I was a user of the 2.8l Hilux from 2017 up until recently when I changed roles and was no longer given a company vehicle. Also had a customised Land Rover Defender which I built up from its chassis rails up as an offroad rig that I recently sold as getting too old for this type of toys.
I did consider buying another pickup, narrowed it down to the Ranger XLT+ and the Navara VL.
The issue with Ford, it isn't the parts availability, you can buy any part you want from SDAC, the main issue is getting an appointment to service or have your truck looked at or diagnosed.
Navara, I liked driving it as it has fairly good get up and go but it had a tendency to hunt for gears.
Which one to buy? I would have bought the Ranger but in the end decided we carried passengers more often than any cargo, therefore we bought a Peugeot 3008 instead.
If you don't really carry any goods, do consider buying a SUV instead of a pickup truck especially if majority of your journeys are on paved roads and it is unlikely that you would ever go offroad.
Best for highways? Some say the Ranger and some say Triton. I would say the Ranger has better on road manners but the Triton better handling. Navara somewhere in between.
Best for offroad in stock standard form? They are all the same because they have road tyres. Best offroad after you change the tyres? None are fantastic in stock form but with proper tyres the Hilux is still the better one. But if you will be going offroad often better buy a Hilux for the simple reason that you will be needing to change quite a fair few parts and in this part of the world those for a Hilux are much cheaper.
As for diesel type? All pickups sold here don't have a DPF and doesn't require EuroV. You do get slightly better fuel economy, less injector noise and engine does feel smoother. However you won't damage anything by not using it.
For the Hilux we did not use EuroV as the fleet card did not allow for it, therefore it was just your standard EuroIIm diesel.
Definitely a good idea to go to Thailand for accessories as it can be up to 1/3 cheaper. If you buy a Ranger there is a FB owners group for it, some very helpful hints there and someone did give me a list of places to go in Thailand for where to get parts from and yes you can also service your truck in Thailand while at it.
This is very helpful , now I'm having 2nd taught to go with SUV. I already own Livina and i normally travel with Livina because its big and spacious room for long distance. Once I went to Gambang (Pahang) from Penang with Almera and I can tell you its not a good experience. My main reason to get pickup truck is because i moved to landed house and i like doing some DIY job. I sometimes bring pallet wood from office and turn it to nice small table. I also do gardening and when needed big pot, i normally have issue carrying with Livina. Also bought IBC tank recently and needed to rent lorry. Livina is getting old so want to put it to rest and use pickup truck instead. If you still have the FB link for Ranger group , please PM or share it here. I already have plan to go Thailand after got my Wildtrack.