rangerdanger
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2018
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- 194
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- Location
- SF Bay Area
- Vehicle(s)
- 2019 Ford Ranger SuperCrew XLT FX4
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- 1
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Nice to se a positive Ranger review from someone who seems to be more like you and me.
This might be my favorite review yet!
That DEFINITELY was my favorite review yet! Not a ton of useful info, but it was SO entertaining....This might be my favorite review yet!
So what exactly did the Gladiator do better during the comparison off-road? They found a way to bury the nose of the Ranger by purposely picking a bad line and putting the rear axle at the apex of the hill and the front end at the bottom of the hill; whereas the Gladiator has a longer wheelbase and never reached the same nose down degree as the Ranger. If they had performed the same test on a hill with a slightly longer distance from Apex to bottom, the results would be the same. Both vehicles had off-road pages with inclinometers, I wish they had given us a number for degrees nose down. We do know that the Gladiator’s long wheelbase causes a significant amount of dragging, but most people aren’t going to leave the Gladiator at stock ride height. That goes for the Ranger as well, anyone taking it off-road is probably going to add at least a couple inches to the clearance on the front-end.
I won't ever argue if you are into hard core off-roading that a Jeep is better - that is what they were built for. But unless it is a weekend toy, the majority of the time you will be driving it on pavement. And there needs to be compromises for that - I think the Ranger has done a GREAT job in those compromises. Makes it more refined on road, but has plenty of off road chops to handle most things.So what exactly did the Gladiator do better during the comparison off-road? They found a way to bury the nose of the Ranger by purposely picking a bad line and putting the rear axle at the apex of the hill and the front end at the bottom of the hill; whereas the Gladiator has a longer wheelbase and never reached the same nose down degree as the Ranger. If they had performed the same test on a hill with a slightly longer distance from Apex to bottom, the results would be the same. Both vehicles had off-road pages with inclinometers, I wish they had given us a number for degrees nose down. We do know that the Gladiator’s long wheelbase causes a significant amount of dragging, but most people aren’t going to leave the Gladiator at stock ride height. That goes for the Ranger as well, anyone taking it off-road is probably going to add at least a couple inches to the clearance on the front-end.
Point being, they are equally capable trucks. Both will be even better with some slight modifications. The Gladiator is just going to be easier to throw on suspension modifications with its solid front axle and (probably) better tire clearance in the wheel wells.
The Jeep Gladiator as optioned in the video was $60k compared to $42k for the Ranger FX4. That's a huge increase.I won't ever argue if you are into hard core off-roading that a Jeep is better - that is what they were built for. But unless it is a weekend toy, the majority of the time you will be driving it on pavement. And there needs to be compromises for that - I think the Ranger has done a GREAT job in those compromises. Makes it more refined on road, but has plenty of off road chops to handle most things.
It would definitely have been interesting to see the inclinometer readings for both vehicles. Honestly, I thought the Ranger did REALLY well, and I think they were both surprised at how well it did too.
The Jeep also gives you a front locker as well as disconectable sway bars - but all that comes at a steep price - I believe is was another 12 grand or something like that. You can do a LOT of mods to the Ranger for 12 grand to make it a lot closer.