Driven: 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty dual cab chassis

It may seem strange for us to review a monster-sized turbo-diesel ute in the midst of a fuel and cost-of-living crisis but, bear with me, it does make sense.

Diesel vehicles are still this country's primary load-carrying vehicles ... for the time being, anyway. Tradies still need a vehicle for work and the ute remains the go-to vehicle of choice for many Australians.

The 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty dual cab chassis is a purpose-built work-and-play vehicle with a 130-litre fuel tank, 4.5 tonne towing capacity, 4.5 tonne gross vehicle mass, and 8 tonne gross combined mass.

The Super Duty is heavier, wider and more robust than a regular Ranger – so it’s positioned between mid-sized utes and US pick-ups in the market – and it’s packed with features, retains off-road capability and, on paper, it has a lot of potential as a towing and off-roading platform.

But that potential comes at a cost: the Super Duty price-tag kicks off around the $90,000 mark and pushes beyond $100k when you add a steel tray and an assortment of other features. 

How much does the 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty dual cab chassis cost?

The Ford Ranger Super Duty is available as a single cab chassis (2026MY), super cab chassis (2026MY), double cab chassis (2026MY). A double cab pick up (2026.50MY) and a premium XLT variant, are due to arrive later this year.

Our test vehicle is the Ranger Super Duty Double Cab Chassis with a manufacturer listed price of $89,990*. (* Price correct at time of writing.)

What features do you get in the 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty dual cab chassis?

Standard features in the Super Duty include a 12-inch touchscreen multimedia system (with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), wireless charging and a suite of driver-assist tech.

The Super Duty has onboard digital scales for live load measurements, so you'll never have to guess how much weight you have onboard your ute.

Its 130-litre fuel tank, 4.5 tonne towing capacity, 4.5 tonne gross vehicle mass, and 8 tonne gross combined mass are also crucial in this ute’s list of standard features.

Price as tested for our review vehicle is $100,157 because it has a few options onboard including Shadow Black paint ($750), matte black steel tray (including a 20-litre water tank and lockable tool box ($9048), integrated device mounting system ($232), and all-weather floor mats (front and rear, $137).

Paint choices include Absolute Black (aka Shadow Black, on our test vehicle), Aluminium, Arctic White, Command Grey, Seismic Tan and Traction Green, each of which costs $750.

The Super Duty is a regular Ranger but bulked up to the maximum.

At 5470mm long (with a 3270mm wheelbase), 2197mm wide (with mirrors), 1985mm high and a listed kerb weight of 2675kg (that’s without a tray), the Super Duty is a bigger-than-usual ute, if you’re used to seeing mainstream utes, rather than US-style utes, on the road and tracks.

It has a sealed Super Duty-branded snorkel, substantial front and rear recovery points (two at each end), a wider-than-regular wheel track at 1710mm (150mm wider than the regular Ranger’s), big side steps, 18-inch eight-stud steel wheels (from bigger ‘F’ utes), chunky General Grabber All-Terrain LT (275/70 R18) tyres, and an 18-inch steel spare wheel.

This ute has plenty of presence on- and off-road. In fact, it can easily compete with the likes of the 79 Series on looks alone.

If you’ve spent any time in a Ranger cabin recently, you know what to expect – it’s a high achiever in terms of practicality and comfort.

The 12-inch touchscreen multimedia system (with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto) is easy to operate and the screen is big enough and on-screen colours are crisp enough that even my decrepit eyes could cope with it.

The driver and front passenger are afforded easy access to numerous storage options, including a centre console, cupholders, door pockets, a shelf for all of your pocket stuff etc, and charging points, with a wireless charge pad upfront, as well as USB and USB-C sockets.

There’s ample space inside for the driver and the passengers, front and back. The seats – cloth to cope with real life dirt and grime – are supportive and comfortable upfront and only slightly less so in the back row. There’s also more-than-adequate room back there: I sat behind my driving position and had plenty of space.

The driver’s seat is eight-way manually adjustable, while the front passenger seat is four-way manually adjustable.

Second-row passengers have air-con vents and controls, as well as a fold-down centre arm-rest, door pockets, and map pockets.

The tray on the test vehicle measures 1790mm long, 1890mm wide, and 270mm deep. It has a load height (from ground to the tray floor) is 1065mm. It also has metal window-protection and a chequer-plate base.

The full-size steel spare is mounted under the tray.

What is the 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty dual cab chassis like to drive?

The Ford Ranger Super Duty has a 3.0L V6 turbo-diesel engine – producing 154kW at 3250rpm (30kW less than the regular V6 Ranger) and 600Nm 1750rpm – and it has a 10-speed automatic transmission, full-time 4WD, as well as a front and rear diff lock.

For reference, the 2.8L four-cylinder turbo-diesel 79 Series LandCruiser produces 150kW and 500Nm, and the 4.5L V8 produces 151kW and 430Nm.

