Anyone think the new 2024 rangers look like mavericks?

[Big Blue]

In reality it's only a little bit bigger, hardly noticeable on the outside, but quite obvious on the inside. I park beside one at the railway station fairly often, the difference in size is not obvious. I doubt it would make any difference in driving it.

Not the point! Why did it need to get bigger at all?

When the Ranger first came out it was a compact truck. I looked at it, it was too small. With my long legs I could not get the seat far enough back to be comfortable, evem in the extemded cab. So I bought a Dakota, which with its bench rear seat, worked for our young family. When I looked at the 2011. It had grown so I could fit. Now with the 5G it had grown quite a bit more, but still worked for me. I don't need or want a full size truck, I do need a truck with the towing capacity of the current Ranger. The Maverick is big enough, just doesn't tow enough.

Sure it's only a little bigger "hardly noticable on the outside". But, those little bits add up. Remember the 6G is what a full size truck was 10 years ago. The definition of mid-size and full-size has just changed.

WHY?

Rant over

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[BaldHog1951]

Simply, I like my ‘22 SCAB. It has enough room for what I do and enough power to get me in trouble.

 

[Ranger_Rocks]

 

[airline tech]

I think the grille looks like a PCMCIA card reader slot, thin and wide

 

[Cmar]

Not the point! Why did it need to get bigger at all?

When the Ranger first came out it was a compact truck. I looked at it, it was too small. With my long legs I could not get the seat far enough back to be comfortable, evem in the extemded cab. So I bought a Dakota, which with its bench rear seat, worked for our young family. When I looked at the 2011. It had grown so I could fit. Now with the 5G it had grown quite a bit more, but still worked for me. I don't need or want a full size truck, I do need a truck with the towing capacity of the current Ranger. The Maverick is big enough, just doesn't tow enough.

Sure it's only a little bigger "hardly noticable on the outside". But, those little bits add up. Remember the 6G is what a full size truck was 10 years ago. The definition of mid-size and full-size has just changed.

WHY?

Rant over

I see your point but that seems to be way everything is going - I know, I know, still doesn't make it right. The problem is dickhead motoring journalists, who review a car and then say, "Oh it's nice enough" but not as roomy as the XXX make who recently enlarged their compact model. So the next one is larger and the cycle perpetuates. That's why you have Super Duty pickups in the US the size of small semi- trailers! Who really needs that. These are the same people responsible for demanding that the manufacturers incorporate every electronic dodad possible whether you need them or not, or even want them or not. But they are there because if they (the manufacturer) don't put them in and the other guy does, they will loose sales, but you WILL pay for them particularly when they break.

I can remember when the Toyota Corolla was a small, basic, inexpensive, good value car. In the last 50 years it has bloated out to be bigger than average family sedans were here in the 1960's, and no longer cheap.

I use to own a 1981 model ford Bronco an Australian locally built model. It had - wait for it wind up windows, (OK the back window WAS electric) wait for it, a manual transfer case operated by a reliable mechanical link, and wait for it a NEW Process Gear cast iron manual box that NEVER broke down in 500,000 Km, of hard use.

It also used the commercial version of the locally made pushrod 4.1 litre Falcon six (same as used in Ford trucks, taxi and police build falcons) The commercial build six had copper lead bearings instead of aluminum tin, had a slightly milder grind on the camshaft for more mid range torque, no EGR, and used the heavy duty oil pump and clutch assembly from the V8.
These engines regularly clocked over a million Km in a taxi as long as no one totaled it before then.

Did I feel cheated because I had to wind my own windows, shift my own gears, and manually engage 4x4, or not have to make expensive engine or gearbox repairs. No way I loved that car, it traveled to most of the remote locations in Australia with nothing but a few minor repairs.

Ok my support of your rant over.

 

[Cmar]

The only 6th Gen Ranger Im looking forward too.......

Oh and trust me, they are worth the wait! Every reviewer over here has practically had an accident in his pants over them. A couple even went away and bought them as private cars afterward. (hopefully not the same one they tested)

 

[Dr. Zaius]

One of the biggest reasons that vehicles keep getting bigger is due to government regulations.

The EPA and their CAFE requirements mean that bigger footprints let manufacturers meet the CAFE requirement more easily though some clever manipulation of the law wording.

One of the cases where the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

People like the bigger vehicles because if you're in a normal car and get behind a modern behemoth you can't see anything ahead.

Long read, but some good info that touches on the subject.

Cars Are Getting Bigger

 

[GhostStrykre]

it wouldn't surprise me if Ford revises the grill in a mid model refresh for non-raptors. the raptor front end is simply too good. especially when GM and Toyota really nailed their design aesthetics (at least imo). you just can't be the only brand who has a doofus front end for common trims and then slap a god-tier truck design on your most expensive top trim.

as for truck size, ford now has 3 options for people. for me, a maverick is too small, and i don't need the size of a modern f-150. i just want a ranger with a crew cab and a long bed option. i could be wrong about this, but i thought one of the perks of the larger ranger in the 6th gen was that ford was able to position the suspension setup in a wider position (maybe even outside the frame itself?). i vaguely remember marketing materials talking about that and claiming it boosted overall stability. given that like 40% of this forums posts are about the trash 5th gen suspension from factory, that makes sense for ford to do. i could be entirely wrong on that tho.

