Early Stages of Ranger Shopping! Question on 4x4 vs FX4!

[Glocker]

I liked the truck but I didn't like the dealership experience. The truck is advertised at $29,585. At the dealership they said that's only with a qualified trade in. The truck also had dealer installed accessories totaling to $1,770; tinted windows, hard bed cover, floor mats, and nitrogen filled tires. After all of the fees and taxes, it was just north of $35,000. I'm sure some people are going to disagree with me, but that price seems ridiculous. I purchased my 2014 Mustang GT new, out the door after everything (fees and taxes) for $27,680. And that has a big 5.0 Coyote V8 in it!

As for my impression of the truck...

I liked it! It felt good on power and handled well. I liked the suspension feel. It was 4x4 bouncy and I liked it; it felt like I was in a truck! The engine is buzzy as hell sounding. I'm assuming the XL doesn't have the fake engine noise piped in the cabin, thus the buzzy engine noise. The interior on the XL definitely isn't as nice as the XLT or Lariat but it's certainly livable. I like the rubber floor. I think it will be perfect for jumping in the truck with wet feet at the boat ramp.

My wife was okay with the truck too. She didn't quite like the seating position as she is 5'2" and had to run the seat up close to the peddles and raise it up. But then she felt she was too close to the steering wheel.

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[AzScorpion]

I liked the truck but I didn't like the dealership experience. The truck is advertised at $29,585. At the dealership they said that's only with a qualified trade in. The truck also had dealer installed accessories totaling to $1,770; tinted windows, hard bed cover, floor mats, and nitrogen filled tires. After all of the fees and taxes, it was just north of $35,000. I'm sure some people are going to disagree with me, but that price seems ridiculous. I purchased my 2014 Mustang GT new, out the door after everything (fees and taxes) for $27,680. And that has a big 5.0 Coyote V8 in it!

As for my impression of the truck...

I liked it! It felt good on power and handled well. I liked the suspension feel. It was 4x4 bouncy and I liked it; it felt like I was in a truck! The engine is buzzy as hell sounding. I'm assuming the XL doesn't have the fake engine noise piped in the cabin, thus the buzzy engine noise. The interior on the XL definitely isn't as nice as the XLT or Lariat but it's certainly livable. I like the rubber floor. I think it will be perfect for jumping in the truck with wet feet at the boat ramp.

My wife was okay with the truck too. She didn't quite like the seating position as she is 5'2" and had to run the seat up close to the peddles and raise it up. But then she felt she was too close to the steering wheel.

That price is ridiculous! I paid $39K for my Lariat and there were also dealer installed accessories which were tinted windows,drop in bed liner,nitrogen, clear door guards,wheel locks,pin striping and some garbage wax protectant called Zaktek which I stripped off. If you really like the truck I'd go check out a few more dealers. It seems like the best deals were right around Black Friday when they had huge discounts on the XLT's,something like $6K off.

 

[lohchief]

Some have mentioned that the chevy z71 pkg is the same as the fx4 pkg...WRONG. GM now has only one skid plate with the z71 pkg and that's to protect the transfer case.The other skid plates are OPTIONAL. I've owned 2 z71's in the past and liked them. Now I'm on my 3rd fx4 pkg and love it. When truck shopping back last Nov my wife and I test drove the Jeep Gladiator and I didn't like anything about it,and I've owned 3 jeeps and took them off roading a lot. Next we test drove the colorado ZR2 diesel,with the leather pkg. Wow,it really sucked !! The diesel was awesome,and I'm hoping that ford makes a diesel option for the upcoming next gen ranger,I will buy one. Then we went to our local ford dealer and test drove the fx4 lariat,and drove it home.Zero regrets

 

[Mokume]

I liked the truck but I didn't like the dealership experience. The truck is advertised at $29,585. At the dealership they said that's only with a qualified trade in. The truck also had dealer installed accessories totaling to $1,770; tinted windows, hard bed cover, floor mats, and nitrogen filled tires. After all of the fees and taxes, it was just north of $35,000. I'm sure some people are going to disagree with me, but that price seems ridiculous. I purchased my 2014 Mustang GT new, out the door after everything (fees and taxes) for $27,680. And that has a big 5.0 Coyote V8 in it!

As for my impression of the truck...

I liked it! It felt good on power and handled well. I liked the suspension feel. It was 4x4 bouncy and I liked it; it felt like I was in a truck! The engine is buzzy as hell sounding. I'm assuming the XL doesn't have the fake engine noise piped in the cabin, thus the buzzy engine noise. The interior on the XL definitely isn't as nice as the XLT or Lariat but it's certainly livable. I like the rubber floor. I think it will be perfect for jumping in the truck with wet feet at the boat ramp.

My wife was okay with the truck too. She didn't quite like the seating position as she is 5'2" and had to run the seat up close to the peddles and raise it up. But then she felt she was too close to the steering wheel.

Are we talking about a 2019 XL 4x4 here?
Sure hope you hopped back into your Mustang and left that dealership sideways.
If you can wait, special order a 2020 and use Ford's X-Plan purchasing program, or even Costco's car buying arrangement.
I used Ford's plan, absolutely no regrets whatsoever with my special ordered '20 Lariat S/Cab 4x2, it practically eliminates the dealer haggling experience.

 

[Mokume]

IDK, did not use them, but I've been told the price is comparable to Ford's X plan
Try going to their site....

 

[jsphlynch]

I'm sure some people are going to disagree with me, but that price seems ridiculous.

Tough to say whether that's ridiculous or not. What is the sticker MSRP before dealer add-ons? I'm not surprised you weren't eligible for the advertised price, as those usually include every rebate you might possibly qualify for. Also, the advertised prices almost never include taxes (sales tax for me was nearly $2k) or fees.

I'm assuming the XL doesn't have the fake engine noise piped in the cabin, thus the buzzy engine noise.

I only test-drove XLs, but I know what you mean with the buzzy engine noise. Based on what others have said on various threads on this forum, adding the engine shroud (which I believe is only included on Lariat) helps dampen that noise.

I like the rubber floor. I think it will be perfect for jumping in the truck with wet feet at the boat ramp.

My old Ranger had the rubber floor, and I loved that I could literally hose out the mud I tracked into that truck. Was pleasantly surprised to discover that was a feature I could get on my new Ranger as well.

 

[RedlandRanger]

How much discount with Costco ?

When I was deciding between an XLT and Lariat one of them was slightly cheaper with Costco, the other was more expensive. They were within $100 of each other either way. So if you don't have access to XPlan, Costco is a good way to go. The only downside is that there are only certain dealers that do the Costco plan. Most every dealer will honor XPlan pricing. I ended up doing XPlan as well.

 

[Mokume]

When I was deciding between an XLT and Lariat one of them was slightly cheaper with Costco, the other was more expensive. They were within $100 of each other either way. So if you don't have access to XPlan, Costco is a good way to go. The only downside is that there are only certain dealers that do the Costco plan. Most every dealer will honor XPlan pricing. I ended up doing XPlan as well.

Costco here in Honolulu was pushing the Ridgeline and GM twins the last time I checked last summer.
Grateful that I found out about Ford's X plan right here on this forum.
If there is anything I hate, it's dealers who pile on locally installed options/services then charge exorbitant fees for them, when you do haggle with them and get a reduction in price, they portray themselves as the "good guys" but essentially you are still getting fleeced. Just before I left the dealership I worked at, sales had started ultra high pressure tactics, indeed sale manager's phrase to the salespeople was "rape um, but make sure they leave smiling".
I had specifically instructed my dealer that if for any reason a "phony Monroeney" was affixed to my 2020 that the deal was off, period.

 

[Glocker]

They said the 2019 I looked at would be more expensive if I applied the Costco plan. The advertised price was with a qualified trade in. I am wondering what a fair offer would be to throw on it. If I walked in and said I'd pay $29,500 all in how hard would they laugh? LOL

 

[RedlandRanger]

Costco here in Honolulu was pushing the Ridgeline and GM twins the last time I checked last summer.
Grateful that I found out about Ford's X plan right here on this forum.
If there is anything I hate, it's dealers who pile on locally installed options/services then charge exorbitant fees for them, when you do haggle with them and get a reduction in price, they portray themselves as the "good guys" but essentially you are still getting fleeced. Just before I left the dealership I worked at, sales had started ultra high pressure tactics, indeed sale manager's phrase to the salespeople was "rape um, but make sure they leave smiling".
I had specifically instructed my dealer that if for any reason a "phony Monroeney" was affixed to my 2020 that the deal was off, period.

You can get any car you want using Costco - what I'm not quite sure of if it applies to orders as well as off the lot sales. I'm pretty sure it does, because I did have conversations with the local Costco approved dealer on my order.

https://www.costcoauto.com

What I don't understand is how dealers with high pressure sales tactics survive in this day and age. There is so much information out there and so many options for where/how to purchase a new vehicle - I don't understand why people even visit them or put up with their nonsense.

 

[RedlandRanger]

We wanted a SCab and found few in stock, none with the options we wanted. I spent many hours searching inventory on ford.com to know we would need to special order.

Two dealers I contacted by email repeatedly ignored my questions about Special Ordering. One has more than 70 Rangers in stock and would try anything to convince us that one of theirs is "right for us".

Another dealer has Fleet Sales Managers to handle Costco sales. They repeatedly ignored my questions asking about Costco pricing and if Costco discounts applied to Special Orders.

I wonder if the high pressure evasive tactics are only with a few bad apple sales people. Or if that is part of their training coming down from leadership and they're all the same within a dealership.

The difference between dealer experiences is like night and day.

The difference between dealers is night and day. I was amazed at how many dealers really don't want to do special orders. The dealer I ended up with was as simple as they come. Dealt with them via email, once I had my order the way I wanted it, I went it and gave them the $500 deposit - took all of probably 15-20 mins to sign the paperwork. Waited the almost 4 months for my order, then went in to sign the paperwork to purchase it. They took all our credit info ahead of time so signing the paperwork was 15-20 minutes again, and no "extras" were added. It was about as easy as it comes. But other dealers didn't even want to talk about orders.... Seems weird as it is basically a guaranteed sale with very little work, other than having to wait a bit.

The dealer my brother used and one my son went in to test drive a truck at was completely the opposite. They were old school high pressure tactics. I won't be going anywhere near that dealership....

 

[Glocker]

I'm also ticked off at all of the special crap they add to the trucks. $1770 for a bed cover, tinted windows, floor mats, and nitrogen filled tires. It irks me.

 

[Glocker]

Another thing. I can't find invoice pricing so I can make a truly informed offer on a truck. I made the mistake of signing up for Truecar.com, believing I was going to get insight on invoice pricing and all I got were 5 billion emails and a few phone calls from dealers trying to sell me trucks in their inventory that weren't even how I spec'ed them on the website.

 

[Mokume]

We wanted a SCab and found few in stock, none with the options we wanted. I spent many hours searching inventory on ford.com to know we would need to special order.

Two dealers I contacted by email repeatedly ignored my questions about Special Ordering. One has more than 70 Rangers in stock and would try anything to convince us that one of theirs is "right for us".

Another dealer has Fleet Sales Managers to handle Costco sales. They repeatedly ignored my questions asking about Costco pricing and if Costco discounts applied to Special Orders.

I wonder if the high pressure evasive tactics are only with a few bad apple sales people. Or if that is part of their training coming down from leadership and they're all the same within a dealership.

The difference between dealer experiences is like night and day.

The reason why they are trying to dump their in stock models is simple, flooring costs.
They had to take out a loan themselves to pay for all those vehicles they have sitting there doing nothing and the interest is eating them up.
When I helped others shop for a new car here in Honolulu, I would point this fact out to the salesperson. When new vehicles arrive at dealerships here, in addition to being prepped and cleaned they are also safety checked (HI state law) resulting in stickers being affixed to the right side of the rear bumper, indicating when this safety check expires. For brand new vehicles this inspection is valid for 2 years, thereafter it's annually.
So if I see a vehicle on the lot in which these decals say 06-21, I know that it's been sitting since June 2019, I use this fact as leverage in negotiating the price. If the salesperson says "Oh, it just came in", I'll know he/she is full of it.
Attached is an image of my '20's safety check (delivered 1/18), it expires on the last day of January 2022.
Of course, you could ask how long the truck has been sitting on their lot and get an honest answer, maybe, maybe not.
Perhaps your location has some means to verify this information?

 

[VAMike]

If a dealer did stuff to the vehicle I walk away. There are other dealers that aren't scummy.

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