Ford Ranger vs Holden Colorado

What's the difference?

If the aim of our test vehicle is to provide a premium Ranger with greater off-road ability but without the Raptor's smaller payload and tow ratings, the Wildtrak X is bang on target. This versatile machine has plenty of appeal for tradies and adventurers alike.

The Holden Colorado Z71 is a pretty decent towing machine, handling all aspects of general load-lugging duties with a quiet reliable efficiency. In simple terms, it kept the whole ute-and-van combination trucking along nicely.

The Z71 is a solid Colorado package all-round with some welcome flashiness to its functionality.

The X certainly looks like a top-shelf offering but its appeal is more than visual, as evidenced by a bespoke suspension and wheel/tyre package that results in a 30mm increase in track width for a wider stance and a 26mm increase in ground clearance that enhances off-road approach, ramp-over and departure angles.

This suspension set-up includes Bilstein position-sensitive monotube dampers with nitrogen-charged external reservoirs that minimise heat-related fade and optimise ride comfort and handling response for on and off-road driving.

Like the exterior, the Wildtrak X's spacious and plush interior has fine attention to detail. There's leather-accented seats with 'Miko' suede, body-coloured piping and embroidered Wildtrak X logos, plus 'Terra' suede and body-coloured stitching throughout the cabin.

There's also adequate room for tall people like me (186cm) in the rear seat, with kneeroom that's enhanced by front seat backrests that are concave in shape to optimise space.

Rear seat passengers also have access to heating/cooling vents plus two USB ports in the rear of the centre console.

The Colorado is a good-looking unit, so it follows that the Z71, the Colorado line-up's top dog, should be the best-looking vehicle in the entire range. And it is. Look at the photos yourself and make up your own mind.

The Z71's black highlights everywhere, the roof rails, side steps and fold-away tonneau cover add functionality to the flashiness.

Under its slick exterior, the Z71 sits on a steel ladder-frame chassis.

There may be no mechanical differences between the Z71 and other similarly-powered Colorado utes, but this is not merely a sticker-pack special – this is something more substantial than that. Don't believe me? Keep reading.

With its hefty 2432kg kerb weight, the Wildtrak X is 103kg heavier than a standard Wildtrak, resulting in a 70kg increase in GVM to 3350kg and a small 33kg reduction in payload rating to 918kg.

It maintains the standard Wildtrak's benchmark 3500kg braked tow rating and 6350kg GCM (how much it can legally carry and tow at the same time).

However, to tow that weight without exceeding the GCM would require a sizeable 500kg (half a tonne) reduction in payload to 418kg.

Not that many (if any) X owners would need to tow 3500kg, but that peak rating provides a useful safety margin when towing lighter trailers.

The load tub comes standard with a protective drop-in bedliner, powered roller-shutter, lift-assisted tailgate and 12-volt accessory outlet.

Loads can be secured using either slide-adjustable anchorages mounted high on the tub's sidewalls, or six fixed points closer to the floor.

The only negative with the roller-shutter is that when fully retracted it eats into the load tub's length. Even so, with 1217mm between the wheel arches, the load tub can accommodate a standard Aussie or Euro pallet.

There's also a clever roof-rack system reminiscent of a Swiss army knife. Each roof rail contains a pivoting 'blade' which can swing 90 degrees across the roof to lock into place in the opposing rail. This creates an instant roof-rack which can be neatly tucked away again when not required.

To carry longer items, another load-rack behind the rear window can easily slide rearwards on rails and be locked into place in a choice of five positions along the load tub.

This rack also houses a hidden support beam which can be raised and locked in a vertical position. Very clever.

In terms of cabin storage, there are large and small bottle holders (which aren't as good as the first-gen design) and a bin in each front door, an overhead glasses holder, pop-out cupholders on each side of the dash under the air vents and upper and lower glove boxes with an open storage shelf between them on the passenger side.

The centre console has a cordless phone charging pad and two USB ports at the front, two small bottle/cupholders in the centre and a padded lid on a box at the rear which doubles as an elbow rest when driving.

