New Ford Ranger mega thread

Sorry for the delay guys, I'll try to get my photos uploaded tomorrow its been a hectic day. The show was extremely packed and was hard to get a much of clean photo without a ton of people in the way. Unfortunately, they had the drivetrain covered from underneath along with the engine covered from the between wheel well.

 

why did Ford stop producing Rangers for North America in 2011 in the first place if it was such a hot truck?? maybe because everyone was buying a Toyota instead

 

It was all part of their plan to dominate the mid size truck market in 2019, since they knew "legacy models" would be so hot then....lol

 

based on this thread alone you would think the new Ranger as the second coming of the mid sized truck Jesus come back to save the mid sized truck world, and it wont be on the market for another year.

 

I just wish everyone praising the ranger would buy one when its released.No biggie good luck. Put your money where your mouth is

 

Ford never really updated it, nor wanted to (sound familiar?), and wanted to push people to the F-150...because small truck sales went from 8 percent in 1994 to 1.9% in 2011. Ford already had the best selling truck [F150], didn't really want to invest in R&D for the US market at the time. Death of the Ranger is what made Tacoma sales jump 28% in 2012, and continued to grow.

One of my girlfriends had a Ranger, I thought it was a POS compared to my Toyotas.

 

I can't imagine in West Georgia you get many days below zero. I've had days where I pull up to work and my temperature gauge hasn't hasn't hit level on the dash. You bet I'm getting heated seats in my next truck.

 

It has to accomplish a couple things for me. At the very least a solid 25 mpg HWY, and can be had for under $30K for the base 4WD model. May happen may not, there is going to be a lot of hype at first (read selling for MSRP) but after that wears off price point should be ok, Ford seems to have better incentives than Toyota since they sell at much higher volumes.

If I can't get the Ranger at the money I want to spend, most likely just get a F150, I am finding NA V6 Super Cabs for under $25K. Has 1700 lbs payload and 7500 towing, so a smidge better than a midsize and for a lot cheaper. I refuse to pay $35K for a comparable Toyota. The 4 banger SR is in the price-point I want to pay, but don't want that woefully underpowered engine, and the towing is only 3500 lbs. If Toyota would package their trucks differently I wouldn't be looking elsewhere. You used to be able to get the ACLB V6 manny in the base model, that isn't the case anymore.

My wife's SUV has heated seats, I never use them though when I drive it...but I do like the cold, so don't feel the need. And speaking of "fluff" her interior is fairly nice...I am scared to actually use it for fear of screwing it up...she about killed me when I had to run to the steel supply store and get stock for something I was fabbing...my truck was down for repairs at the time. Had to lay cardboard and old blankets over everything and still managed to get packing oil on the seats...she wasn't too-too happy.

That old '85 4Runner I had was a true "utility" vehicle, didn't even come with a back seat, all vinyl interior. Used to toss all kinds of stuff in there, bags concrete, laid a tarp down and hauled a load of topsoil with the top off. I did landscaping for while, so it was filled with plants, tools, mowers, etc.... Finally sold it to buy a truck because I was ruining the interior. That and trying to haul a load of dirt in a 4Runner with the top off just sucks.

 

My 99 F150 SC is between the length of the new taco DCSB and DCLB! The taco has more HP but lower torque than my 5.4 l V8. It been a good truck..

 

One of my dirt bike buddies has a F150 of that era, loves it, 150K miles on it and no problems.

Do joke that the new Ranger is Ford just re-releasing the 2001 F150...

...size-wise and styling is sorta similar.

Ahh good to know. Wanted one because I could get a dirt bike in the bed and close the tailgate...(but a moot point since I moved to using a trailer, so much easier to load)...though high 20's/30 mpg HWY with the diesel sure would be nice for when I go on my road trips.

Have looked at the new diesels, such as the Ram and the Colorado, but seem like more of a headache than they are worth when they start to age.

 

If the engine and transmission holds up, that will be my next ride for sure.

 

Wait till the Raptor version comes out, assuming it is priced similarly to the Pro

 

My 99 was a super cab model. I used it for towing a 3000 lb boat for 10 years, and camping. I now use it for pulling a small pop up trailer, 2000lbs. I get 15 mpg normally, and drops down about 0.5 mpg when towing. The torque curve on the Triton v8 is like a diesel. I rarely go over 2000 rpm, the peak of the torque curve. If I floor it roars and goes.

 

Nice truck! It is funny, never cared for the styling of that era of F150's...looked too car like, but that I am older in my mid 40's... am kinda of digging it...real subdued and under the radar. It is eerily similar to the new Ranger and 1st Gen Tundra.

My buddy says he gets 15-17 HWY unloaded, and 11 when pulling his 6X10 enclosed trailer...more about wind resistance than weight though. Can't remember his exact year, but was saying his has a heavier built frame than other years, maybe it shared the same frame as the F250 light duty 7 luggers.

 

Love the look of the extended cab.I have a base 4cyl tacoma reg cab I would sell if I could afford a car payment.

 

When new my 99 F150 got 17 mpg ave on the hwy loaded going across a 3300 ft pass during the summer. With winter gas and short distances city/metro driving it rarely makes it to 16 now, hence mY 15 mpg.

When towing my boat it dropped down to th 10-11 in the city type driving. With my pop up trailer, it about the same size as the back of the truck in width and height, the aerodynamics keeps me at almost negligible drop in gas milage. That is with going across a 5500 ft man pass both ways for about a 300 mile trip.

From what I have read, it seems like the 2018 3.5 liter taco milage would drop to or below what I get with my old V8, 5400 lb truck. My F150 has only 129K miles.

Back in 99 I had to order the off-road package to get rear disk brakes. Why doesn’t Tacoma put disk brakes on the back? If you have ever come off a steep mountain, it is tough on the brakes. The new ranger has 4 wheel disk brakes and adjustable seats, a plus in my tally.

I wish they put the 2.7 V6 echo boost in the ranger..... it would be like my old V8 with 400 ft lb torque. I mean they had 4.0 liter V6 in the Rangers. My son had a 98 Ranger with 228K miles. He has thrashed it in the mountains going mountain biking and skiing. It was as still running ok, but... My son recently bought a 2011 Tacoma Off Road to replace his Ranger. Needed more cab room for his 2 dogs. Nice. He warned me about the 3 rd gen Tacoma’s tho.

 

I remember reading they wanted to take r and d funding and the extra cash to re tool for the aluminum f150 in 2014. They also said that they thought the North American truck consumer would not want to have a smaller truck if a full-size got better gas and power...but that CEO is now fired and they have seen success with the Colorado and Tacoma and want to go at it again with new resources and engineering. Just my opinion but it's what I would do.

 

Could the make the rear window any smaller? I think I might still be able to use it.

 

By next year we will know who here is a true Toyota Tacoma fan.