Talk me out of getting a Ranger!

No Shit? Well that certainly clinches it then. I’m gonna run right out and trade for a Ranger...

Not. I spent the day out in some of the remotest desert with some of the toughest trails I could find yesterday. At one point I went up a steep loose sand and rock choked trail that was completely washed out about half way through. I was already in 4x4 but could not get through one particularly steep and broken section so I had to back out to a better section. I threw it in 4L and set the MTS to sand/rock and the truck went up and trough the wash it like a mountain goat.

I do my own real world testing in my own environment. It works just fine for my needs...

 

Kinda surprised that VW rated higher than Honda.

 

we have a 14 vw tourareg diesel now with 71k miles on it and had it for 5 years this dec. it has been one of the best vehicles i have owned and only issue at all has been emissions scandal deal which for us they programmed it different and that is it.

 

Cool story bro. All I'm saying is that it would have been nice for Toyota to show testing of the 3rd gen before people made the large financial decision to buy it. It makes me wonder how much testing they actually did on the 3rd gen. Maybe they would have caught the smoking on steep inclines issue which then consensus here oddly think that's a normal characteristic.

 

You have to love 406ft/lb tourque from 240 hp with the Tourareg.
We have a 2014 golf wagon tdi with 140 hp and 240 ft/lbs of tourque at 1700 rpm.
Awesome vehicles!

 

Yeah, your story is even cooler. I guess nothing beats real world results like company advertising huh?

 

3rd gen has been out for 4 years. The Ranger for 6 months. Give it some time man.

 

Seriously? OP says "Talk me out of getting a Ranger" Heres the mileage on back roads only from Myrtle Beach to Lancaster. Kind of hard to talk someone out of the better truck at this point in time. I suggest the OP reads everything he can on both trucks. That means going to the 5G forum and quizzing former Tacoma owners. There are about 9 of us on that forum. Not much but their opinions are valid.

OP You should not buy a Ranger 28MPG is not enough......

 

1) Dash readout's aren't always accurate.

2) That's an instantaneous readout after a fairly short distance (90 miles). Try getting an average for the whole tank (from pump to pump) and it will likely be much lower.

Fuelly results for the new Ranger are already in; the combined average is amounting to about 20 mpg, which is hardly different from what the Tacoma gets.

If you want to take instantaneous snapshots of your best case scenario, go ahead...on average those engines won't get drastically better mpg's compared to everything else in the midsized market.

 

The point is traveling back roads through small towns delivered the stated Mileage. Dash readouts are withing .5 - 1 mile off hand calculations. The MPG indicator is close enough to understand the fuel economy. The lowest MPG I get is 22 MPG around town. I make that trip once a month and the Fuel economy is the same. Full tank mileage is around 24.

That said, understand the Ranger is a "muscle truck" It's pretty hard to stay off the accelerator with 3000 RPM peak HP and Torque. When the turbo spins up MPGs will suffer. A lot of owners are not getting the EPA mileage because they are enjoying their truck a tad too much. My Toyota would fare worse under the same conditions. I never even got close to 24 MPG from a tank.

BTW Fuelly Rangers are doing well http://www.fuelly.com/car/ford/ranger/2019

 

Also, legit the cheapest 4wd barebones Ranger in my area is 40k with dealer discounts. I Was able to pick up my 4x4 TRD sport for like 34, I don't remember the exact price. That's a 6,000$ difference. If the rangers had decent pricing, they probably would be able to compete aggressively against the taco.


At 40,000$ I'd look at just getting an f150..

 

Huge Discounts on Rangers. Here is where I bought mine. Had to travel 200 miles but I got what I would have ordered. UP to $6000 discounts.

https://capitalfordcharlotte.com/vehicles?=undefined&filter=year-2019.model-Ranger

I bought too soon to take advantage of today's deeper discounts. Yeah I could have purchased an F150 for the same money but it would have been a base trim but then I could not keep it in my garage and I don't want to drive a tank around town when I don't need the size of the F150. It could have been $30K and I would still have purchased the ranger for $10k MORE..Apples and Oranges.