Rear seat passengers get small and large bottle holders and a bin in each door, pockets on each front seat backrest and a fold-down centre armrest with two small bottle/cupholders.

Its bench seat base can also swing up and be stored vertically if more internal storage is needed.

The Z71 has a Colorado carry-over interior, which is nice and simple, with some Z71 branding stitched in the front seats.

For starters, there are grab handles for the driver and front passenger – I'm a big fan of grab handles.

The dash is a basic layout – but made family-friendly with expanses of tough plastic and soft-touch leather – and it has everything you need. The centre console houses an 8.0-inch colour touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and standard nav.

There are shallow storage spots under the rear seats, one of which contains your jack etc.

Overall fit and finish is impressive without being spectacular, but that's fine with me.

The tray is 1484mm long, 1534mm wide (1122mm between the wheel-arches) and 466mm high. Back there, you get Premium DuraGuard Spray–on tub liner, which seems sturdy and durable, as well as four solid tie-down points.

The Z71 auto 4x4 dual-cab has a list price of $57,490 MSRP. Our test vehicle is $59,260 MSRP because, over and above its comprehensive list of Z71 features (and those from cheaper variants), it has an electric brake controller ($740), and a towing package ($1030).

The Z71-specific features include a heap of style-based stuff, such as black fender flares, new front fascia, roof rails, and stickers on the bonnet, as well as 18-inch grey alloys (on Bridgestone Dueler H/Ts), sailplane sports bar, black highlights everywhere – including exterior door handles, mirrors and tailgate handle.

But the Z71 buyer gets plenty of useable real-world stuff such as roof rails, soft-drop tailgate, fold-away tonneau cover, and decent underbody protection.

The X's 2.0-litre four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel is the first Ranger engine variant to meet Euro 6 emissions standards for light duty trucks, which requires the use of AdBlue.

In this specification it produces 150kW at 3750rpm and 500Nm of torque between 1750-2000rpm.

It's paired with Ford's smooth-shifting 10-speed torque converter automatic. And for the first time, drivers can switch between conventional dual-range, part-time 4x4 or Ford's full-time all-wheel drive mode which was previously exclusive to V6 Rangers.

Other new drivetrain features, to optimise performance in challenging off-road terrain, include 'Trail Turn Assist' which like a farm tractor applies braking to the inside rear wheel when turning to reduce the turning radius by up to 25 per cent.

And the Raptor's 'Trail Control' also gets a run here, which is effectively a low-speed cruise control setting for crawling over difficult terrain.

It also has seven drive modes comprising 'Normal', 'Eco', 'Tow/Haul', 'Slippery', 'Mud/Ruts', 'Sand' and 'Rock Crawl' plus a rear differential lock.

The Z71 has a 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel Duramax engine (147kW at 3600rpm and 500Nm at 2000rpm), six-speed automatic transmission, a part-time 4WD system and a rear limited slip differential.

Ford claims official combined consumption of 8.7L/100km but the dash display was showing 10.0 at the completion of our 348km test, of which about one third was hauling a heavy payload. We also had the engine's auto start/stop switched off.

This compared with our own figure, based on fuel bowser and tripmeter readings, which was higher again at 11.2 and typical of the 2.0-3.0L/100km discrepancies we often find between official figures and our own based on ‘real world' driving.

So, based on our numbers, you could expect a realistic driving range of around 700km from its big 80-litre tank.

Our dash display read 7.9L/100km, but we recorded actual fuel consumption on test of 9.7L/100km. It has a 76-litre fuel tank, so expect an approximate driving range of 753km (according to our on-test fuel consumption), factoring in a 30km safety buffer.

On our towing loop, of more than 200km total, the dash was showing 14.5L/100km, but we recorded an actual fuel-consumption figure of 15.5L/100km. Expect an approximate driving range of 460km (according to our on-test fuel consumption), factoring in a 30km safety buffer.

There are large handles on the A pillars, which along with side-steps assist climbing aboard.

The driver's seat is comfortable and supportive with generous powered adjustments and grippy suede to help hold you in place. The leather-rimmed steering wheel also has two-way adjustment, plus there's a big left footrest.

