New Car: 2017 Ford Ranger FX4 review
Ford gets out the black paint for the special edition Ranger FX4. But do stickers and blacked out trim make any meaningful difference?
Everyone loves a special edition. You know, the same thing that you can usually buy but with some extra goodies and a funky name thrown into the mix to help seal the deal.
For the most part, nothing crucial changes, and a ‘sticker pack’ special offers some common accessories for a ‘less than if you bought them yourself’ bundle price.
It is as close to a win/win that buying a new car should ever get.
The manufacturer wins by shifting more stock of vehicles and accessories, and by giving an existing model a marketing leg up. You win by getting a better deal, and did I mention stickers?
Ticking the box sees you F-Truck kitted out with an electronic locking rear differential, hill descent control, off-road tuned front shock absorbers, underbody protection, and, naturally, some stickers.
The thing is, an XLT Ranger, on which the Australian FX4 variant is based, already comes with much of that hardware (hill descent and locking rear differential), so the trim pack is a little different.
For a $3425 premium over the XLT, the FX4 scores new 18-inch alloy wheels, black trim elements including roof rails, grille, sports bars, rear bumper, side steps and door handles, plus leather seats, and, you guessed it, some stickers.
That means the tech-equipped FX4 is $125 more expensive than the Wildtrak, and offers nothing fundamentally different to the lower grade XLT. The fact that I have made the occasional shift-key typo and entered FX4 as FX$ while writing this up, now seems a little more subconscious than accidental…
On the FX4, the tailgate becomes a blackout panel with the R A N G E R lettering and FX4 logo cut through to reveal the paint colour. Along the side, black and white outline stripes and FX4 branding adorn the lower doors with the bonnet again featuring a blackout motif.
Under the stickers, the car is the same. The familiar and successful 3.2-litre five-cylinder turbo diesel and six-speed automatic transmission with cabin-switchable 4x4 drive is identical to other Ranger models.
The SYNC3 infotainment software gets better and better the more we use it, and is a very intuitive and flexible system, with such goodies as voice control and DAB digital radio as standard features.
Some of the plastics around the screen, and lower part of the centre stack do feel a bit low rent and the interior can feel quite drab, with greys and blacks everywhere you look. If you want your interior to have a little more personality, then the Wildtrak and its orange stitching and highlights, might be a better proposition.
Around town, the electrically assisted steering makes the Ranger feel light and easy to manoeuvre, and as we’ve stated in other reviews, when it comes to highway touring, the big Ford is basically the best in the game.
It’s louder than an SUV, but quieter than you expect a ute to be. We regularly see 9L/100km touring consumption too (close to Ford’s claim of 8.7L/100km).
The FX4 is limited though, with only 2200 examples being produced, so you have that to lord over your other Ranger-owning friends if nothing else.
We’ve no doubt these will all sell, and that Ranger will continue to top the sales charts irrespective of the difference the 2017 Ford Ranger FX4 brings to the table.
For our money, we’d stick with a Wildtrak, in black, to get the best of everything the Ranger offers and still feel that you've got on board the black-pack marketing train. That is, until Ford comes up with a properly special, special edition, or standout new variant of the Ranger to really create a stir.
Sound source:
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New Car: 2017 Ford Ranger FX4 review
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