HSV SportsCat vs Tickford Ranger 2018 review

When you buy a ute, you get a ute interior. But both of these tuning houses have attempted to make the cabins better than standard - and both have succeeded, to a degree.

The HSV version of the Colorado builds upon the top-spec Z71 by adding some classy touches inside.

The nice bits include new 'Jasmine' leather and 'Windsor' suede trimmed seats front and rear, with quality stitching and materials used. That extends to some suede and fake leather on the dashboard, while the armrest pads on the doors have stitched leatherette, too... but the stitch work wasn't quite as high-end, there.

The HSV scores leather and suede trim that even extends to the dashboard.

There's even a red-stitched steering wheel with a HSV badge in the middle. But, just like the Colorado, it's one heck of an ugly steering wheel.

Not much else has changed inside, meaning you still get a 8.0-inch touchscreen media system with sat nav and Apple CarPlay, plus Bluetooth phone and audio streaming and a single USB port.

The Colorado doesn't have the best storage in the ute class, with a couple of small cup holders between the seats, a small centre console, and slim door pockets. In the back there are map pockets, bottle holders in the doors and a fold-down rear armrest, but no rear cup holders or air vents.

Up the back in the SportsCat there's a fold down armrest, but no rear cup holders or air vents.

The space on offer in the Colorado is very good by class standards, with more legroom, toe room and headroom than most competitors. Three adults across the back is more of a squeeze than the Ranger, but otherwise it's more comfortable than its rival in this test. The Ranger is which is juuuuust a touch tighter for legroom. Both utes have ISOFIX child seat anchor points and top-tether anchors, too.

As for the interior of the Tickford, it builds upon the XLT spec donor ute. So, like the Colorado, there's an 8.0-inch touchscreen, but time with Ford's Sync 3 control system and Apple CarPlay, plus Android Auto too.

The Tickford gets the already-great Ranger XLT interior.

You get Bluetooth phone and audio streaming, sat nav, and a pair of USB ports, plus the instrument cluster has dual colour configurable digital screens either side of the main analogue speedo dial. The Colorado's driver info screen is a less-special-looking monochrome unit, but at least both have digital speedometers.

The storage is much better in the Ranger, with bigger and better-placed cup holders up front, and more loose item storage, too. The door pockets are bigger in all four doors, and it matches the Colorado with rear map pockets but betters it with cupholders in its fold-down armrest.

The Ford's fold-down armrest in the back seat helps it best the HSV.

Now, to the changes made for the Tickford version.

There are fully retrimmed leather seats with upgraded padding, There's custom blue stitching, and it has a retrimmed steering wheel with a racy straight-ahead stripe on it... because you'll need to know where to point your Ranger when you're tackling that final apex at Sydney Motorsport Park. Right?

That's not part of the Adventure pack, though. If you wanted to, you could get the exterior makeover and leave the cockpit mostly standard, should you wish to go without the leathery bits.

The seat base of the HSV model folds up in a 60:40 split fashion, while the Tickford model's seat base can be raised in one movement, which is a bit more cumbersome. Both have rear seat backs that can be lowered down to assist in fitting baby seats.

It's a tale of two different approaches when it comes to what's under the bonnet of these two utes.

No, we're not talking an eight-cylinder engine from either of these two former-V8 hero brands. But one sees no changes from its donor car, and the other is the Tickford.

Tickford has more than tickled the Ranger's 3.2-litre five-cylinder turbo diesel, with a big jump in power and torque - up from the standard 147kW to 169kW (an increase of 14 per cent), while torque has bumped up from 470Nm to a mammoth 564Nm (a 20 per cent hike).

The Tickford's uprated five-cylinder produces 169kW/564Nm.

That's down to an engine retune, larger intercooler and hard pipe kit, a 2.5-inch stainless steel cat back exhaust, and new high-flow air filter.

You can have it either with the six-speed manual or six-speed auto versions of the Ranger. Remember, it's a BYO ute affair at Tickford.

HSV chose not to change anything under the bonnet of the Colorado, so it still uses a 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel without any extra power or torque. That means 147kW of power and 500Nm of torque - it remains the torquiest four-cylinder diesel in the ute segment.

The SportsCat maintains the regular Colorado's 147kW/500Nm.

That big standard torque figure is for the Colorado with the six-speed automatic transmission. The six-speed manual version has just 440Nm.

There might be a more powerful version of the SportsCat (in manual and auto) later - but at this stage, HSV says a solution hasn't presented itself.

If you plan to use a ute like this to move heavy gear, these two are pretty closely matched. The payload capacity of the Ranger XLT is 995 kilograms (from the factory - it'll be less than that for any Tickford version, because you've got to add weight to add street cred), and the SportsCat is rated at 900kg.

I honestly don't know which one of these two I preferred. Both have some promising and likeable traits, and by the same measure, both have some issues.

Let's talk engines first, because the Ford is easily the one that wins in that department.

The 3.2-litre five-cylinder is a better base engine to work from, and with this tune it certainly 'enhances the drivability' of the Ranger, which is what Tickford was aiming for.

There's less turbo lag from a standing start, and the punch is delivered further across the rev range. It is more potent than a standard Ranger, that's for sure - but you need to bear in mind that all of the extra stuff that has been added has an impact on the power-to-weight ratio, so don't expect mega performance if you spec your car this way.