 

My father had a 2011 TDI Touareg Executive That was probably THE NICEST vehicle I've ever had the pleasure to drive. 7700lb towing, AWD, luxury everything, heated seats front and rear, glass roof, AND 33mpg to boot. He sold it back to them during the dieselgate thing and got a 2019 4Runner TRD-OR Premium.

I also had a 2013 Jetta TDI which they bought back for $22,300 ( I paid $24,000 for it 3yr prior) and that's how I got the my truck. I put all that into the truck and got my truck out the door for $34k

 

Nice, Im currently in charleston Sc and the truck prices here are extremely over priced.

 

My brother lives in Indian Land SC. I found my truck at that dealer when they only had a handful. I wanted Platinum White with 501A tow, and chrome package. I like the steel chrome bumpers front and back. The hood is insulated unlike my Tacoma, A lot of little things added up to a sale for me this time around. hood struts, a power locking tailgate, No bed stiffener needed and a whole host of other options and advantages.

I will look at Tacoma and Rangers next redesign. Tacoma seems to get redesigned every 10 years. At that time I will make a decision between the two. I am not a fanboy of ANY brand. I buy the best vehicle at the moment. Keep it three years, rinse and repeat.

 

And I think that's the biggest selling point for the ranger IMO. I think if you want a truck for a few years and know that you're going to upgrade to something else in the near future, I would be a person recommending a ranger. Since the Tacoma is the first truck I've ever owned I'm probably gonna drive it into the ground. As a fresh Grad I don't see the need to have to switch to whatever the "newest" thing that is in a truck refresh. Car payments are garbage. I just wanted a truck that I know will last me until electric vehicles are the new norm and that also has depth of modding capability and works well for light offloading. For me the Taco fit all my wants and needs. Like you said, different strokes for different folks.

 

I don't blame you. I'm retired and I purchased a lot of vehicles in the last 10 years. That's why I busted ass my whole life to be able to do silly things in early retirement.

If was going to buy a vehicle to last me 10 years it would be the second gen Tacoma sport. That was a nice truck. I probably should have held on to it rather than buy the 2016. But I like new things, new tech, new trucks. I kept The Tacoma pretty long for me.

I put about 6- 7000 miles a year on a vehicle. So I could actually keep a vehicle long time but I hate old Tech. I'll take old Tech in a C6 Corvette but not a truck. For many years I drove vehicles until the wheels fell off. including the Tacoma in my avatar. Well that savings among other choices,allowed us to retire little early

Now I buy new vehicles every 3 years. people ask why don't I lease. I lease the wife's vehicle But she has a small business and can deduct the payments. My vehicle's I just buy and pay cash for them unless I can get some cheap money which is getting harder and harder.

 

Nice man, where were you at? Wish I had some cool places like that around here to explore.

 

i am seeing a lot of Rangers out here now. I do see a handful of Tacomas at the Ford dealer near my house. I am not sure if that means anything.

A guy with a Ranger parked next to me recently. So I said, "Nice Truck!" and struck up a conversation. He said he was long-time Tacoma owner, but wasn't too thrilled with the 3rd gen Tacoma's engine, and most of his friends didn't like their Tacomas. He also mentioned reading the online forums and seeing all the complaints about the Tacoma. Based on this, he purchased a Ranger.


I see absolutely no reason to buy a Tacoma over a Ranger. The Ranger has better power out the box, looks little a better to me, it also has the most potential power with a tune out-the-box. The Ranger also has a better potential aftermarket because it's based on a the class leading World model. Yup you heard me. The Ranger has defeated the Hilux on the global market. I believe that Toyota just doesn't know what their doing anymore when it comes to Trucks.


People talking about Ford Ecoboost reliability can go kick fucking rocks. Ford sells 1 million F150s a year. Those Explorers seem to be the police vehicle of choice now. I fully believe that they have the industry leading insight on Turbo-charged vehicles.

 

Southern NM. There is no end to it in this state if you like to get off the beaten path.

By the way, I’m originally from Jersey too but I got the fuck out as soon as I was able. Haven’t been back in well over thirty years.