BRITAIN'S favourite new car in 2023 was the Ford Puma.

It secured 49,581 registrations, with Nissan’s Qashqai in the number two position with 43,321 examples hitting the road last year.

But Ford did not only top the car charts. The company also lead the van and pick-up sectors.

The Ford Transit Custom was the UK’s most popular new van in 2023 – 40,865 examples were registered. In second place was the full-size Transit with 28,280 registrations.

Ford’s Ranger, shown, dominated the pick-up sector. It took the number one slot with 18,679 registrations – 7,791 ahead of its nearest competition, the Toyota Hilux.

The Ranger also happens to be Europe’s favourite pick-up.

I can remember when pick-ups were utilitarian – designed to work for a living and almost devoid of creature comforts.

The Ranger pictured is the Wildtrak version. Its standard features include heated driver and front passenger seats and steering wheel – features which will be welcomed by those who have to work in the depths of winter – leather upholstery, power-adjustable driver’s seat, 18inch alloy wheels and puddle lamps, the latter traditionally only found on cars.

A new generation of Ranger was introduced last year.

Plump for the entry level XL and it can be had in single cab chassis, single cab and double cab forms. All other variants have the double cab.

The Wildtrak I sampled had the 3.0 V6 twin-turbo diesel engine in 202bhp guise. It comes with a 10-speed e-4WD automatic transmission.

With an official economy rating of 32.1mpg, the Ranger is claimed capable of 0-62mph in 10.5 seconds and a top speed of 112mph.

It’s a capable workhorse which is actually pretty civilised to drive for a pick-up.

The Wildtrak 3.0 V6 diesel with 202bhp on tap has a towing capacity of up to 3,500kg.

It costs from £40,665 excluding VAT.