The Ford Ranger MS-RT Is A Pickup With Attitude

With its big, bluff front end bracketed by intense daytime running lights, the latest Ford Ranger isn’t exactly an exercise in restraint. That hasn’t stopped M-Sport, the Cumbrian outfit that runs Ford’s World Rally Championship operation, from turning its attention to it, however. The result is this, the new Ranger MS-RT, and it looks like it’s out for a fight.

MS-RT stands for ‘M-Sport Road Technology,’ and there was an MS-RT version of the old Ranger, too. That was just a visual package, though. The new one, available exclusively in double-cab form, is a bit more of a thorough job, intended to create a performance-oriented ‘street truck’ to sit alongside the dune-bashing Ranger Raptor.

That’s not to say M-Sport hasn’t focused much on the looks, though. You get a revised front end with an angry-looking chin spoiler and a new honeycomb grille. New side skirts and a rear diffuser further heighten the visual impact, and there are not one but two ducktail spoilers - one on the roof and one on the rear of the load bed. The wheels are vast diamond-cut 21-inch units, exclusive to the MS-RT and wrapped in low-profile tyres.

On the inside, there are new bucket seats up front and unique MS-RT stitch patterns all round, while the new sports steering wheel has a blue 12 o’clock stripe (that may be taking the sporting pretensions a little far, to be honest).

In terms of the chassis, the new flared wheelarches accommodate a 40mm increase in track width. M-Sport has also lowered the truck by 40mm, given it firmer front dampers and retuned the rear suspension, all for “greater handling precision and stability through corners.”

It’s hard not to be at least a little charmed by the MS-RT. The looks feel like a throwback to the fairly short-lived noughties trend of American performance trucks - think the old supercharged Ford F-150 Lightning or the Dodge Ram SRT-10.

Unlike those trucks, though, there’s no huge petrol engine here. Despite the Ranger Raptor now featuring a twin-turbo petrol V6, the MS-RT is only available with a 3.0-litre V6 diesel. That still means 237bhp and, more importantly, 443lb ft of torque. Hooked up to a standard 10-speed automatic, that engine takes the regular Ranger to 62mph in a respectable 8.8 seconds and on to 118mph, so expect largely the same numbers for the MS-RT.

Ford also points out that the MS-RT still has the regular Ranger’s 1-tonne load capacity and 3.5-tonne towing capacity, so there’s no reason it couldn’t be used as a proper work truck.

If you want the MS-RT’s streetfighter looks but a pickup isn’t quite right for the kind of work you do, then M-Sport has also developed a similar kit for the updated Transit. Like the Ranger, it gives Ford’s evergreen van an aggressive new look and makes an earnest attempt to improve its driver appeal with a wider track, lighter wheels and Goodyear Eagle Sport tyres.

We don’t know how much the MS-RT treatment will cost for either vehicle, but the old Ranger MS-RT retailed at just under £50k, and that was just a visual overhaul. Don’t expect the new one to come cheap, then. What’s it going to be - one of these or a Raptor?