Best Bang for your Buck Upgrades for the Ranger

[Scott D]

Everyone has their taste in upgrades, of course, but my practical additions were:

Husky floor mats. I never thought I'd spend $100 for mats, but they work great.

FH seat covers from Amazon. ($100) They don't even look like seat covers once you repaint the silly gold emblem, and that makes them mo better.

The BeStop Trek Step. People freak out over the price ($300), but it's chump change when you consider what you're paying for the truck. When you're an old man with multiple back injuries, It makes stepping up into the bed so much easier.

Ford's Ranger bed mat. ($150) There's two versions of it, a thin one with foam in it and a thick rubber one. I got the thick rubber one. A nice thing to have if you don't want to scuff up the spray-in bed liner in your beautiful truck, lol.

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[Bludrok]

When I first bought my truck I was like "heated seats, I'll never use those out here". Oh was I wrong, I use them al the time. We do get some cold temps throughout the winter but even in the spring and fall I'll turn them on when my back is sore. They're like having a built in heating pad. ?

I use my heated seats nearly 100% of the time for this very reason. Heated seats are one of the primary reasons I went with the Lariat.

 

[D Fresh]

When I first bought my truck I was like "heated seats, I'll never use those out here". Oh was I wrong, I use them al the time. We do get some cold temps throughout the winter but even in the spring and fall I'll turn them on when my back is sore. They're like having a built in heating pad. ?

I use my heated seats nearly 100% of the time for this very reason. Heated seats are one of the primary reasons I went with the Lariat.

Whole heartedly agree.

The first summer I was a milkman I asked, half kidding, "who do I talk to to get a heated seat installed in my truck?"

I got a lot of crazy looks but when I explained it was to help my old back a lot of lightbulbs went on.


My first tip season I bought an aftermarket seat heater. Left it on the dash with a note and a $50 asking the mechanics to set it up for me. They obliged and have moved it for me to each "new" truck I've been assigned. Fits right under the fabric.

Manager used my truck a few months ago to take somebody some product while I was stuck at the plant.

Came back and said he was wondering what the extra switch on the dash was for and tried it out. Told me I should have the mechanics label that switch "back fixer." He did not like it enough to buy one for everybody's truck, however.

Need to put some in the FiST so I drive it to work more often.

 

[Bludrok]

Whole heartedly agree.

The first summer I was a milkman I asked, half kidding, "who do I talk to to get a heated seat installed in my truck?"

I got a lot of crazy looks but when I explained it was to help my old back a lot of lightbulbs went on.


My first tip season I bought an aftermarket seat heater. Left it on the dash with a note and a $50 asking the mechanics to set it up for me. They obliged and have moved it for me to each "new" truck I've been assigned. Fits right under the fabric.

Manager used my truck a few months ago to take somebody some product while I was stuck at the plant.

Came back and said he was wondering what the extra switch on the dash was for and tried it out. Told me I should have the mechanics label that switch "back fixer." He did not like it enough to buy one for everybody's truck, however.

Need to put some in the FiST so I drive it to work more often.

I upgraded to my first car with heated seats in 2017. I swore never to buy another vehicle without them, or to install them if they were not available as a factory option. It's about so much more than just warming a cold seat during winter.

 

[D Fresh]

I upgraded to my first car with heated seats in 2017. I swore never to buy another vehicle without them, or to install them if they were not available as a factory option. It's about so much more than just warming a cold seat during winter.

For me it was 2004 in my WRX. I made the same vow but apparently forgot about it.

When I bought the FiST heated seats were only available with the Recaro option. There were none with the Recaros to be found and I told myself I'd add them. Never did get around to it though.

Definitely a must these days, surprised it's not standard on all cars by now.

 

[AzScorpion]

For me it was 2004 in my WRX. I made the same vow but apparently forgot about it.

When I bought the FiST heated seats were only available with the Recaro option. There were none with the Recaros to be found and I told myself I'd add them. Never did get around to it though.

Definitely a must these days, surprised it's not standard on all cars by now.

