Australia's favourite car has (yet another) variant: meet the Ford Ranger Tremor

The Ford Ranger was Australia’s best-selling car for the second year running in 2024, with 62,953 sold. And after running away to Lakes Entrance in Victoria for a Canberra Day long weekend family camping trip, I think I know where they all went.

Ford Australia loaned me one for the journey so I could get to the bottom of the allure this 4WD ute clearly possesses, but this is not just any Ranger. This is the new ‘Tremor’ version – basically a cut-price Raptor, and limited to only 1150 units.

But even with my bright-orange ‘Tremor’ badging and the extra beefy off-road kit, I’m struggling to attract any attention.

We came here because it was one of the few places on Australia’s eastern coast that wasn’t battered by the wet and windy spin-off from Cyclone Alfred, but it turns out so did every guy and his boat in search of fish.

Every second car is a Ranger – or at least its SUV sibling, the Everest – and with a trailer on the back.

I’ve previously tested the Ranger Wildtrak and loved it. There was the fact it had a spot in the centre console designed specifically to seat a box of Maccas fries, but there was also the bigger, grander picture.

It was gruff and boxy and solid and exactly how you’d like an overgrown Tonka truck to be, but also refined. It didn’t steer like a boat. It didn’t handle like a dray cart. None of the plastics felt like they were going to come off in your hand. And apart from a blare from the dash about how you should “take a break” whenever it picks you up wavering in the lane a bit too much, none of the tech was annoying.

Ford’s CEO Jim Farley has since come out and said he wants the company to become “the Porsche of the off-road”, an allusion to Porsche’s high standing in the sports car world.

The brand then launched the Ranger Wildtrak X with what Ford Australia’s dedicated ‘Ranger marketing manager’ described as “serious off-road chops”. It blew even the company away with how fast its 750 units sold out.

So now we have the Ranger Tremor, which uses the cheaper Ranger Sport as its base, and for those buyers who get in early enough, starts at $69,690.

Underneath you have the twin-turbo four-cylinder diesel engine – which might not be as sexy as the single-turbo V6, but still gets the job done effortlessly enough – and a 10-speed automatic gearbox.

There are heavy-duty Bilstein dampers on each corner, which – in turn – bring the ride height up by 26 mm. This would also look stupid without chunkier tyres and a fatter wheel-arch extensions, so you get both. And a thicker bash plate underneath to protect vital organs.

Inside, they’ve thought of everything, and I’m not just talking about the branded ‘Tremor’ rubber floor mats.

It has all the usual 4WD options – high and low range and locking diffs – but also modes for towing, snow, mud, sand and rock crawling.

Press the off-road button on the console and it will offer up a heap of different camera views, including a forward-facing one with overlaid tyre-track graphics so you can see exactly where your wheels will go.

And we have to mention the ‘Trail Turn Assist’ feature, which locks the inside rear wheel so you can pretty much turn on a coin.

I don’t remotely need this, or pretty much any other ute attribute, in any part of my life, but I still want one. If only for the camping trips. We’ve never been so well equipped due to the fact that the fridge, the stretcher beds, the gazebo, and a table and chair set for the kids could all be piled in the back.

It’s highway all the way to Lakes Entrance – through Cooma and Bombala – but I’m grateful for the Tremor’s immense 4WD qualifications pretty much the moment we cross the border into Victoria where the roads simply fall apart. Less ‘belt’ and more ‘road’ initiative would be welcome here.

But apart from the occasional annoying warning urging me to “take a break”, all my favourite attributes from the Wildtrak are still here.

You’d expect the all-terrain tyres to make a noise like a thunderstorm over tarmac, and handle just as predictably, but no, all is quiet and easy to pilot. Fuel consumption? The best I could get is 10 litres per 100 km, which is a fair way off the claimed 8.7.

I also eventually find a stretch of boggy sand near one of the boat ramps and go for it. But without even dropping the tyre pressures or dialling it into ‘Sand’ mode, the Tremor churns through it with barely a sweat.

It’s true Rangers receive a fair share of loathing, whether that’s because they’re normally seen about a hair’s breadth from your car’s rear, or because of the stories of hit-and-miss reliability, or because they’re not made by Toyota.

But I’m now officially in the love camp. And by the figures, that seems to be the bigger one.

2025 Ford Ranger Tremor

• $69,690 (plus on-road costs)
• 2.0-litre four-cylinder bi-turbo diesel, 154 kW / 500 Nm
• 10-speed automatic, 4WD
• 8.7 litres per 100 km claimed fuel consumption, 80-litre tank
• 3500 kg braked towing capacity
• 2419 kg
• 5-star ANCAP safety rating.

Thanks to Ford Australia for providing this car for testing. Region has no commercial arrangement with Ford Australia.