Ford Ranger Tremor 2024 Review

The 2024 Ford Ranger Tremor uses the Sport grade as its base before undergoing an off-roading makeover. Its price reflects this, sitting above its donor with a $69,690 price tag before on-road costs (ORCs).

That represents a premium of $3550 over the MY25.25 Ranger Sport fitted with the same powertrain.

Just 1150 Tremor units are slated for sale, so if you want one, you better get in while you can. Judging by the success of the Wildtrak X, it shouldn’t take too long for that allocation to be exhausted.

Competition in this segment is fierce, so it’s worth checking out the Isuzu D-MAX Blade Premium, Nissan Navara PRO-4X Warrior or the Volkswagen Amarok PanAmericana.

Ford’s five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty applies to the Tremor, and services are scheduled for every 12 months or 15,000km (whichever comes first).

The 2024 Ford Ranger Tremor features the same suspension hardware as the Wildrak X.

That equates to specially developed Bilstein position-sensitive dampers with external reservoirs and new springs. The hardware also increases total ground clearance by 26mm and adds 30mm of track width.

Ranger Tremor also gains Ford’s more advanced full-time four-wheel drive (4WD), not the part-time system fitted to other variants. It retains the ‘shift-on-the-fly’ capability, meaning you can flick it into two-wheel drive on the move for sealed surfaces.

In terms of exterior styling, the Tremor runs a model-specific sticker pack, Black Ford badges, Conquer Grey hero colour, wheel arch mouldings to accommodate the 30mm of extra track as well as integrated driving lights and a rear sports bar.

It rolls on 17-inch Asphalt Black alloy wheels and off-road-centric General Grabber AT3 all-terrain tyres.

The cabin’s Tremor treatment extends to the logo embossed in the vinyl seat upholstery as well as the branded all-weather floor mats front and rear.

The test vehicle is also fitted with the $1650 Touring Pack, a highlight of which is Ford’s Trailer Pro system. Essentially it allows you to steer in reverse using the drive-mode selector, taking the guesswork out of which direction to turn the steering wheel. The pack also adds a 360-degree camera, tray-loading options and additional puddle/zoned lighting.

Mirroring the rest of the range, the 2024 Ford Ranger Tremor is covered by a five-star ANCAP safety rating that was awarded in 2022.

To gain the top-tier rating it has nine airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning with assistance, blind-spot monitoring, parking sensors, reversing camera (a 360-degree view camera is optional), tyre pressure monitoring and road sign recognition.

Out on the road, the active safety tech is decently calibrated, but the active lane keeping does err on the overzealous side. You can easily switch it off with a steering wheel-mounted button.

Modern dual-cabs are anything but archaic, rudimentary utes. Being based on the Sport grade, the 2024 Ford Ranger Tremor isn’t shortchanged in terms of spec.

There’s an 8.0-inch digital instrument cluster with various screen layouts and a multitude of information. It’s joined by a portrait-style 10.1-inch touch-screen for the infotainment, which includes Ford’s SYNC 4 operating system and FordPass Connect apps.

If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, then wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are supported, as well as Bluetooth and DAB+ digital radio. Native satellite navigation is included, along with a wireless charging pad as well as USB-A and USB-C ports.

Under the bonnet of the 2024 Ford Ranger Tremor is the familiar 2.0-litre four-cylinder Bi-Turbo diesel engine used in other variants. This is a good thing as the twin-turbocharged oiler is a sophisticated powerplant.

It might not have the headline pulling power of the 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel engine, but the 1996cc four-cylinder still packs 154kW and 500Nm. This makes it more than competitive against its key rivals and it doesn’t feel completely underdone compared to the 184kW/600Nm bent six.

The four-cylinder is tied to Ford’s 10-speed torque-converter automatic, sending power to each corner via the full-time four-wheel drive system. It includes 4WD high and low ranges with an extra Auto setting, as well as a rear diff lock.??

In practice, there’s plenty of mid-range torque (its peak is produced between 1750 and 2000rpm) for enough grunt to get the job done. It ticks all the right boxes. Even the acoustics are relatively refined for a commercial product.

However, it can hunt for gears a little with the 10-speed auto’s constant penchant for selecting higher ratios.

Officially the 2024 Ford Ranger Tremor has a combined consumption figure of 8.7L/100km, which is about par for the course in the dual-cab segment.

The four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine is a Euro 6-compliant unit and requires the use of AdBlue.

During a week of testing that included city, urban and off-roading driving conditions, we couldn’t achieve the official number number. Our average rarely dipped below 10L/100km.

The Tremor comes with an 80-litre tank and, interestingly, you can delete the stop/start system as a no-cost option.

