I drove a manual Ranger on Saturday, hated it. Breathless piece of cr@p, ran out of puff in each gear at 3500rpm. Then drove an auto and it was a world of difference, makes the thing actually good to drive. And it smoked the tyres on takeoff. Both were 4x4. Seriously looking at an XLT xtra cab 4x2, they are identical to the 4x4 even down to the ride height and diff lock, just no 4x4 - and it comes standard with auto not $2000 extra like it is on the others. Plus it is 300kg+ lighter. The diff lock would make up for the lack of 4x4 in reversing a trailer situations. It is $12,000 cheaper than the 4x4.
I drove an XR6 NA too, it was very good as well.

Mazda BT-50 Xtra cab 4x4 XTR is hard to beat though, one of these with towbar, tubliner and soft tonneau added is under $50k, same thing in an XLT Ford is $55k plus tonneau and Mazda has Satnav standard.