New 2019 Ford Ranger

In Kansas City for a couple days. Look what was in the rental lot.

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My initial impressions are that it's a nice vehicle (aren't all new cars?), but it's got some quirks. I've only driven it a short distance today though. I'll reserve my judgement until I've had some more time with it.
 
Ok, here's my two day rental car impression of the Ranger. Bottom line, I myself wouldn't buy one.

Now the long version. Despite my last three vehicles not bearing a blue oval I am a Ford guy at heart. I've owned more Rangers, Explorers and F150's than most people's total lifetime vehicle count. I wanted this relaunch of a vehicle that never died in the global market to be amazing. Sadly, I don't feel that it is. First, the high points.

This rental was a crew cab 4x4 lariat with the towing package and the upgraded sync system (standard on lariat I think). The overall build quality seems on par with other current Ford's I've rented recently and the 2017 Ford Edge that graces my wife's side of the garage. Body panels were tight, door latches, the hood latch, the shifter, etc all felt substantial and not cheap. The electronics all worked as they should and it certainly "feels" like a Ford. The window switches, instrument cluster and other buttons match everything else in their line up. The leather appointed seats were comfortable and supporting and the heated seats worked extremely well in the frigid Midwest temps. At first glance, all is right with the world.

Now the bad. All of this is just opinion, but this is what would keep me from buying one of these. Some of this is little and seemingly nit picking. Take it as you will.

The little turbo charged 4 cylinder feels like a v6, sometimes. Turbo lag abounds however especially when at highway cruising speeds and you press the portal to pass or make a lane change. The engine and turbo also hated the 8 degree morning I woke up to today. The engine hesitated and the power was noticeably reduced until the engine got up to temperature. MPG was also sad. I forget what the ratings are but my 50/50 mix of around town driving and interstate wandering netted me 16MPG total over the course of almost a full tank. My v8 sequioa gets that same mileage.

The transmission also feels like current Ford transmissions. Quick and quiet gear shifts are great except when the vehicle does it constantly. This is one of the biggest complaints I have with the F150s and ranger seems to have inherited this. In the cold this morning the shifts were also very noticeable and rough until everything was up to temp.

I mentioned above that the vehicle had the same sort of quality built feel most of today's Fords do. The only place this isn't true is the back wall of the passenger cabin. On the interstate I found myself checking to see if a rear window was cracked or a door was ajar. There's that much road noise from the rear. Even with the radio at a moderate level I found it distracting.

The steering feels like it's been given a shot of anesthesia as there's no feeling or feedback at all. The shocks somehow comfortably soaked up every pothole I pointed the truck at with no problem but still left me feeling every bump on the interstate. I don't even know how that's possible. The turning radius felt big, again I don't know the ratings, but it felt larger than my third gen Tacoma.

The a/c controls sort of blend in with everything else on that part of the dash and I found myself taking my eyes of the road to make adjustments.

Now let's get real picky. The interior door grab handles are in the wrong spot. Every other Ford truck or SUV door has a grab handle just behind the window controls. Not the Ranger. It's handle is in front and the window controls are pushed back. I consistently hit them when trying to close the door. The actual interior door handle (not the grab handle) felt very cheap in both quality and function. It was even a little sharp when grabbing it.

The 4wd selector spins indefinitely. Instead of having three "stops", one at each setting, it's like a selector on most modern washing machines and just spins forever. I'm not sure why this bothered me, but it did.

The rear seat is useless for anyone larger than a 13 year old. I know 13 year olds that wouldn't fit back there now that I think about it. I took some photos of it with all the seat variations and one with my 6' 4" self shoved behind the driver's seat for good measure. See them below. The seat has no split so it's either all down or all up. The back doesn't fold down flat. The storage underneath and behind the seat is minimal.

The rear most bed tie downs are almost in the middle of the bed...why?

What's the huge gap for between the bed and the tailgate? Just a spot for mulch and gravel to wedge itself during weekend landscaping projects.

At my height the divers seat had to be lowered enough that I felt like I was sitting down in the vehicle instead of "up" in a truck. In this position visibility over the hood wasn't what I would like.

The truck wandered on the interstate and when combined with the numb steering I was constantly correcting it. Very tiring.

Straight on the thing looks like a Ford Taurus.

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Looked underneath one and the Dana 44 looking rear axle had what looked like a drain plug and all the parts were painted, unusual for a Ford.
 
Ok, here's my two day rental car impression of the Ranger. Bottom line, I myself wouldn't buy one.

Now the long version. Despite my last three vehicles not bearing a blue oval I am a Ford guy at heart. I've owned more Rangers, Explorers and F150's than most people's total lifetime vehicle count. I wanted this relaunch of a vehicle that never died in the global market to be amazing. Sadly, I don't feel that it is. First, the high points.

This rental was a crew cab 4x4 lariat with the towing package and the upgraded sync system (standard on lariat I think). The overall build quality seems on par with other current Ford's I've rented recently and the 2017 Ford Edge that graces my wife's side of the garage. Body panels were tight, door latches, the hood latch, the shifter, etc all felt substantial and not cheap. The electronics all worked as they should and it certainly "feels" like a Ford. The window switches, instrument cluster and other buttons match everything else in their line up. The leather appointed seats were comfortable and supporting and the heated seats worked extremely well in the frigid Midwest temps. At first glance, all is right with the world.

