A little like Clydesdale horses given cosmetic treatment in preparation for a show, pickups are beginning to be brought to market with at least as much consideration for their style as for their substance. They may be lagging behind off-roaders by several years in this respect, but they're heading in approximately the same direction.Which explains the existence of the Ford Ranger Thunder. "The pickup market in Britain is changing," says Ford's Commercial Vehicles Director Gary Whittam, "and customers are looking for style and quality as well as functionality. That's why we've created Thunder."It's a limited edition of which only 750 examples will be sold, though if it goes down well it may turn out to be a sign of things to come. Essentially a Ranger XLT, it gets various extra bits and pieces which, as Ford cheerfully admits, are all intended to raise customer appeal and have no bearing whatever on the pickup's basic purpose.So: it has a unique black-and-silver colour scheme, Thunder decals, spot lamps in the front bumper and - a first for the range - full leather interior with a charcoal grey colour scheme. Inside and out, it certainly looks a bit serious.The interior notionally seats four, but the pair in the rear have to be very small for this to work. To carry a quartet of adults you really need to look at a Ranger Double Cab. Up front, though, the cockpit is quite comfortable, and the Ranger is also surprisingly nice to drive, in an unsubtle sort of way. It's far from being the last word in tarmac road refinement, but it's a lot less bouncy than some of its rivals.This test didn't include any off-roading, but a previous one of the standard XLT did, so we know that the Ranger is pretty useful on the slippy stuff. In particular it's very controllable even when the engine is operating at hardly more than tickover speed.That engine, as is the case with all Rangers, is a 107bhp 2.5-litre turbo diesel. Quite loud, and again not especially refined, but strong enough to ensure decent performance on tarmac. In fact, and not for the first time, I found it much easier to keep up with A-road traffic than initial impressions would suggest.The load box is usefully big (though it's worth paying extra for the dealer-fit option of a plastic internal cover) and the Thunder's gross payload is 1180kg. Towing capacity is 2800kg, and with the sturdy low-down performance I reckon this would be quite an impressive tow vehicle even though I haven't yet had the opportunity to experiment.Back to Gary Whittam: he reckons that the Thunder is "a style statement for successful business people with a 'go anywhere, do anything' lifestyle." He's paid to say that kind of thing, of course, but he does have a point.
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