I've never had them before and now that I do I wish I had them when I was living back east. I'll use them during the summers here as long as it's not 110+ outside as it's just to darn hot at that point. I'll crank up the ac and have the seat warmers on just about every day on my way home from work. ?

 

[Bludrok]

For me it was 2004 in my WRX. I made the same vow but apparently forgot about it.

When I bought the FiST heated seats were only available with the Recaro option. There were none with the Recaros to be found and I told myself I'd add them. Never did get around to it though.

Definitely a must these days, surprised it's not standard on all cars by now.

After my civic Si troubles, I was debating changing to a Civic Type R. Then I found out it didn't come with heated seats, wtf??

 

[D Fresh]

I've never had them before and now that I do I wish I had them when I was living back east. I'll use them during the summers here as long as it's not 110+ outside as it's just to darn hot at that point. I'll crank up the ac and have the seat warmers on just about every day on my way home from work. ?

After my civic Si troubles, I was debating changing to a Civic Type R. Then I found out it didn't come with heated seats, wtf??

That's crazy. Especially with the price tag that car comes with.

What year is/was your Si? Almost bought an '18 when I bought the FiST.

 

[Bludrok]

That's crazy. Especially with the price tag that car comes with.

What year is/was your Si? Almost bought an '18 when I bought the FiST.

2019. I started with a 2017 Civic EX-T that was great. In 2018 I purchased a PRL big turbo kit and a bunch of other mods for it. The motor is the same as the Si, or so I thought. Upon investigation, I found out that the internals had different part numbers, with the Si being a bit better. I didn't want to toss these huge upgrades on and blow my engine up, so I began to look into my options.

I spoke to a guy at a local performance shop about building the EX-T engine. He said the main issue becomes long term reliability unless you use a really good machine shop. I asked who he uses for his machine work and he said no one in my area. He usually ships his to southern California to be machined.

During this time, I sent some feeler messages to various dealers about purchasing an Si. Since I was not in need of the vehicle, there was no pressure for me to find a deal right away, but wanted to see what the best price I could negotiate was. First, I looked at the price Edmunds suggested I pay. Then I sent the same message to 5 or 6 dealers in my area. It said I was looking to purchase a civic si, and had an offer for $xxxx price (I gave them the Edmunds suggested price), but said I was willing to drive a bit farther if they could give me a better deal.

I received a couple of messages from dealers with better offers than the price I listed. I then took that price, and went to 5 other dealers with the same original message, but now used my current best offer in the message. To negotiate the best deal, I even contacted dealers in Southern California. I had 0 intention of purchasing from SoCal, which is about a 6 hour drive from me, but I didn't let any of the dealers know this.

The important thing to note is that there was only 1 car Civic Si in Ralleye Red in the entire Northern California Market. Which happened to be at the exact same dealer that I purchased the 2017 EX-T from. So now I contacted them, and after some back and forth, they agreed to sell to me at the same price I could get it from SoCal for. They left me a message to confirm they could on the Friday before Mother's day weekend, but I was busy all weekend, so I called back on Monday. The guy I spoke with on the phone informed me that he wasn't going to be able to do the agreed upon price. I was like WTH? You guys already agreed to do it at this price, what do you mean you can't? He pointed out that it was the only one in California, which I was quick to correct him as SoCal had several, but it was indeed the only one in the NorCal market. Further, I told him that since they had already agreed to the price, if we ended the call without them honoring the agreed upon price I WOULD NEVER CALL THEM AGAIN. Keep in mind, I had already purchased 1 vehicle from them. He wouldn't budge, so I said eff them and began more aggressively dealing with dealers in SoCal.

Since there was something like 20 of them in SoCal, I contacted every dealer that had one and would name drop their competitors when negotiating. Like this "Dealer A is willing to sell it for $xxxx, but since I am coming from NorCal anyhow, I have no loyalty to them. Can you beat that price?"

