"The New Ford Ranger Was Outsold By The Notably Ancient Nissan Frontier"

Looks good to me

 

Went to the Nissan dealer yesterday. They only had one extended cab Titan on the lot that was a Cummins. I don't want any part of that diesel. Everything else was a 4-door short bed. I'll need to go to a different town.

 

Well as long as you think so that’s all that matters! I wouldn’t take one over a Tacoma for $10k less based on looks.

 

Mine cracked for the first time after 145,000 mi or so, thanks to a construction crew in Nebraska.

 

10k less? When I was pricing out, the Tacoma I wanted would have been a bit more. Given there was no cash incentive included. This would have been for a 19 trd off road 4x4 6mt 4dr

 

@GillyLink . No loyalty to any brand, I like my Toyota’s a lot also but this was the best deal I could get. No problems going back to a tacoma or 4runner if they change things around in the future

 

I have to admit the ranger forums is boring

 

The 10K reference is not that Tacomas are 10k less,, it means that even if Rangers cost 10k less we would still spend much more to have a Tacoma over a Ranger.

 

The ranger, to me, is pretty void of character. In almost all trims, it looks cheap. The appearance from the back is weird too... the tailgate sits way too high. The frontier is what it is. It may be old, but it is a well proportioned and tested truck at a good price representing substantial value to buyers. Not surprised by the article.

 

Ain’t gonna lie. The main reason I got the ranger is because it’s turbocharged. If the taco or 4Runner were boosted, no questions ide still be with Toyota. Life’s too short not to take chances. Took a chance and haven’t regretted it yet. Threw on a bov, downpipe goes on tomorrow and so does my mpg

 

Not trying to sell anyone on the ranger, but don’t hate on something you’ve never truly owned and just “test drove”. Fit and finish on my 2nd gen taco was better but honestly having a boosted truck more than makes up for it. Time will tell if it was a mistake but as for now it’s a blast

 

I've had a 2016 F150 as a company truck for 3yrs and 92k miles and I still cannot get used to the cruise control buttons. Still look down occasionally to make sure I'm canceling and resuming and not something else. Toyota's cruise control seems to be in an odd location for modern vehicles, but it works so well were it is.

 

I looked closely at the Ranger specifically because of the engine and tuning performance headroom. I was trading a Focus rs so the idea of having the same base 2.3 Boosted motor was appealing. I also currently own a syclone so the appeal of a fast truck was there. In the end though I liked the looks and package of the Tacoma and I also realized that for me personally I wasn’t buying a truck for speed but really as a bike hauler, camping gear hauler, off road and bad weather use, and overall utility and reliability.

One comment about turbo motors from someone that is very familiar. Over the years I have owned a total of 17 turbo vehicles and still own two. My experience is that no matter how well you maintain that motor, it will never be as reliable as an NA motor. There are just too many variables in fuel quality, and the high temps are a major impact on longevity. I do think the new ecoboost motors are pretty well designed though so it will be interesting to see how reliability of both the motor and transmission play out with time.

In the end it’s all about personal taste and I can definitely see how someone would lean towards the ranger based on the motor performance alone.

 

What reliability issues have you had with Turbocharged motors?

 

what's the expected lifespan on the turbos? don't they wear out after 50k or so no matter how well you take care of things?

 

I currently have a 2005 outback xt 5mt that’s been down for 7 months waiting for me to pull the motor. In the case of the Subaru’s it’s ringland issues, and turbo failures. Granted the turbo failures with many Subaru’s is due to the banjo bolt oil feed filter getting clogged up, which is just a bad design on Subaru’s part. You can change the oil regularly with a good quality synthetic oil and that helps but doesn’t guarantee you won’t have issues. My turbo on my Syclone is still the original and when I replaced the long block at 70 k because it threw a rod, the turbo was checked by a turbo shop and it had no end play and was in excellent shape.

Bad fuel of any sort even if it’s from the 93 octane pump can spell trouble with detonation. Most turbo vehicle owners like to tune their vehicles and that’s also a factor that reduces reliability and again raises the concern for detonation and lean run conditions. Weather temps are a factor as ultra cold temps = higher oxygen molecule density which can result in lean run conditions, especially if tuned. If I would have bought a ranger I likely would have tuned it sooner or later. Its the draw of easy power enhancement. Looking back at all of my turbo vehicles 10 of the 17 were modified and tuned. My outback XT is not modified.

If you visit the forums for Subaru, VW/Audi, SyTy, Evo’s, etc.. you will find plenty of threads referencing these maintenance issues. Some owner induced due to tuning but not always. I owned 2 different Mk7 VW Gti’s and the early GTI’s has plenty of turbo failures and no tuning involved in many cases.

Having said all that I love turbo motors so don’t think my comments are totally against turbos because that’s not the case. I wrench on all of my own cars and trucks so for me a little maintenance is worth it, but I expect that and even a blown motor is just an opportunity to build a better motor. Kind of sick eh? At any rate with the Tacoma I was looking for something less finicky. I guess time will tell.

 

As I noted in my last post my Syclone had a new motor at 70k but the turbo was in excellent shape at that time. At 140k miles the truck is still on the same turbo.

 

I don't hate the Ranger, I dont think I truly hate anything, I'm glad your enjoying your new truck. I'm an ex Ranger owner and I tried really hard to like the new ones enough to buy one but I just couldnt find enough there to drop the cash on it. Different strokes for different folks I guess,,, so our second vehicle is going to be another Toyota for now.

 

Yea that’s what I was taking about with my wife. We are Toyota for life. We are going to add a 4Runner and FJ in the next 3 years. And I have always wanted a 95/98 LC.

 

I think what it comes down to is when you add a turbo to an engine, you're adding extra essential parts and complexity. All other things equal, no matter how reliable you make them, they can never be as reliable as something that simply does not have those extra parts to fail.

I have nothing against turbos in applications where I think they're essential, but if they aren't absolutely necessary, life is just easier without them. I'm not convinced that Ford has really justified the need for them.