07 Plate Ford Ranger Supercab Thunder - any comments?

[JimM]

Going to have a look at one of these as my first arbtruck. Balancing occasional kid school collection with a work 4x4.

If anyone has/had a Ranger of this vintage I'd appreciate any comments.

 

07 plate, 71,000 miles, 2.5 TDCi 4x4 Supercab Thunder model.

 

cheers

[Able Fella]

Friend of mine runs these, think he mentioned that their quite prone to doing head gaskets, apparently new Rangers are really good, good luck!

[Tyz05]

Nice truck. The clutch won't last long if your doing heavy work,30k miles max on the ones I look after. Easy job to do though. Other than that very reliable.

[JimM]

Thanks so far. Going to have a play in it in a couple of hours. Considered all sorts, even ex mil landys, but will have to do some big motorway miles on occassion.

[scraggs]

Good truck but my 09 plate tdci is way too highly geared for towing at full capacity, my 02 plate gearbox much lower geared and was a dream to tow with, not sure what year they changed over to the higher ratio box though.

[JimM]

Had a look today and it is shockingly pristine. For an 07 plate. London dealer stamp on the servicing. I don't think it has ever been off-road. No tow bar, which bodes well for the clutch, but an instant necessary item. The body work is scratch and dent free.

Odd choice as a Chelsea Tractor though. The mini seats and rear cab area look unused, and I mean showroom-clean unused.

Too much of a good thing?

 

Think I'll have a punt

[Tyz05]

Make sure you consider the price of the tow hitch and lighting loom. The electrics can be a problem to wire in and require a specific electrical loom or you'll get major problems with fuses/wiring etc. They can be quite expensive. New hi lux has the same problem.

[JimM]

Thanks for the thought. I've a good mate who's an auto sparky whose garage is yards from where the Ranger is. First port of call will be his ramp for the tow and wiring. He does a great deal of diagnostics for the area's garages, so I'm confident it'll go OK.

[Tyz05]

Good good. Sounds like you got it sorted.

[rovers90]

I bought an 07 Super Cab in June after 20 years of Land Rover ownership and love the room it offers inside, very handy having the space behind the seat for coats, bait bag, etc and the occassional passenger plus having that smaller door open is a big bonus - the HiLux and Mitsubishi extra cabs dont have this facility.

 

You should find it very comfortable to drive, cruises very well on the motorway and mine returns around 30mpg. So far done 6000 miles without a problem (fingers crossed!!). I too did not have a tow bar but bought one from a company on ebay - got a Witter tow bar for £110 and a Dixon bate ball and pin for £40 as opposed to the £360 plus VAT a local company quoted. If you want the companies details let me know and I will dig them out.

 

Only downsides compared to Land Rovers I have run is that the Ranger is not permanent 4WD which is good for mpg but you can tell on wet, slippy services and the gearing is higher - I find reversing with foot fully off the clutch far too fast!!

 

But on the whole I thinkyou will enjoy it, I dont why more people dont go for the Super Cab as I dont think I've ever seen anybody in the back of a double cab!

 

Good luck:thumbup: