Consumer Reports Finally Recommends a 2022 Pickup Truck That Isn’t a Ram 1500 or Honda Ridgeline

[Trigganometry]

Consumer Reports is notoriously hard on pickup trucks. In fact, for 2021, Consumer Reports only recommended the 2021 Ram 1500 and the 2021 Honda Ridgeline. Now, as more 2022 pickup trucks get tested by CR, we finally have another truck make the cut; the 2022 Ford Ranger. The Ranger joins the 2022 Ram 1500 and 2022 Honda Ridgeline in the winner’s circle for the first time.
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/consum...kup-truck-that-isnt-ram-1500-honda-ridgeline/

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[awd.nv]

I wonder what changed from 2021, perhaps the reliability numbers I am guessing?

 

[slowmachine]

I think it is the additional volume of customer feedback as much as continuous improvement.

 

[Apples]

Fiat and Honda quit donating big bucks!

 

[Mostly Harmless]

As a previous Ridgeline owner, it deserves to be on the list. Happy the Ranger is one there now too.

 

[AzScorpion]

It's nice to finally see the Ranger in a CS article. Looks like they're still drooling over the Ridgeline though, Honda must of paid them more money than Ford. ?

One good thing about this whole CS article.....NO Taco!

 

[Dr. Zaius]

I'm guessing the uptick is because they are finally getting some reliability history.

One thing I noticed in the article is that they complained about the poor handling and reaching the limits quickly.

Since the limits of the factory Hankooks are so low, that doesn't surprise me a bit.

On one particular corner, the first time I went through it wearing the Hankooks (it was lightly raining), the truck skidded straight and almost kissed the curb.

Same corner, heavier rain, and the Falkens cruise through it with no drama.

Same 265 section width. I really disliked the Hankooks.

My 2018 Pro4X came with them and they also sucked like a turbo Dyson.

 

[puckdodger]

I can understand this, my Ranger has been a great truck based on the the usual initial quality metrics, it is engineering and cost saving choices are where the issues can start adding up- no memory seats, heated steering wheel and power rear slider come to mind...but they have no impact on quality ratings.

 

[awd.nv]

As a previous Ridgeline owner, it deserves to be on the list. Happy the Ranger is one there now too.

Yeah, we own a current gen Pilot and considering the similarities I think the Ridgeline is the perfect truck for a lot of people. Interior at least is hands down better I would say. Of course it has its limits, that's why we also own a Ranger, for towing.

 

[jsphlynch]

Yeah, we own a current gen Pilot and considering the similarities I think the Ridgeline is the perfect truck for a lot of people. Interior at least is hands down better I would say. Of course it has its limits, that's why we also own a Ranger, for towing.

Folks in my family have owned many Hondas, including a Pilot and an Odyssey (which I believe are the same platform as the Ridgeline), and based on experience with those vehicles I would be comfortable assuming that the Ridgeline is a quality, well-designed vehicle. I think from a purely practical standpoint*, it would be a better fit for many mid-sized pickup owners than whatever they're currently driving.

However, it is by design so different from the traditional mid-sized pickups that it seems unfair to judge them against the same standards. Depending on the parameters used to assess it, it will either be a distant last place or an easy first place.

*Of course, we rarely buy our vehicles based purely on practicality.

 

[dtech]

No one on here offering any sympathies for CRs lack of respect for the Hyundai Santa Cruz ?

Despite adding the Ranger to the recommended list CR is still totally lame and out of touch.

 

[MountainGoat]

So carmax will offer me $6k more than I paid instead of just $4K?

Either way it's nice to see. Everyone around me is a Chevy yokel who tell me to enjoy my Ford cause "it can leave me at any time".

 

[awd.nv]

Folks in my family have owned many Hondas, including a Pilot and an Odyssey (which I believe are the same platform as the Ridgeline), and based on experience with those vehicles I would be comfortable assuming that the Ridgeline is a quality, well-designed vehicle. I think from a purely practical standpoint*, it would be a better fit for many mid-sized pickup owners than whatever they're currently driving.

However, it is by design so different from the traditional mid-sized pickups that it seems unfair to judge them against the same standards. Depending on the parameters used to assess it, it will either be a distant last place or an easy first place.

*Of course, we rarely buy our vehicles based purely on practicality.

I agree with you here, while I am in the camp that thinks it's a truck if it has a bed (hybrid truck?) it does not mean all trucks are equal. I wouldn't compare my Ranger to an F250 and I also think there is a blur from the Ridgeline and the other mid-size trucks with a frame. I think CR not including the Ridgeline is a little odd though. I don't pay attention to them much anyways other than these headlines people share, which get filed to the back of my mind.

Reliability reports interest me at times but having worked as a tech at Benz, those numbers can be manipulated. We would often have shop meetings discussing what warranty repairs are increasing which would become repairs that need a foreman signature when they did not before. Sometimes these warranty repairs increase because they pay well and are easy. We had a guy at our shop account for 10% of North America's park lock seals on a trans Benz had in the early 2000's. Needless to say, that stuff makes it to these reliability reports I am sure.

 

[Floyd]

Time for a class action law suite against Consumer Reports , or at least Ford should sue them for defamation.
They have cast aspersions on Ranger's good name and should be held accountable for casting doubts in the minds of potential buyers and denigrating the resale value for present owners.
I know this slander only applies to 2022 models, but previous years of this generation of Rangers might be affected.

 

[Apples]

I owned a 2006 Honda Ridgeline, RTL Navi, until 2017. The only real issue I had with it, was related to the leather interior. No matter how you drove it, 14.5 in town, 20 on the highway. All around it was a good boulevard truck, you could haul some things in. It drove nice, and really didn't act like a truck.

My 2019 XLT Ranger is a different beast. It is a truck, it drives like one, and it rides like one. But there is one attribute which is better than my 2017 Honda EX-LT, or the Ridgeline—it absolutely tracks better than any vehicle I have owned, save perhaps for my 1986, all-urethane bushed, Merkur XR4Ti. In other words, it goes where you point it, with no falderal!

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