When I could not get any dealers to come down by even $20, I knew I had the best price I could possibly negotiate. I purchased a 1 way plane ticket to LAX. The dealership I purchased through said it was easier for them if I purchased an Uber to the dealership and they reimburse me than sending a courtesy shuttle, so I did. Did all my paperwork and then drove it home and later sold my EX-T private party. As best I can tell, the dealer made less than $100 profit after factoring in the Uber reimbursement.

MSRP on the Civic Si at the time was $24,900. There was only 1 available in my market in the color I wanted. I ended up paying $22685.30 ($24,900 out the door), even though it was a "high demand vehicle" that "always has dealer markup and never goes for below MSRP"

Thankfully, I was too busy to install all the mods I had for it because it had a transmission failure at 11,000 miles and at 19,000 miles the oil pump failed, which caused the turbo to fail. After the transmission failure, I decided to hold off until after my warranty was up to install the remaining mods. Then, with the failure at 19k I decided to get rid of it. After fixing it, I sold it to Carvana for $23,166. That plus a $5000 settlement from Honda made it so I made out pretty good, despite the issues it had given me though I don't see myself ever purchasing another Honda.

By the way, it was CLAWSON HONDA in Fresno that refused to honor a price they had previously agreed to. AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS!
I've posted it a few other times, but click here if you want to read more details on my issues with Honda.

 

[D Fresh]

2019. I started with a 2017 Civic EX-T that was great. In 2018 I purchased a PRL big turbo kit and a bunch of other mods for it. The motor is the same as the Si, or so I thought. Upon investigation, I found out that the internals had different part numbers, with the Si being a bit better. I didn't want to toss these huge upgrades on and blow my engine up, so I began to look into my options.

I spoke to a guy at a local performance shop about building the EX-T engine. He said the main issue becomes long term reliability unless you use a really good machine shop. I asked who he uses for his machine work and he said no one in my area. He usually ships his to southern California to be machined.

During this time, I sent some feeler messages to various dealers about purchasing an Si. Since I was not in need of the vehicle, there was no pressure for me to find a deal right away, but wanted to see what the best price I could negotiate was. First, I looked at the price Edmunds suggested I pay. Then I sent the same message to 5 or 6 dealers in my area. It said I was looking to purchase a civic si, and had an offer for $xxxx price (I gave them the Edmunds suggested price), but said I was willing to drive a bit farther if they could give me a better deal.

I received a couple of messages from dealers with better offers than the price I listed. I then took that price, and went to 5 other dealers with the same original message, but now used my current best offer in the message. To negotiate the best deal, I even contacted dealers in Southern California. I had 0 intention of purchasing from SoCal, which is about a 6 hour drive from me, but I didn't let any of the dealers know this.

The important thing to note is that there was only 1 car Civic Si in Ralleye Red in the entire Northern California Market. Which happened to be at the exact same dealer that I purchased the 2017 EX-T from. So now I contacted them, and after some back and forth, they agreed to sell to me at the same price I could get it from SoCal for. They left me a message to confirm they could on the Friday before Mother's day weekend, but I was busy all weekend, so I called back on Monday. The guy I spoke with on the phone informed me that he wasn't going to be able to do the agreed upon price. I was like WTH? You guys already agreed to do it at this price, what do you mean you can't? He pointed out that it was the only one in California, which I was quick to correct him as SoCal had several, but it was indeed the only one in the NorCal market. Further, I told him that since they had already agreed to the price, if we ended the call without them honoring the agreed upon price I WOULD NEVER CALL THEM AGAIN. Keep in mind, I had already purchased 1 vehicle from them. He wouldn't budge, so I said eff them and began more aggressively dealing with dealers in SoCal.

Since there was something like 20 of them in SoCal, I contacted every dealer that had one and would name drop their competitors when negotiating. Like this "Dealer A is willing to sell it for $xxxx, but since I am coming from NorCal anyhow, I have no loyalty to them. Can you beat that price?"

