The 2024 Ford Ranger Single Cab Is A Glorious Return To Form

Photo: Ford

The 2024 Ford Ranger is being released in the UK and other markets abroad as a single cab. While the more pressing news around the latest Ford Ranger is likely the release of the PHEV model, the single cab model looks like a glorious return to the pickup trucks of yore. Hello, old friend. Where have you been?

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It would be more appropriate to ask, “where are you, still?” because the Ranger Single Cab will not be released in the U.S., where Ford’s famous midsizer will be available exclusively as a double cab (or SuperCrew) upon release. An extended cab Ranger will follow soon thereafter in the U.S., which is a fine consolation prize, I guess. And also a boon for fleet managers, for whom the extended cab Ford Ranger has been a solid workhorse for the last couple of decades.

But look at all the bed space of the Ranger Single Cab and that no frills design.

Photo: Ford

The double cab Ford Ranger that’ll be sold in the U.S. will have a bed length of five feet, while the extended cab gets a six-foot bed. The Ranger Single Cab, however, has a bed that’s over seven feet long. Ford Pro says the length is 2332 millimeters, which is about 7.65 feet. That’s not quite the traditional long bed (8-foot) but it’s a welcome change from the shortened beds that double cabs have yielded in modern truck designs.

As if that bed (fit for long man himself) wasn’t enough, the Ford Ranger Single Cab will be powered by a 2.0-liter turbodiesel inline four engine making 168 horsepower and 299 lb-ft of torque. The turbodiesel is mated to a six-speed manual transmission and 4X4 is optional on the midsizer. The truck will tow just over 7,700 pounds, and its max payload is slightly above 2,600 pounds. The Ford Ranger’s cousin, the Volkswagen Amarok, will have similar specs.

Of course, the tradeoff for those capacities is that the Ranger Single Cab only fits a driver and one passenger. That’s an anachronism many people will dislike, but I’m a big fan. And the rest of the truck feels like a rejection of modern truck trends, from its steel wheels to its roof-mounted row of switches and right down to the simple roll bar covering its rear glass. It’s a throwback through and through and a glorious return to form. It’s just too bad the U.S. won’t get it.