Don’t trade your Tacoma for a Ranger like I did!

B2300 are cool trucks.


Who else but Mazda would take a 15 year old Ford Ranger and stamp the lines from a 1st gen Tacoma flareside into the sheet metal to stay in the compact truck market?


After a few beers you would not know this isn't a Toyota.

 

Used to love driving a 01’ town car with the SOHC V8 small block. The transmission on that that sounded so smooth with the engine. Once the engine hits the middle Rpm ranges you could start to hear the ford V8. Probably their best fleet sedan and 4 door car overall. The amazing amount of low end torque, it was like driving a slightly underpowered fat mustang.

 

Well this post confirms to me somewhat why I bought a Tacoma in 2020 not a Ranger. The main thing I was concerned about was how reliable the engine and trans would be based on early issues with eco boost engines.
The test drive was good. It was a quick truck. However the looks were just OK. The dash mostly the radio and hvac controls in the XLT with sync3 were too distracting for me to use with out looking away from the road too long.

Then I tested out a Tacoma. Looks much better. More simple controls and layout. Tacoma had better predicted reliability and resale values. It definitely rode well and met all the needs I had when I decided to get my first brand new vehicle.
I'm happy with my decision. I don't know what I would have done with fuel dilution and no dealer help. Definitely wouldn't have been happy with spending my hard earned money on that.

 

A Crown Vic is the ONLY FORD I would consider buying. Even one with 200,000 miles on it. They are legendary in terms of reliability.

 

There is a reason why they were often used for police cruisers

 

I’d buy a Ranger Raptor all day. And put Raptor lights on top of my Raptor Lights. And have a Raptor hat with Raptor lights. And watch Jurassic Park everyday for the velociraptor scenes.

 

Two Mavericks in the other hand, for the price of one Taco...

 

Can you please elaborate on this fuel dilution?
How was it discovered?
What % of dilution was measured on an oil sample, if one was taken?

 

• 2.3 Lima was the motor out of the Pinturd. Slug of an engine. Ask me how I know.
• 2.5 was better. The redesigned one, not the Lima dual plug derivative.
• 3.0 horrible thirsty slow pig engine. My 1999 Ranger had one. I was happy when the lease ended.
• 4.0 was two different flavors. OHV pre-2000 was garbage, it was a descendant of the Cologne 2.9 and 2.6 engine. The 2001 on up was a SOHC design, much better. The ex mrs took that truck and ran it for nearly 400k miles.

I still own 2 Fords, both have been excellent. My 2005 Mustang GT purchased new still runs perfectly and has never let me down! My 2014 Fusion Hybrid is also a great car.

That being said, I didn't even look at Ford when I bought my Taco (both of them!) or my Tundra. I think Ford has fallen a lot from their early 2000s quality when Allan Mullaly ran the ship.

 

"The Blues Brothers". The jailed one was picked up by his brother is a police-auction Ford. And they DID literally drive the doors off of it ... that could NOT have been special effects ...