Driver-selectable modes in the Super Duty include Normal, Eco, Tow/Haul, Slippery, Mud/Ruts, Sand and Sport.

This engine and auto makes a smooth and highly effective combination in all driving circumstances.

The Super Duty is a smooth-driving ute on- and off-road: it's comfortable and composed. This ute’s wheel track – at 1710mm it’s 150mm wider than the regular Ranger’s – is the same as the Raptor’s and gives the ute a supremely settled feel over most road- or track-surface imperfections.

The wheelbase is unchanged (at 3270mm), but the Super Duty is substantially heavier than the ‘normal’ Rangers and thankfully its confidence-inspiring driving feel on the blacktop is retained when you drive off sealed surfaces.

It remains settled on the dirt. It is quite stiff – level some of the blame at its heavy-duty chassis – and the Super Duty’s ride on bush tracks can be jarring if corrugations and potholes are on the wrong side of deep.

Steering has a nice weight to it, visibility to the front through its big windscreen is generally good, although the big bonnet obscures the driver’s forward view on more severe obstacles – such as steep hills, rock-climbs – but the Super Duty’s onboard camera system, which is able to present a 360-degree view around the vehicle, somewhat negates that.

Throttle response is good, low-range gearing is reliable and the Super Duty has a front and rear diff lock for when the terrain becomes particularly challenging.

This ute has grippy Light Truck construction all-terrain tyres, which are more robust than standard all-terrain tyres. The Super Duty also has a comprehensive toolbox of driver-assist tech – including hill descent control and a variety of drive modes (Slippery, Mud/Ruts, and Sand) – all aimed at improving your off-roading skills.

It handles steep, tricky technical hill-climbs with ease as long as you drive with consideration. It is a bigger and heavier vehicle than a regular-sized ute and it has a 13.6m turning circle so it requires extra concentration on tight bush tracks. 

In terms of physical dimensions the Super Duty is well suited to off-road duties. With a listed 300mm of ground clearance and a 800mm wading depth and I have confidence in those measurements having driven this ute on some decent rock steps and through some mud holes. The Super Duty also has some substantial underbody protection as standard.

In double-cab chassis guise, the Super Duty has a listed payload* of 1825kg, as well as the aforementioned 4.5 tonne gross vehicle mass (GVM), 4.5 tonne towing capacity, and 8 tonne gross combined mass (GCM), which are all impressive figures for a ute that’s not as big as US pick-ups. (* At minimum kerb weight, which excludes the tray.)

The Super Duty does not have an official fuel consumption figure because it is an N2* light commercial vehicle. (* An N2 light commercial vehicle is “A goods vehicle with a ‘Gross Vehicle Mass’ exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 12.0 tonnes”. The Super Duty is category NB2: “over 4.5 tonnes, up to 12 tonnes ‘Gross Vehicle Mass’.”)

On this test, I recorded 13.7L/100km.

The Super Duty has a 130-litre fuel tank so, going by my on-test fuel consumption figure, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 948km from a full tank of diesel.

The Super Duty does not have an ANCAP safety rating because it has not been tested (as of Feb 2026).

As standard, it has nine airbags (front, side, knee and full-length curtain (driver and passenger) and far side driver front airbag) and, while its lack of an ANCAP safety rating may work against it for some potential buyers, the Super Duty does have a comprehensive suite of driver-assist tech including AEB, adaptive cruise control, tyre pressure monitoring, and front and rear parking sensors.

The Ford Ranger Super Duty is covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.

Roadside assistance is included free for the first 12 months and continues for seven years if you have your vehicle serviced by Ford.

Capped price servicing applies and if you pre-pay that’ll cost you a total of $2100 for five years. ($2345 if you don’t – that’s $469 per service.) 

Service intervals are recommended for 12 months or 15,000km and continue up to five years or 75,000km.

Ford Australia has about 200 dealers across the country with a decent spread across metro, rural and regional areas. Ford dealers are also service centres.

Is the 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty dual cab chassis any good?

The Ford Ranger Super Duty fills a niche between regular-sized utes and US pick-ups by offering much more flexibility for towing and touring than a regular Ranger and most other mid-sized utes.

This ute is very impressive because it has almost everything you could want in a ute straight out of the showroom: seamless driver-assist tech, reliably effective mechanicals, top-level comfort, confidence-inspiring off-road capability, and an ability to tow real heavy loads.

Its positives – including its equipment and comfort levels, as well as its capability and all-round driveability – far outweigh anything negative about it, which is namely limited to its hefty price-tag.

If you’re cross-shopping the Super Duty against the Toyota LandCruiser 79 Series, its closest rival overall, then the Ford comes out on top in pretty much every way – and you do get a lot more for your money with the Super Duty.