The Ranger really needs no introduction.

It’s the top-selling ute in this country for a host of good reasons – not least the fact that, unlike almost all of the others, it’s got a powerful 600Nm V6 engine (why manufacturers think 450Nm of peak torque is acceptable in this day and age I’ll never understand). The Ford also just looks hot when lifted on some larger rubber – and sex appeal sells.

They’re a well-proven thing these days, and there aren’t too many applications where the Ranger can’t be made to shine (maybe heavy towing, but no mid-size is amazing in that regard, so we won’t count that as a negative).

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The four-banger twin-turbo is nothing to sneeze at, but while turbocharging has challenged the “there’s no replacement for displacement” crowd for a long time now, having more displacement, two extra cylinders and forced induction makes the V6 the better buy for my needs.

Unfortunately, the V6 is only available in three models: the Raptor (up over $90K), the Platinum (north of $80K) and the XLT (which still hurts, but much less, at $68,840). This raises the question: can you build a better Raptor for the same price if you start with an XLT? Yes. Yes, you can. Right this way, sir/madam.

As with the V6 Everest, the Ranger’s ECU features rolling code that effectively prevents any new code being added – which is essentially what a tune does – so I’d go with a Steinbauer module for $2750 and grab 295hp and over 700 reliable Newtons for my trouble. I reckon that has to be one of the best bang-for-buck upgrades on any 4×4 this side of bolting a junkyard turbo onto a TD42 and winding the fuel up. An exhaust isn’t really necessary – the stock pipes are already 2.75-inch – so an upgrade is only required if chasing bonkers power, which I’m not.

From there, it’s a front Rival bar and a good set of driving lights, as I’m regularly leaving for trips late Friday night and getting to camp in the wee hours. The Rival is roughly $3000, and I’d be keen to run the Big Red LEDs, which are super affordable at under $400 with a harness and reportedly offer better-than-decent performance too.

For a winch – important, as I do a lot of solo trips – I’ve found over the years that most of the ones at or under the $500 mark have hit-and-miss build quality and reliability, whereas spending $1000 or so gets you something good. I’d hit up Superior Engineering and grab a Runva 11XP and call it done.

The Ranger also has a hefty 146-inch wheelbase, so a set of $1500 sliders from Offroad Animal is a wise investment. This gives us a rig that’s barred up, has self-recovery covered, and is significantly faster than stock – but we’re competing with a Raptor here, and one thing the Raptor has that we don’t have is suspension. We should probably change that.

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Fox Shocks (standard on the Raptor) are hard to beat, but they’re not perfect. After dropping around $9500 at Solve Offroad, we’d have the same shocks as a Raptor – but better. Things like mounting, spring lengths, shock travel and internal valving are tailored to my Ranger specifically, and the upper control arms up front are swapped out to maintain the appropriate suspension geometry. After that, a fresh set of 286/75R17 Falken Wildpeaks will take up the last $2000 of my budget.

How’d we do? We have a Ranger that’s more protected than a Raptor, way more powerful than a Raptor, has better suspension than a Raptor – and cost us slightly less than a Raptor. I’d say that’s money well spent.

Down the track, when my money tree recovers from the severe pruning I just gave it by buying this thing, I’ll be looking at an extra $5K or so on a front locker (twin-locked is still better than any traction control… just) and a lithium set-up for extended stays at camp. But that’s me.

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