Steering feel is arguably the best in the business and the four-wheel discs provide strong retardation.

The suspension tuning feels quite firm when driven unladen, but retains enough suppleness to provide an acceptable ride quality.

With its wider track and higher kerb weight, it corners with confidence and feels well planted on the road despite its slightly taller ride height.

Although on paper the engine's 500Nm peaks in a narrow band around 2000rpm, it delivers excellent response and pulling power well below that figure, so you don't really feel the vehicle's extra bulk.

It gets away smartly from standing starts and the automatic, which shifts almost seamlessly between its 10 gears, is calibrated to get best out of this engine.

It's also a low-stressed highway cruiser, with the engine only requiring about 1700rpm to maintain 110km/h. Tyre, engine and wind noise are pleasantly low at these speeds, which minimises fatigue on long highway hauls.

To test its GVM rating we loaded 650kg into the load tub, which combined with driver equalled a total payload of 750kg. That's less than 180kg under its legal limit.

The rear leaf-springs compressed about 40mm under this weight. Fortunately, in this second-gen Ranger, Ford has replaced the previous hard bump-stop rubbers with longer and fatter cone-shaped jounce bumpers.

These progressively engage with the springs earlier in compression, to provide a second stage of load support and eliminate the hard thumps that come from traditional bump-stops at full suspension travel.

As a result, with this payload the Ranger produced a noticeably smooth ride, as it floated over large bumps and dips.

It also scoffed at our 13 per cent gradient, 2.0km long set climb at 60km/h, quickly shifting down to fifth and with its ample torque and minimal throttle easily hauled this load to the summit.

Engine-braking on the way down, in a manually-selected second gear, was not as strong, which in our experience is typical of small displacement diesels on overrun trying to restrain big payloads on steep descents.

Even so, the disc brakes were more than capable of keeping speeds below the posted 60km/h limit when asked.

The Z71 has a steel ladder-frame chassis, double-wishbone front suspension and leaf-spring live rear axle, so it's more aligned with heavy-duty work than smooth on-road performance.

Having said that, the Z71 is quite settled over most surfaces, including highway bitumen and rough back-road backtop, and at most speeds – rather impressive for an unladen ute.

Steering is a bit floaty, with some play in it, and there is noticeable understeer on corners.

The engine is one of the torquiest in the current-day ute mob – only matched by V6 utes – and it delivers that torque quite evenly and smoothly across the rev range. The Duramax turbo-diesel can, however, be noisy, and because of that it seems like it's working hard, though it never feels too stressed, even when towing a caravan that has a caravan with a tare (empty) weight of 2600kg.

There's plenty of life in terms of acceleration with active pedal-feel but, when it comes time to pulling up to a fast stop on front disc and rear drum brakes, the brake pedals are rather spongy.

The six-speed auto is generally spot-on for all duties, although it did occasionally down-shift with an extra violence of action when it didn't really need to.

Ride and handling are pretty good, with its Aussie-tuned suspension (including traditional-ute leaf-springs at the rear) doing a decent job of sorting everything evenly, and it was only ever rattled by very severe bumps, wash-outs, and ruts at lower speeds, i.e. during low-range 4WDing.

The Z71's on-road performance and refinement are generally not as polished as segment leaders, but that's nowhere near a deal-breaker.

The Colorado line-up has a five-star ANCAP rating as a result of testing in 2016.

Safety gear includes seven airbags, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, Forward Collision Alert), Lane Departure Warning, a tyre-pressure-monitoring system, Hill Descent Control, Hill Start Assist, Trailer Sway Control and Roll Over Mitigation.

Warranty is five years/unlimited km. Scheduled servicing is every 12 months/15,000km whichever occurs first.

Capped-price servicing for the first five scheduled services totals $2490 or an average of $498 per service.

Holden offers a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty across the Colorado range, with servicing required every 12 months or 12,000km. Capped price servicing applies over seven years/ 84,000km with the average annual cost over three years working out to be $405.