For me, just getting the engine tune would be the step I'd take... and it might be the only one, to be honest! It won't affect your Ford warranty, and the way the engine performs is greatly enhanced.

The transmission is well sorted, too. It can get a little busy when it comes to maintaining momentum on the highway - rather than just labouring in sixth, it'll drop to fifth when it really doesn't need to - but that's the same with any Ranger.

As for the noise? Well, it's not quiet. And the bad news is that although there's a 2.5-inch sports exhaust system, it isn't that noticeable from the cabin.

Now, to the other ute.

This is a HSV in name, but not nature. This would be such a good car if HSV had stayed true to its roots and chucked a chunky V8 under the bonnet. Hell, they could charge $80,000 if they did, and people would pay it. Heck, I might even pay that!

Still, HSV reckons this Colorado is better on-road and off, even if it sticks with the four-cylinder engine. But the drivetrain - as good as it might be in a regular Colorado - arguably isn't worth the money at this price point.

Admittedly, it's still the most torque-rich four-pot diesel ute out there, and when you promptly pressure the right pedal, it does push you forward pretty quickly. But there's more lag to contend with, and no more power to overcome the extra weight of the added bits and pieces.

But the transmission does a relatively good job of making use of the engine's grunt, shuffling through the ratios without too much fuss. It can be a little aggressive when it comes to gradient braking (dropping back gears to use engine braking when descending hills), but you get used to it.

The SportsCat has definitely seen worthwhile changes to its suspension. The MTV dampers change things for the better, taming the typical harshness of an empty dual cab ute nicely. It was definitely nicer to be in when driving on urban roads, 80km/h arterials, and at freeway speed, too.

The Ranger, with its heavily reworked and raised suspension, wasn't as comfortable. Part of that comes down to the bigger (and presumably heavier) wheels flunking over road joins, and there was some unlikeable pitching back and forth over Sydney main roads.

The discomfort continued in terms of the suspension of the Ranger off-road, because it was pretty eager to jostle the occupants of the cabin around in their seats. It simply didn't offer the compliance to deal with some mildly corrugated tracks, with a skittish rear end. In fact, it felt harsher than a regular Ranger by some margin.

The rough-road ride in the HSV is similar, but not quite as bad. It is terse: the dampers are tuned for smoother roads, and it can be twitchy and jumpy over rippled gravel. The company has even reworked the electronic stability control, and it was very well suited to slow-speed, low traction crawling.

It was never our intent to take these two too far off road, but it's not like anyone who buys one of these two utes is going to head out on a road trip to Big Red (that's a massive sand dune on the edge of the Simpson Desert). But that's the M.O. for these sorts of utes - plenty of ability, but typically with an owner who won't explore it. I can understand that - I wouldn't go out of my way to scratch up any circa-$70k car!

Back on the road, the Ranger reigned supreme in terms of its steering, which is an electric system that offers fingertip-light turnability at lower speeds, and excellent response and weighting at pace. The HSV's steering is heavier, making for harder work at lower speeds, but reasonably good assuredness when things are flowing at more speed. And both suffer pretty bad turning circle diameters due to their larger wheel packages, but the HSV's was exacerbated by the heavier steering.

The biggest negative, though, for the HSV, was its brakes. In the high-spec SportsCat+ model you get AP Racing brakes, which from all accounts are a game-changer. But in the base spec model, the pedal feel is wooden, offering little to the driver in terms of feedback, and therefore making it hard to anticipate at times.

If you're part of the speedboat crowd (and, without meaning to stereotype, but if you want a ute like this, you probably are), you'll be happy to know that both of these trucks retain their claimed 3.5-tonne braked towing capacity, with un-braked towing rated at 750kg.

The new car warranties offered by Holden and Ford used to be identical - both are three-year/100,000km spans. But both brands recently announced permanent five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty for their vehicles. What about HSV and Tickford, though?

When Ford offered a three-year plan, Tickford stated it would cover "for the balance of the new vehicle warranty, any failure that occurs as a direct result of the functionality and fitment of our products". But in light of the updated warranty plan from Ford, Tickford hasn't extended its cover, sticking with the three-year plan for new Ford models, and 12 months for vehicles outside of Ford's original warranty period. So, for argument's sake, if you buy an 18-month-old Ranger and take it to Tickford, you'll be covered for the remaining 18 months of the new-car warranty that applied to the vehicle then.  

HSV has also joined Holden in offering a five-year warranty with unlimited kilometre cover, which is clearly an advantage if you're shopping between these two and plan to hang on to the vehicle for a while.

As for servicing, you'll be able to get the SportsCat maintained as you would any Colorado, with visits to the Holden service department due every nine months or 15,000km. The costs for the first five visits (out to 45 months/75,000km) are: $299, $399, $479, $479, $299 ($1955). You'd need to get the HSV serviced an extra time to make it.

Ford requires servicing less frequently - annual visits instead of every nine months. That's a good thing, there's no doubt about it, but it does cost more than the Colorado when it comes to visits. The costs for the first five visits (60 months/75,000km) are: $400, $570, $505, $570, $400 ($2445).