 

[Msfitoy]

I think the grille looks like a PCMCIA card reader slot, thin and wide

They still use PCMCIA readers?

 

[airline tech]

They still use PCMCIA readers.

They are still used in some aircraft fleet types to download Flight Data to the card, mainly for maintenance trend monitoring of flight data. It is basically a very small portion of the Flight Data Recorder's Data (Aka) the Black Box which is actually ORANGE but is only recording maintenance data.

Example of a PCMICA card Reader, not aviation quality of course, but an example of what I see the grille looks like.

 

[Big Blue]

One of the biggest reasons that vehicles keep getting bigger is due to government regulations.

The EPA and their CAFE requirements mean that bigger footprints let manufacturers meet the CAFE requirement more easily though some clever manipulation of the law wording.

One of the cases where the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

People like the bigger vehicles because if you're in a normal car and get behind a modern behemoth you can't see anything ahead.

Long read, but some good info that touches on the subject.

Cars Are Getting Bigger

I agree the government CAFE standards are screwed up. Along with all the safety equipment to protect us from our own stupid selves. Most of the issue is marketing and our own greed and egos. It is the "bigger is better", "more power is better", "fancier is better" attitude that prevails today. Not "what do I need" but "what do I want". All of this is fed by the marketing people. And, wwe buy it.

I worked for 40 years in the consumer products industry as a mechanical designer. We were always under pressure for annual product improvements, so marketing could advertise "New and Improved", "Now More Effective", Now Bigger" or "Better Fitting". Of course we also worked on process improvements so we could make more product faster and cheaper.

Do you really think it costs Ford that much more to make a similarly equipped F150 than a Ranger? Not Really! The F150 may even be the same based on quantity breaks, they make so many more. Sure there are added features that the Ranger doesn't have, but those are made up for in the add-on packages. What they are selling you is air, more room. It is all about perceived value.

The Ranger gets bigger so the marketing guys can advertise something new or changed. No real incremental cost, just one time tooling change. Justify that price increase. Does the customer really notice that extra 2" of width, maybe. Does he really "NEED" that extra 2" of width, probably not. But, marketing can now advertise "Now roomier, increased interior space". Instant perceived value added.

I must be different than the average consumer. I buy a vehicle or anything else to do a job I need, not as a status symbol. I bought my Ranger because I needed it to pull a certain size camper that my old Ranger could not. I needed a truck because I do haul things from time to time that will not fit in my wife's compact car. The Ranger fit my purposes perfectly. I do not need an F150 that will not fit in my garage and use more gas.

OK, rant #2 over

 

[Cmar]

it wouldn't surprise me if Ford revises the grill in a mid model refresh for non-raptors. the raptor front end is simply too good. especially when GM and Toyota really nailed their design aesthetics (at least imo). you just can't be the only brand who has a doofus front end for common trims and then slap a god-tier truck design on your most expensive top trim.

as for truck size, ford now has 3 options for people. for me, a maverick is too small, and i don't need the size of a modern f-150. i just want a ranger with a crew cab and a long bed option. i could be wrong about this, but i thought one of the perks of the larger ranger in the 6th gen was that ford was able to position the suspension setup in a wider position (maybe even outside the frame itself?). i vaguely remember marketing materials talking about that and claiming it boosted overall stability. given that like 40% of this forums posts are about the trash 5th gen suspension from factory, that makes sense for ford to do. i could be entirely wrong on that tho.

They did move the shock mounting points to the outside of the chassis in the rear, and the wider engine bay meant it was easier to fit the 3.0 V6 petrol and diesel engines, but I don't know if strictly speaking they absolutely had to, because a number of companies here aftermarket fit coyote V8's to the 5G model without issues.

 

[GhostStrykre]

They did move the shock mounting points to the outside of the chassis in the rear, and the wider engine bay meant it was easier to fit the 3.0 V6 petrol and diesel engines, but I don't know if strictly speaking they absolutely had to, because a number of companies here aftermarket fit coyote V8's to the 5G model without issues.

a coyote V8 5th Gen ?

 

[Egg69]

There look too identical lol

Would you like your F Series truck in small, medium, or large????

 

[Dean Schaffran]

One of the biggest reasons that vehicles keep getting bigger is due to government regulations.

The EPA and their CAFE requirements mean that bigger footprints let manufacturers meet the CAFE requirement more easily though some clever manipulation of the law wording.

One of the cases where the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

People like the bigger vehicles because if you're in a normal car and get behind a modern behemoth you can't see anything ahead.

Long read, but some good info that touches on the subject.

Cars Are Getting Bigger

There is (was) another article within the same time frame, discussing specifically trucks. One complaint IIRC was related to forward visibility getting worse, another was the size, etc. This is also a good article here. Thanks for posting!

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