New 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty

We’ve used our 2007 4X4, 3-litre, 4-cylinder turbocharged 4-cylinder Nissan Patrol to tow a 21.7-foot caravan over 16,000 km (probably slightly overloaded at around 3200kg), but we always felt the Patrol was working at its limits, especially when traversing hilly country. We generally towed at around 90km/h and a lot slower in the mountains, which we usually tried to avoid.

In looking to upgrade our tow vehicle, we considered what the market had to offer, from the Ram, Silverado, the new lower rated 4 cylinder Land Cruiser and even trucks, finally, with my heart still set on the discontinued V8 Land Cruiser, we decided on a 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty, which we purchased just before Christmas, so it stands to reason that we have just started using it as our tow vehicle and still learning all the ins and outs of the ute.

The Super Duty ute/tray “super cab” is a full-time 4X4, turbocharged 6-cylinder diesel with a torque rating of 600 Nm / 184 kW, and a 10-speed auto gearbox, boasting a total vehicle max gross weight capacity of 4.5 tons and an additional towing capacity of 4.5 tons.

So far, towing from Bendigo to Ballarat, while it’s way too soon to compare, I must say that it was a pleasure to tow, and at times I had to remind myself that I had a caravan behind me.

There is a lot more to the Super Duty than what meets the eye. First of all, the power is more than sufficient with the auto gearing working mostly in gear 8, sometimes gear 7 on inclines.

The driving comfort is similar to that of a regular vehicle and a pretty smooth ride, which includes technology incorporated in most new cars, such as lane correction, emergency impact braking and speed warnings, all of which can be set to preferences, folding mirrors with small orange symbols for blind spot presence, reversing cameras, etc.

In addition, when connected to the caravan and selecting “tow/haul” setting (also has rock-crawl/eco/4 high and low settings), the Super Duty has on-board scales for the tow hitch and tyre pressures as well as an additional socket for automatic trailer self-parking (which I have opted not to use) as well as trailer braking assist with additional decent and “squeeze” settings for increasing braking capacity in an emergency.

The large console screen has a voice control option and an excellent navigation map ability that also provides 360 real-time visuals down the sides of the rig when either turning (when the indicator is engaged) or different reversing views, making hitching much easier as well as self-testing of all caravan lighting, indicators / braking.

Loading the ute is still something we have to work on to make sure we take advantage of weight distribution, but we will work on that as soon as we put the new canopy on (we’re opting for a canvas canopy & lockable toolboxes) and decide on where to position the 80l portable fridge/freezer, lighting and the independent solar / battery set-up.

We are still working through a whole range of other technology additions, like the built-in wireless charging pad for the mobile phone, or when I forgot to put the vehicle in “park” after turning off the engine, it automatically changed the gear selector into park mode itself.

As Eco-Nomads, we welcome the addition of the “Ad blue” management system, which adds a chemical to the exhaust to combat diesel fumes emitted into the atmosphere, converting them to harmless emissions, and I’m sure avid off-roaders will also appreciate the reinforced undercarriage.

Seen on the Ranger Super Duty Facebook page

Somebody asked in a blog, how they can increase the Super Duty’s torque for overtaking – I have to ask why?  In my opinion, if you need additional torque you are either towing something bigger than a 23 foot trailer/caravan or trying to travel way too fast – the speed limit for towing caravans in Australia is 100km/h even when overtaking, noting that the danger of SWAY starts becoming a high risk at around 110km/h, or if your weight distribution in incorrect that risk is higher at lower speeds – and you’ve all seen the videos of how devastating sway is if you panic.

Author – John Ievers