Its ultimate success is yet to be proven, but the BYD Shark 6 offers a great test for the future of electric (or hybrid) dual-cabs Down Under.

Ford has the plug-in hybrid Ranger coming, but further ahead, there is an EV version on the horizon.

Knocking off the Ranger (and under-the-skin-twin VW Amarok) in terms of on-road dynamics has been a bridge too far for its rivals. That trend is upheld with the 2024 Ford Ranger Tremor, with just one small caveat.

There’s a bittersweetness to the beefed-up Bilstein suspension setup. And the bitterness is found in terms of the ride quality on the black stuff. Compared to the donor Sport’s standard damper arrangement, the Tremor is noticeably firmer and unsettled across small, sharp imperfections – especially unladen.

We’ll get to the true sweetness in the next section, but there’s still genuine sugar to be found on-road. The Bilstein hardware deals with bigger hits better, quelling uncontrolled rebound.

For a dual-cab, the Ranger Tremor retains an appreciable level of handling ability with a natural feel to the steering and brakes. Just be mindful of the fact the General Grabber AT3s don’t provide as much purchase on bitumen as more road-focused rubber.

Yet, given the off-road focus, tyre roar is impressively hushed. It’s another area where the Ranger feels ‘car-like’, and the Tremor follows suit. In general, NVH levels are low.

This is the 2024 Ford Ranger Tremor’s party piece. It’s very good off-road and probably more capable when the going gets tough than it’ll ever realistically need to be.

While the Tremor struggles for on-road composure, off-road is where the Bilstein benefits come to the fore, making it a trade-off worth copping for some buyers.

The Bilstein suspension upgrade affords that extra ground clearance, which totals 261mm. And while the wading depth is 50mm less than the hardcore Raptor, it’s still good at 800mm. A 2.3mm steel bash plate will also help protect the mechanical gubbins if you encounter any unforeseen obstacles.

Trail Turn Assist allows the Tremor to navigate tight off-road turns with extra ease. Adding to the go-anywhere capability is the Rock Crawl drive mode as well as Trail Control which acts like a quasi-off-road cruise control.

The Tremor builds on these intuitive systems with an extra Off-Road Screen, too.

All this tech, coupled with the capable four-wheel drive system and increased approach, departure and breakover angles (32, 27 and 24 degrees respectively) means the Tremor can go just about anywhere.

Plus, it feels safe and secure while doing it, with progressive steering and brake inputs. There’s a heavy dollop of traditional engineering at play, too, exemplified by the noteworthy wheel articulation. There isn’t much that will faze the Ranger Tremor.

Yes, the 2024 Ford Ranger Tremor gains kit to aid its off-road focus, but it hasn’t hampered the load-lugging ability.

That means it still has a braked towing capacity of 3500kg (750kg unbraked), the payload is 901kg and the GCM is 6350kg when you factor in the 2419kg kerb weight.

The Ranger isn’t a small dual-cab at 5.4 metres in length and slightly more than 1.9 metres in width. This affords a spacious tub which is 1464mm in length and, importantly, 1217mm wide.

Quick tie-down points are a handy addition, as is the fact you could easily adapt various custom arrangements to the rear tray for work-and-play purposes.

Of course, for added heavy-hauling ability, there’s always the Ranger Super Duty to consider in the future.

The cabin is yet another strong point for the Thai-built 2024 Ford Ranger Tremor.

Adding to the Tremor treatment are the water-resistant trim and floor mats that can be easily cleaned and washed after bush-bashing adventures.

Storage is a strong point, with handy cubby holes underneath the rear seats providing a safe space to keep expensive items hidden.

There are also rear air vents. While space in the back is good in terms of leg and headroom, the bench seat is quite upright (as are most dual-cabs).

Ergonomically, it’s nice to see dedicated volume and climate controls so you don’t have to go searching through the touch-screen for everything. However, the redesigned gear lever isn’t as successful.

If you’re after an SUV, there will be a Tremor version of the popular Ford Everest.

The Wildtrak X proved the product case for an all-terrain dual-cab for those who couldn’t afford to step up to the Raptor.

Essentially, the 2024 Ford Ranger Tremor copies Ford’s own homework, but it trims some of the specification fat in the process to reduce the financial hit – without forgoing the reasons buyers flocked to the X.

The Tremor makes a strong case for itself if you genuinely value off-road adventures. If this is the case, its virtues will mean more than the decrease in on-road comfort the Bilstein dampers introduce. And you’d best get in while you can, given the limited supply.

As far as plug-and-play, accessory-packed all-terrain dual cab utes go, the Tremor is hard to beat.

2024 Ford Ranger Tremor at a glance:
Price: $69,690 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel
Output: 154kW/500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.7L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 230g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)

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