In its highest spec, the Amarok is also expected to score the full-width 12.4-inch digital instrument display that Ford is restricting to the Ranger Raptor and Everest Platinum. Given the Wildtrak is the ‘regular’ flagship, it’s strange that it’s not offered even as an option – say, as part of the Premium Pack – as the 8.0-inch display is common to all other Rangers, even the lowly XL.
All animals are not equal
On paper our 2022 Isuzu D-MAX and Ford Ranger test cars have very similar offerings under the bonnet, both packing 3.0-litre turbo-diesels.
In reality, despite their similar capacities there is a world of difference in how the two perform. The Isuzu’s 3.0-litre turbo-diesel is a four-cylinder producing 140kW and 450Nm.
In isolation it’s a strong unit, with plenty of mid-range torque, reasonable throttle response and a six-speed automatic gearbox that’s decisive enough to avoid complaint. It’s happy to let you know it’s working, though, with diesel rattle a constant companion from the moment you push the start button.
The Ranger’s extra two cylinders make all the difference. Its V6 produces a much superior 184kW and 600Nm, but it’s not the extra power that really impresses.
Yes, this new, larger engine gives the Ranger performance it’s heretofore never enjoyed, but it doesn’t necessarily feel as quick as those outputs suggest.
The V6’s refinement more than makes up for it. It’s smooth and quiet, with a distant growl and slight turbine whine; it’s a powertrain combination that wouldn’t be out of place in a passenger SUV.
The 10-speed automatic is a fine partner, doing a good job of selecting the right ratio at the right time, despite having plenty to choose from. This is just as well as Ford’s manual shift arrangement, consisting of a pair of buttons on the side of the shifter, leaves a lot to be desired. A set of gear-shift paddles would be a welcome addition.
Fuel economy is close enough that driving style will dictate which is the thirstier of the two. The Isuzu has a slight advantage in claimed combined consumption – 8.0L/100km plays 8.4L/100km for the Ranger – but during testing both utes hover around the low 9L/100km mark.
We’d expect the Ford to be a fraction thirstier but it also has a bigger tank (80L vs 76L) so touring range for both is around 950km.
Learn your manners
A quick note. If you’re looking for off-road assessments of the 2022 Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-MAX then this isn’t the review for you. This comparison focuses almost exclusively on their on-road behaviour for a couple of reasons.
The first of which is that these high-spec utes will spend far more of their life on the blacktop than off it, tackling the school run rather than the Simpson Desert.
Secondly, and probably more importantly, the respective off-road talents of our two protagonists can easily be summed up by their tyres.
For all its low-range gearbox and locking rear diff, the D-MAX will only go as far as its highway-spec tyres allow it. The standard-fit all-terrains on the Ranger give it a huge advantage in the rough stuff.
Impressively, they don’t hamper its on-road abilities to any great extent, either. The previous Ranger was arguably still the best driving dual-cab even at the end of its long life, so the fact that this new model improves on its predecessor puts it straight to the top of the class.
The steering is a highlight; direct, accurate and even with some communication. Despite Ford proudly boasting that the new Ranger is full-time four-wheel drive, it still defaults to rear-wheel drive and in most circumstances is perfectly fine in this mode.
Having the option to select four-wheel drive on wet or slippery tarmac is a definite plus, though, especially with 600Nm on tap, and if selected it will remember even if the car is turned off. Combine this with the wider tracks and longer wheelbase and the new Ranger is impressively composed and stable, albeit always feeling very large.
One caveat, though. For all this fulsome praise, the Ranger is still a leaf-sprung ute that weighs 2353kg empty. The unladen ride is frequently unsettled and it always feels like a lot of vehicle. For family duties, any half-decent SUV will be more comfortable, more agile and more efficient.
Nevertheless, by the standards of the segment it’s truly excellent, as demonstrated by its superiority over the D-MAX. This isn’t intended as a slight on the Isuzu, as it’s definitely competitive compared to its rivals, but compared to the Ranger the ride is choppier on poor surfaces and the steering is slower and devoid of feedback, though on the plus side it’s light and quite easy to use.
The D-MAX is also limited to rear-wheel drive on sealed surfaces and the lack of a limited-slip diff means the inside rear wheel can spin up easily if traction is low. Switching between 2Hi and 4Hi is possible on the fly at up to 100km/h, which is helpful in mixed-surface situations.
A higher benchmark
You might have identified a common theme throughout this comparison. Amongst the current crop of dual-cabs, the 2022 Isuzu D-MAX X-Terrain does a pretty good job across the board.
But the new 2022 Ford Ranger Wildtrak is better in basically every respect.
This is what happens when the bar is raised, as the new Ranger, especially this bells-and-whistles Wildtrak variant, sets a new benchmark for the dual-cab segment.
As tested, there is the not-insignificant matter of the $13,000 price difference and at $64,990 drive-away the X-Terrain is good value, putting it more in line with a 2.0-litre Ranger XLT.
However, if budget isn’t your main priority then the Ranger Wildtrak is worth the extra and then some.
It now sets the standard in dynamics, refinement, comfort, technology and safety.
Make no mistake, the Isuzu D-MAX X-Terrain is a good ute, but if you want the best ute, then that’s the Ford Ranger Wildtrak.
How much does the 2022 Ford Ranger Wildtrak 3.0L V6 cost?
Price: $70,190 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel
Output: 184kW/600Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.4L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 222g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested
How much does the 2022 Isuzu D-MAX X-Terrain cost?
Price: $67,500 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 140kW/450Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.0L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 207g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2020)
Keyword: Ford Ranger v Isuzu D-MAX 2022 Comparison