What is the towing capacity of the Ford Ranger?

The 2024 Ford Ranger has become Australia’s most popular vehicle, but how much can it tow and is it any good at it?

JUMP AHEAD

• What you need to know about the Ford Ranger
• How much can the Ford Ranger tow?
• How does it compare with its rivals?
• Specifications

Everything you need to know about 2024 Ford Ranger

As a popular model for family duties, tradies, off-roading and touring, the Ranger is often seen as one of the go-to dual-cab 4x4 utes to tow a boat, caravan or heavy work trailer.

The Ford Ranger arrived with much fanfare two years ago with better performance, dynamics, ride, accommodation, and towing features. Although there is a swathe of Cab-Chassis and Super Cab models to choose from, here we’re concentrating on the popular Double Cab 4x4 pick-up range.

Even here you’re spoiled for choice, with 10 variants that can tow 3500kg to pick from, ranging from the Ranger 2.0 XL at $50,880 to the Platinum 3.0 V6 at $79,390 (all plus on-road costs).

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These models offer the now-expected maximum braked 3500kg towing capacity plus the choice of 125kW 2.0-litre Single Turbo (XL only), 154kW 2.0-litre Bi-Turbo and 184kW 3.0 V6 turbo-diesel powertrains (the 292kW 3.0 V6 turbo-petrol Raptor has only 2500kg towing capacity).

The Ranger is well equipped, with a high level of active and passive safety across the range. Every has dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting curtain airbags, along with a driver and passenger knee airbag. A front centre airbag is also standard, which protects front seat occupants in side impact crashes and prevents front occupants from clashing heads.

Adaptive cruise control is standard across the range, and from XLT upwards lane centring, 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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The dashboard is dominated by large 10.1-inch portrait style touchscreen that offers easy smartphone integration and every Ranger also features a digital instrument pack ahead of the driver.

At its Premium V6 spec level, luxury elements such as leather interior, heated front seats, power front seats and of course auto wipers, auto headlights auto-dimming interior rear-vision mirror and keyless entry/start.

Then there are the towing-specific features, which we will get to below.

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Get up to speed on the Ranger

The stories below will give you a guide on everything to do with the 2024 Ford Ranger. All fresh stories will be found on our Ford Ranger page here

2024 Ford Ranger coverage

How much can the 2024 Ford Ranger tow?

Like most key competitors, the Ford Ranger can tow a maximum of 3500kg (braked), with 10 per cent of that maximum (350kg) on the towball.

The Ford Ranger has had a lot of development work with towing in mind, and it shows. The Ranger is very stable, has a composed ride and its 2.0 Bi-Turbo or 3.0 V6 engines suit towing well, in performance and efficiency, with a 10-speed automatic transmission that doesn’t hunt or jolt when challenged by a heavy trailer behind it. Fuel efficiency for the 2.0 is very good, while the 3.0 V6 is of course thirstier but still competitive.

The Ranger not only has impressive towing capacity, but also offers a host of dedicated towing features standard -- from XLS trim level, at least.

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Ford’s factory-fitted tow bar kit (optional for XL, standard on all higher grades) includes an electric trailer brake controller integrated into the dash. There’s also a trailer light check standard from XLS up, which allows you to check the trailer lights are working without a helper.

All have towing vehicle integration (for when you input trailer dimension so that the vehicle accounts for the extra length for blind-spot warning) and a towing checklist (which reminds the driver of safety checks required after hitching up).

A tow haul mode, which more quickly executes gearshifts to account for the extra towing load, is standard from XLS up. New for 2024.5 Ranger is Pro Trailer Back-Up Assist for Wildtrak, Platinum and Raptor, allowing drivers to manoeuvre their trailers using the outer ring of the drive mode selector on the centre console.

All Rangers offer Trailer Sway Control (which actives individual wheel brakes to counteract excessive trailer sway) and Load Adaptive Control (which better apportions braking force between front and rear with a load in or on the back, such as with heavy towball loads) as standard.

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How does this match up with competitors?

With so many utes in the market and buyers expecting high levels of towing performance, dynamics and features, the Ranger needs to be on top of its towing game.

Most of these mid-size dual-cab 4x4 utes can adequately tow 2000kg without a fuss, but when you increase the load up to around 3000kg or more (for those that can legally tow more – some can’t) there are the winners and runners up.

The Isuzu D-MAX, Mazda BT-50, Nissan Navara, Toyota HiLux and Volkswagen Amarok are all key mid-size 4x4 dual-cab towing competitors. There’s also the new 2024 Triton with a (400kg higher) 3500kg maximum tow capacity, higher engine outputs and Australian suspension tune – but we can’t place the new Triton in the towing pecking order until get to test it in coming months.

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Only the platform-shared Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok offer the option of a powerful V6 diesel instead of four cylinders and are unsurprisingly equals for towing performance (although the Ford has a better towing ride).

There are also plenty more cheaper utes to pick from, such as the GWM Cannon, LDV T60 (both of which only have 3000kg towing capacity) and the SsangYong Musso vying for buyers’ attention. None of these utes are really on the podium for towing honours.

While the very similar Volkswagen Amarok and the D-MAX/BT-50 models come close, none quite have the Ford Ranger’s overall towing polish. The Ranger 2.0 Bi-Turbo is the pick of the mid-size dual cab 4x4 utes for heavy duty towing. It offers the best blend of towing performance, efficiency, ride, realistic payload while towing and towing-assist features.

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Specifications

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