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Richard Hammond Reviews His New Truck, There’s One Thing He Doesn’t Like About It

Richard Hammond is a man of many talents, chief among which is the informative and highly entertaining way he talks about cars. If you were curious what kind of rides the former Top Gear presenter is currently driving, fret not because none other than Richard Hammond is much obliged to review his newest acquisition: a black-painted Ford Ranger.
Richard Hammond's Ford Ranger Wildtrak pickup truck 79 photos
Photo: DriveTribe on YouTube
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As you can tell from the featured pic, this isn’t the brand-new Ranger. It’s the previous-generation model, which is based on a body-on-frame platform that was mainly developed by the Ford Motor Company’s Aussie team.

The Wildtrak decals on the front doors refer to the next best thing after the Raptor. A trim level that combines off-road goodies with premium details and better tech compared to lesser grades of the Ranger, the Wildtrak is priced at £43,050, which converts to $54,450 at current exchange rates.

What did the Hamster get for his hard-earned pounds sterling? For starters, 18-inch alloy wheels featuring a machined finish. Standard equipment further includes underbody protection, roof rails, side steps with brushed inserts, LED fog lamps, 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment, six speakers, a locking rear axle, premium floor mats, red stitching, so on, and so forth.

It's a nice truck, there’s no denying that. “Where doesn’t it work? It’s appropriate anywhere,” says Hammond. “Turn up at a barn dance or a farm auction in a Ferrari, you’ll look like a knob. Turn up in this, you’re fine. But equally, you’ll fit in if you turn up at a posh event at a big, stately home.”

Equipped with the 2.0-liter EcoBlue bi-turbo diesel that premiered in the Raptor, the Wildtrak also rocks a 10-speed automatic transmission, just like the one America gets in the gasoline-engined Ranger. As for the only thing Richard does not like about his truck, well, it’s access to the cargo area.

“This is not convenient,” says Hammond as he crawls into the bed with the tonneau cover still on. “I don’t have to do this in a Clio or a Fiesta.” But on the other hand, those cars don’t feature one metric ton of max payload.

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Editor's note: 2019 model year Euro-spec Ranger pictured in the gallery.

About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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