USED CARS
A WELL-TRODDEN PATH
P375 pick-up was popular when new, so is in rich supply now
Materials feel robust but car mod cons are present
It’s as suited to a quarry as it is a town centre
SECOND CHANCE FORD RANGER
Pick-up truck drivers are a particularly tough crowd to please, so the fact that Ford’s Ranger has for years now been the bestselling such vehicle in the UK is no small reassurance that it’s the pick of the bunch.
Pick-ups have always been popular with farmers and builders in the UK, but it wasn’t until the early 2010s that they became a more widely popular choice thanks to the attractive benefit-in-kind rules regarding light commercial vehicles (LCVs). Many company car drivers were taken by the idea of riding about in a well-equipped, leathertrimmed truck while paying much less tax. And the P375-generation Ranger’s promised combination of a robust, utilitarian appearance, sophisticated on-road manners and a truly habitable, car-like interior sent it to the top of their shortlists.
This Ranger had an unusually long shelf life: it arrived in 2011, was given a major facelift in 2015, then had a less dramatic one in 2019.
It arrived with a choice of turbo diesel engines – two 2.2-litre fourcylinders and a 3.2-litre five-cylinder – all badged TDCi. With 197bhp, the last of those is our pick, as the lesser versions are pretty ponderous.