All pickup trucks in Bangladesh are work trucks. Few people look beyond the load carrying capacity and see the pointlessly cool allure of a pickup truck. The Ranger isn't your typical work truck. Padded interiors, plenty of buttons to answer all your comfort needs and a stylised look fit for posing with the sun behind your back. It's that kind of truck: for work and for plenty of play.

The ones we went to check out all have four-wheel-drive selectable with a knob on the dash and dual range gearing. It's a light truck as well so it should make for easy travelling over most soft terrain. But you would still want to watch out for really soft wet sand. We didn't and we got towed out by Ford's support crew. Mind you, this has the best in class wading depth of 800mm, which we checked rather unknowingly. It works, but you could still get stuck if you don't check your ground conditions first.

Safety

You get Bluetooth so your connectivity mostly remains hands-free while driving. Picking the right song still requires you slow, stop and scroll the playlist. It has ABS, stability control and plenty of airbags in case of side, head and frontal collisions. The Ranger is on the top of the safety charts for light pickup trucks with a 5-star NCAP rating.

Power

A 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel throws out about 210 lb/ft of torque, paired to a 5-speed manual. The turbo feels a little reluctant to kick in but progress seems zippy enough especially in a large vehicle such as this. Fuel consumption averages around 12 kmpl with the manual, which was in our test truck.

How does it ride?

We had the double cab because everybody goes for the double cab. There is plenty of space up front with decent space in the rear for three people. The controls are kept simple and easy to reach. The Ranger

is built upon a ladder frame chassis with stiff leaf-springs at the rear to manage the load capacity of over one tonne. This means un-laden ride characteristic is a little jittery at the back especially over the terrible roads typical of Bangladesh. But rear passengers are situated right in the centre, meaning the choppiness is mostly

kept far, far to the back. Steering and cornering still appear car-like meaning it won't be a lumbering brute to manage in the middle of city traffic.

Specs: Ford Ranger XLT 

Engine: 2.2 litre Duratorq 4 cylinder turbo-diesel (118 HP, 210 lb-ft torque). 

Drivetrain: 5 speed manual gearbox, Easy Select 4WD with Limited Slip Differential. 

Suspension: Independent double wishbone with coil spring (front), leaf springs (rear), 800mm wading depth. 

Brakes: Ventilated disc front, leading and trailing drum rear, ABS, ESP.

Features: CD, MP3, Aux, Bluetooth, 4 speakers with 2 tweeters, SRS airbags, keyless entry, premium fabric seats, power adjustable mirrors, rear window defroster, 17 inch alloy wheels. 

Price: Starts from 44 lakh taka. 

For further details, contact AG Automobiles Ltd. 

Photos: Rahin Sadman Islam