WHEELER Dealers’ star Mike Brewer has said goodbye to a “wonderful” Ford pick-up and replaced it with a “jack of all trades”.
The popular TV presenter, 59, took to his Instagram account to say his farewell to a “beloved family member”.
In a video clip, Mike said: “Today is a sad day. It’s one of those days when you have to let go of one of your children.
“This hunk is a Ford Ranger Raptor… and Jason here has come to take it away. I’m gutted. I love this.
“We have done absolutely everything in this. We’ve moved everything, gearboxes, engines… It’s been a big part of what we’ve done on Wheeler Dealers. It’s been a big part of my life.”
Mike added: “It drives like a car. It’s wonderful to be in. I love cruising around in it. It’s a big roughty-toughty. I absolutely love it.”
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But the twist in the tale was that he went from one Raptor to another.
Mike said: “I absolutely love the Ranger Raptor. It’s a work horse. It’s a jack of all trades. It’s a Swiss army knife.”
“That’s what we use it for.”
He added: “We love it because it drives like a car. It’s got a lovely engine. It returns really good miles to the gallon.
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“Plus, you can turn up in London, because it’s ULEZ, and park it up outside the front because it looks good.”
In The Sun's review of the pick-up, it was described as being "bad ass".
We said: "To sum it up in two words: Bloody epic."
However, our review wasn't entirely glowing,
It said: "But there are two major flaws.
"First, the engine is a bit of a letdown given the chassis and its looks. It’s a 2-litre diesel or nothing.
"It hasn’t even been uprated by Ford Performance, as you can have the same 213hp lump in a Ranger Wildtrack.
"That’s not to say it won’t get the job done, because it will. It carries good speed and has more muscle than the old 3.2-litre five-pot.
"But I wanted something silly. The F-150 Raptor has a Ford GT engine.
"Wait until your mates find out this is slower than a Nissan Micra.
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"Much closer to home, the VW Amarok V6 and Merc X-Class would hose it off the line too. Then there’s the price. It’s near as dammit £50,000."
Ford Ranger Raptor
Key Facts
- Price: £48,785
- Engine: 2-litre twin-turbo diesel
- Power: 213hp, 500Nm
- 0-62mph: 10.5 secs
- Top speed: 106mph
- Economy: 31mpg
- CO2: 233g/km
- Payload: 620kg