Ford Ranger

 Test Drive Notes Library

  Pros
 Size.It’s actually a tremendous relief to get into a pickup truck that doesn’t
require a guy from the airport to guide you to your gate. “Normal”-sized pickup
trucks have gotten so big that they’re a nuisance to drive in the city or even many
suburban neighborhoods. They don’t fit in parking garages, car-sized parking
spaces, or suburban household garages. For that reason, the Ranger is a breath
of fresh air. It’s not small, but it’s not ginormous either. It seats four—with four
doors—and has a five-foot bed. It’s shorter and narrower than an F150, but it’s
plenty spacious inside. This size is going to appeal to a lot of people.

 Looks.People who see the Ranger like it, especially pickup truck drivers. It looks
sufficiently tough, brawny, and squared off that they could actually almost
imagine their egos surviving a downsize.

 Equipment.Work? What work? Lots of trucks these days have every luxury
feature that cars have, and all the safety equipment, too. Our loaded Ranger
Lariat was no exception. Heated leather seats, Sync 3 infotainment, climate
control, automatic emergency braking, blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise
control, etc. If you want all the bells and whistles, you can have them in this mid-
sized truck. The more modest XLT still came with automatic emergency braking
and blind spot monitoring.

 Visibility.One of the nice things about a pickup truck is that the cab itself is a box
with windows. That means you can actually turn around and see where you’re
going while you’re backing up. The hood has the decency to slope down as it
moves away from the driver, so you can at least approximate where the front of
the truck is. The Ranger has a rear view camera, and both of our test Rangers
had various parking aids, which help you pinpoint exactly when you’re about to
crush the door of the Civic in the next space. But the visibility of four vertical
windows is notable in that most cars and SUVs have so little of it these days.

 Soft on the inside.Ford’s engineers really tried to soften up the Ranger’s ride.
So on smooth roads, when you’re not turning or braking, the ride is nearly cushy.
 The seats are comfortable. The ride is soft. Headroom is copious. See below
under “Cons” for the downside of a soft suspension.

 Ergonomics.The Ranger has two large knobs for volume and tuning, nice, easy-
to-use temperature and ventilation controls, and well-placed switches on the
steering wheel for commonly used items. It has a couple of USB ports that light
up, so it’s easy to find them, and plug into them, in a dark cabin. Those of us that
plug in frequently love that feature. Ford’s Sync 3 system is pretty good overall.

 Mileage.The Ranger is powered by a 2.3L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that

makes a whopping 270 horsepower. That’s 270 with a 2. It’s matched up with a
10-speed automatic transmission. In the 4WD Lariat, in pretty pure stop-and-go
driving, we couldn’t break 17 mpg. But with more mixed driving, and more
highway, the 2WD Ranger topped 23 mpg, which is not bad for a truck. The EPA
predicts you’ll get about 20 in the city, which would make most truck owners
giddy.

 Price.When compared with a similarly equipped full-size pickup, the Ranger feels
like a bargain. These days, you can load up an F150 to well over $60,000. A
loaded Ranger is more likely to sit in the mid $40s, and could sell well-equipped
for high $30s. Our 2WD XLT with cloth seats and a quaint old key listed for $36K.
Cheap? No. But show your wife an ad for a $68,000 F150 Platinum and she
might sign off on a Ranger with everything.