Ford Ranger Wildtrak: part three

Clocked over five thousand miles in the Ranger, lugging bikes to track events, back to importers and dealers, that sort of thing. It’s freeing up, especially the suspension. I can drink a cup of coffee now without inhaling it. The engine’s quieter and freer revving now, too.

We had possibly our most expensive cargo in the back the other day, an RSV-4 Aprilia side-by-side with £25,000-worth of Ducati 1098 Bayliss replica. That was a scary loading job I can tell you.

Jinx, the always helpful mechanic at Coventry Ducati dreads me turning up to pick a bike up. Or rather he did before I bought myself a properly long, aluminium, folding ramp. It’s an essential piece of kit for anyone with a Ranger.

The bed in the back is so high that you need a long ramp to avoid chinning the belly pan or oil cooler on the tailgate edge. Before I made this purchase I circumnavigated the problem by parking at the bottom of a steep hill – something that isn’t always in bountiful supply.

Still, job’s fixed now. Drives like a car, loads like a van and fits £40,000 worth of superbikes in the back.

By mark forsyth