2023 Ford Ranger Platinum: Quick review

The Ford Ranger swept all before it when it was unleashed on Australia’s booming dual-cab market in 2022. A range-topping Platinum model has now been perched atop the regular Ranger line up, albeit still a good deal more affordable than the specialist Ranger Raptor.

It’s only available with the top-spec 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine and borrows much of its trim and finish from its Wheels Car of the Year-winning sibling, the Everest SUV. In other words, you know it’s off to a great start.

But at this price point come some fairly serious expectations. Can the Ranger Platinum live up to the big billing?

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Click here for more detailed expert opinions on the Ford Ranger.

JUMP AHEAD

• Pricing and features
• Safety
• On the road
• Key rivals
• Should I put it on my shortlist?

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Pricing and features

As you might expect, the Platinum gets all of the good stuff poured into it. There’s really very little that you can point to as a trim shortcoming over the already very well appointed Wildtrak model.

For an additional five grand over the price of the $71,190 Wildtrak, the Platinum features 20-inch alloy wheels, ‘Platinum’ badging, matrix-LED headlights, satin chrome exterior trim, a damped tailgate and Ford’s clever rail-mounted flexible rack system.

Indoors, Platinum owners will find quilted leather seats which are heated and ventilated up front, a heated steering wheel, 10-way power adjustment for the front pair of chairs as well as a driver’s seat memory function.

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The centre display measures 12.4-inches so it runs full screen rather than being bounded by a chunky frame as in some lowlier Rangers.

The premium pack that is popular with Wildtrak buyers has also been thrown in for nix with the Platinum, bringing you a 10-speaker Bang and Olufsen stereo, full LED tail lights and an overhead auxiliary switch bank. This latter fitment means that you won’t need to be drilling holes in your dash to fit switchgear for functions like auxiliary driving lights, winches and so on.

Dig a little deeper and you’ll find a few other Platinum-specific niceties like a black-painted roof, premium carpeting, accent stitching and the option of Equinox Bronze paint. Metallic paint remains a $700 option.

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Safety

The Ford Ranger scores five stars on the ANCAP review.

In crash testing, the Ranger scored well for protection of adult occupants in frontal offset, side impact and far-side impact tests, although a result of ‘marginal’ was assigned for protection in the full width frontal crash test and for the chest of the driver in the oblique pole test.

Likewise, maximum scores were awarded recognising the Good levels of protection offered to child occupants in the frontal offset and side impact crashes. All body styles with rear seats feature two ISOFIX anchorage points in the outboard seats.

Every Ranger carries a high level of standard safety gear including dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting curtain airbags, along with a driver and passenger knee airbag.

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A front centre airbag is also standard, which protects front seat occupants in side impact crashes and also prevents front occupants from clashing heads.

Features such as pre-collision assist, post-impact braking, blind-spot monitoring with trailer tow function and cross-traffic alert, reverse brake assist and evasive steer assist are all available.

Adaptive cruise control is standard across the range and there's intelligent adaptive cruise that features lane centreing, traffic sign recognition and a ‘Stop & Go’ function that will allow the vehicle to come to a complete halt in traffic and then automatically resume its cruise setting.

There's also Active Park Assist 2.0, which will help with parallel parking

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On the road

For most buyers, the Ford Ranger works best with an 18-inch wheel and a multi-purpose all-terrain tyre.

Fit a 20-inch wheel and the ride suffers a little, despite the tyre sidewall being a relatively generous 55 series. There’s quite a bit of head-toss and nerviness over typical Aussie B-roads that you don’t tend to experience with an 18-inch wheel.

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Click here for more detailed expert opinions of the Ford Ranger’s on-road qualities.

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Key rivals

Until the Volkswagen Amarok arrived this year, the Ford Ranger was a long way clear of the chasing pack.

Now that the Amarok Aventura is available, the Ranger Platinum has far less of an easy run at things. Still, the Amarok has its work cut out levelling with the big Ford’s value proposition.

Rivals worth considering include:

• Volkswagen Amarok Aventura
• Toyota Hilux GR Sport
• Mazda BT-50 SP

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Should I put it on my shortlist?

Taken in isolation, the Ford Ranger Platinum is a very good flagship model. The problem is, other models in the Ranger line-up give a far better demonstration of the full gamut of this vehicle’s extraordinary abilities.

Were you fairly unconcerned about going off road and just want a lavishly equipped Ranger model, the Platinum answers that call but we still have some reservations about the way it rides on the big 20-inch alloys.

For our money, we’d go for a Sport on 18-inch wheels with A/T tyres and use the $9K saved to select a few choice options.

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