Now the bad. All of this is just opinion, but this is what would keep me from buying one of these. Some of this is little and seemingly nit picking. Take it as you will.

The little turbo charged 4 cylinder feels like a v6, sometimes. Turbo lag abounds however especially when at highway cruising speeds and you press the portal to pass or make a lane change. The engine and turbo also hated the 8 degree morning I woke up to today. The engine hesitated and the power was noticeably reduced until the engine got up to temperature. MPG was also sad. I forget what the ratings are but my 50/50 mix of around town driving and interstate wandering netted me 16MPG total over the course of almost a full tank. My v8 sequioa gets that same mileage.

The transmission also feels like current Ford transmissions. Quick and quiet gear shifts are great except when the vehicle does it constantly. This is one of the biggest complaints I have with the F150s and ranger seems to have inherited this. In the cold this morning the shifts were also very noticeable and rough until everything was up to temp.

I mentioned above that the vehicle had the same sort of quality built feel most of today's Fords do. The only place this isn't true is the back wall of the passenger cabin. On the interstate I found myself checking to see if a rear window was cracked or a door was ajar. There's that much road noise from the rear. Even with the radio at a moderate level I found it distracting.

The steering feels like it's been given a shot of anesthesia as there's no feeling or feedback at all. The shocks somehow comfortably soaked up every pothole I pointed the truck at with no problem but still left me feeling every bump on the interstate. I don't even know how that's possible. The turning radius felt big, again I don't know the ratings, but it felt larger than my third gen Tacoma.

The a/c controls sort of blend in with everything else on that part of the dash and I found myself taking my eyes of the road to make adjustments.

Now let's get real picky. The interior door grab handles are in the wrong spot. Every other Ford truck or SUV door has a grab handle just behind the window controls. Not the Ranger. It's handle is in front and the window controls are pushed back. I consistently hit them when trying to close the door. The actual interior door handle (not the grab handle) felt very cheap in both quality and function. It was even a little sharp when grabbing it.

The 4wd selector spins indefinitely. Instead of having three "stops", one at each setting, it's like a selector on most modern washing machines and just spins forever. I'm not sure why this bothered me, but it did.

The rear seat is useless for anyone larger than a 13 year old. I know 13 year olds that wouldn't fit back there now that I think about it. I took some photos of it with all the seat variations and one with my 6' 4" self shoved behind the driver's seat for good measure. See them below. The seat has no split so it's either all down or all up. The back doesn't fold down flat. The storage underneath and behind the seat is minimal.

The rear most bed tie downs are almost in the middle of the bed...why?

What's the huge gap for between the bed and the tailgate? Just a spot for mulch and gravel to wedge itself during weekend landscaping projects.

At my height the divers seat had to be lowered enough that I felt like I was sitting down in the vehicle instead of "up" in a truck. In this position visibility over the hood wasn't what I would like.

The truck wandered on the interstate and when combined with the numb steering I was constantly correcting it. Very tiring.

Straight on the thing looks like a Ford Taurus.

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Your impressions pretty much mirror mine.
The rear seat configuration is pathetic. I did like the front seats though.
 
16 mpg sucks. Might as well drive something with power if you accept that #. My 5.7 Tundra gets 17 combined mileage
 
16 mpg sucks. Might as well drive something with power if you accept that #. My 5.7 Tundra gets 17 combined mileage

17 mpg average is pretty high for a Tundra. You do lots of highway driving?

That aside, I agree with you: 16 mpg is nothing special. Now granted, he's driving around in very cold weather with a 50/50 mix of city and highway. But still, I've had 5-speed 4.0l v6 4runners which get about the same results in similar conditions.

All in all, I just don't think these new ecoboost engines (at least the ones in the F-150's and Rangers) are delivering the mpg's that were promised on their EPA ratings. Torque delivery is certainly there, but if you're purely focused on reliability, a NA v8 or v6 seems to be a better bet and neither sets you back too much in terms of mpg's (relative to the competing ecoboost engines).
 
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17 mpg average is pretty high for a Tundra. You do lots of highway driving?

That aside, I agree with you: 16 mpg is nothing special. Now granted, he's driving around in very cold weather with a 50/50 mix of city and highway. But still, I've had 5-speed 4.0l v6 4runners which get about the same results in similar conditions.

All in all, I just don't think these new ecoboost engines (at least the ones in the F-150's and Rangers) are delivering the mpg's that were promised on their EPA ratings. Torque delivery is certainly there, but if you're purely focused on reliability, a NA v8 or v6 seems to be a better bet and neither sets you back too much in terms of mpg's (relative to the competing ecoboost engines).
I have heard they are either "eco" or "boost" you dont get both. In normal driving it seems that they cant match the EPA ratings.

I avg 15.6 with my old 4.0L v6 4runner. city/highway nearly the same over the life of the truck with bumper/sliders/tires and low pro roof rack.
 
Reminds me of when I upgraded from my 99 Ranger with the 3.0 V6 to the Grand Cherokee with 4.0. Got about the same fuel economy.
 
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