When I could not get any dealers to come down by even $20, I knew I had the best price I could possibly negotiate. I purchased a 1 way plane ticket to LAX. The dealership I purchased through said it was easier for them if I purchased an Uber to the dealership and they reimburse me than sending a courtesy shuttle, so I did. Did all my paperwork and then drove it home and later sold my EX-T private party. As best I can tell, the dealer made less than $100 profit after factoring in the Uber reimbursement.

MSRP on the Civic Si at the time was $24,900. There was only 1 available in my market in the color I wanted. I ended up paying $22685.30 ($24,900 out the door), even though it was a "high demand vehicle" that "always has dealer markup and never goes for below MSRP"

Thankfully, I was too busy to install all the mods I had for it because it had a transmission failure at 11,000 miles and at 19,000 miles the oil pump failed, which caused the turbo to fail. After the transmission failure, I decided to hold off until after my warranty was up to install the remaining mods. Then, with the failure at 19k I decided to get rid of it. After fixing it, I sold it to Carvana for $23,166. That plus a $5000 settlement from Honda made it so I made out pretty good, despite the issues it had given me though I don't see myself ever purchasing another Honda.

By the way, it was CLAWSON HONDA in Fresno that refused to honor a price they had previously agreed to. AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS!
I've posted it a few other times, but click here if you want to read more details on my issues with Honda.

Very savy on the negotiation technique! I did something similar on my wife's CX-5, minus the long distance stuff. Once we settled in on price the Sales Manager tried to balk when I told him we'd pay cash. I didn't want to have to have to deal with financing AT ALL. For once in my life I wanted to buy a new car outright and I was adamant. Finally he got the Finance lady involved and she saw I wasn't budging. After a bit she said "Just sell him the car Bill!" Or George, or Frank, whatever his name was. Felt pretty good to write a check and drive off in a new ride.

When I got the FiST I was in a hurry. Had about a week to research vs. my normal 6 month process. A tanker truck turned right out of the left lane and totalled our Escape. I narrowed it down to the Si and the FiST. I went to test drive the FiST, loved it. I test drove the Si, after having to show the guy they had one via their online inventory, liked it a lot. Very similar to the FiST but more refined. I figured that refinement would age better than the boy racerish FiST, and iniated the conversation. Salesman was a douche, tried to push me towards their bank financing claiming I wouldn't qualify for Honda's 1.9 promo, AFTER they ran my credit. I walked out, drove 2 miles down the road and bought the FiST, at 0%. Fuck Honda. Especially Autonation Honda in Westminter Co.

BTW Ford has financed 3 vehicles on their dime now for us. Our next new ride will probably be a Bronco or Mustang in a few years.

Sorry for the veer off topic guys.

 

[ROBERTECOX]

 

[JesseS]

Question??? Is there any way to ADD folding mirrors to a 21 XLT? I park in the garage next to my wif's car and it is a tight fit, would be nice to have the folding mirrors. No button on the dash, just a pop out plug where it would go, wonder if the wiring is part of the harness?

 

[Bludrok]

Question??? Is there any way to ADD folding mirrors to a 21 XLT? I park in the garage next to my wif's car and it is a tight fit, would be nice to have the folding mirrors. No button on the dash, just a pop out plug where it would go, wonder if the wiring is part of the harness?

I'm assuming you mean power folding mirrors? If not, you can already fold yours. Just pull em in.

At least I am assuming they can fold. Dont have an XLT to verify though.

 

[janitorjim]

Question??? Is there any way to ADD folding mirrors to a 21 XLT? I park in the garage next to my wif's car and it is a tight fit, would be nice to have the folding mirrors. No button on the dash, just a pop out plug where it would go, wonder if the wiring is part of the harness?

Auto Folding Mirror Mod Install Instructions - Pictures/Video | 2019+ Ford Ranger and Raptor Forum (5th Generation) - Ranger5G.com

 

[JesseS]

Auto Folding Mirror Mod Install Instructions - Pictures/Video | 2019+ Ford Ranger and Raptor Forum (5th Generation) - Ranger5G.com

Thanks! Wonder why my search didn't come up with that? But I would need to have power folding mirrors before I get that kit

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