In some ways, I wasn't looking forward to driving the Ranger. I'm a car man, not a passenger pickup person. Well, in this country anyway, where pickups have a quite commercial use and are often specced to deal with that. Even the extra passenger accommodation is often a compromise in room and comfort.

And they CAN be quite agricultural to drive. These things are designed to take on building sites and all the challenges they can provide.

So, how did the Ranger pan out?

Well, it is based on a stablemate Mazda vehicle, but the blue oval people certainly have put their own stamp on the styling, and the front end is both macho and decorative, and right in line with the kind of buyership the vehicle is aimed at.

It looks ... American. Which is in both tale and truth the land of what they call the 'truck'. Lots of chrome finish. A big grille, strong squared headlamp clusters. Chunky wheel arch protectors. And a bumper that looks like it could drive through a wall (but probably wouldn't, so don't try that at home).

The squared look is continued right along the rest of the style, including a load bed that is very toughly finished, and which has a tailgate that will build muscles if you lift it up and down in any frequency.

The Ranger comes in four models here, a Regular Cab with full loading area, a 4-door Super Cab with intriguing rear doors for access to behind the front seats, a Double Cab and the XLT Double Cab, both of which have a second row of seats. All are 4x4, and the review vehicle is the top-of-range XLT.

The load box in all is 1,536 mm wide (1,090 mm between the wheel arches), and the variants have load box lengths of 2,280/1,753/1,530 mm respectively. Gross payloads are from 1,135 kg for the XLT to 1,210 kg for the Super Cab. The XLT I had also featured a stainless steel full-width stop bar to prevent over-running obstacles while reversing.

The XLT I drove also had two-tone bodywork, which makes it look better as a car compared to the utilitarian aspect of the other versions. It is an extra-cost option. But the polished stainless steel side styling bars are all standard here, as are the scuff plates in the same material.

All versions have electrically-operated windows and mirrors.

The passenger capsule in the XLT is very well specced, with substantial seats covered in the comfort bits in good velour while the sections likely to suffer from kicking or scratching are in a tough leatherette material. The dashboard is reminiscent of the previous-model Mondeo, and instruments are finished in white-on-bright blue that cheers up the aspect quite well. The classic three-dial setup has the centre speedometer larger than the others, as things should be.

Controls betray the Japanese heritage, with the lights switch on the indicator stalk instead of Ford's traditional dash mounting. The radio is neatly simple in operation (in the XLT is includes a CD player), as are the heating/ventilation switched. The Double Cab and XLT both come with basic airconditioning as standard.

Driving position is high, with good visibility of both bonnet and rear end, essential for maneuvering in cluttered sites or up in the forests to which this vehicle is well suited. The rear seats are slightly higher, trimming headroom somewhat but giving rear passengers a better view.

The Ranger is powered by a 109 ps 2.5-litre turbodiesel, with a sturdy 266 Nm of torque available and the ability to tow a braked trailer of up to 2,800 kg, so we can see how useful it might be for both leisure and working use. In the XLT there's a remote front wheel electric freewheel hub release that operates without having to reverse the vehicle.

ABS is standard on all models, as are dual airbags.

Like I said, I might not have liked the Ranger. But living with it for the review period, I began to appreciate just why many people like double cabs as cars, particularly is they are as well finished as was this one.

It was comfortable enough to drive too, despite the leaf-spring rear suspension which seems to be much more flexible in use than of yore.

The high driving position, and that good visibility that deserves mention a second time made it the ideal vehicle to negotiate the traffic-ridden streets of the towns in mid-Kildare, and the luggability of the engine from around 2,000 rpm certainly allowed a flexible drive.

Suburban chores like trips to the garden centre and the often awkward loads home that are the consequence are easily managed with the Ranger. On the other hand, if you have a crew to carry to work and a variety of tools and supplies, it should also suit the small contractor.

For the last 18 months or so, the E65 VRT charge meant a big run on double-cab pickups which had previously been seriously out of reach. But they aren't as much a good proposition as they were since July 1, with the imposition of a 13 per cent VRT rate.

Still, not as badly priced as they used to be, and I reckon the Ranger will easily sell its fair share of a market that's likely to remain healthy enough.