Have a 2019 Lariat. Rented a 2020 XLT

[DHH]

As the title states; I have a Ranger & rented a Ranger.
I'm out of town and rented the XLT for 6 weeks. I'm a week into the rental, and there are a couple of differences that are driving me crazy.
One is the door handle lock/unlock feature of the Lariat. I never had that feature before buying my truck, and never really thought much about it over the last couple years. When I bought the truck, I thought.....ahh, couldn't care less one way or the other. Even until I got the rental, I thought it was no big deal.
Now that I don't have it!.........I'm going nuts without it! It's amazing how frustrated I get, pulling on the handle and nothing happens. Then I have dig into my pocket to get the keys....which have dropped below my wallet and phone, and wrestle them out.

I know, I know.....new world problems.....but unless you've experienced it, you won't understand it. I didn't.

The second issue is not a difference between the Lariat & the XLT, but a difference between my truck and the rental.
Now before I get into it...and at the risk of offending some people...I'm going to throw this out there. I am really over all the damper jokes. They were funny at the start, but come on, can we not move on. They're just not funny anymore. At this point, I liken them to kindergarten jokes. Oooohhh, he said "poo". ?
Ok, so now that I have everyone's fingers all tingly, ready to post a response, the other HUGE issue I'm having with the rental is it doesn't have a tailgate damper.
I am saying this in all honesty; once you have a tailgate with a damper and you use a truck without one, it actually becomes a safety issue. That may sound a bit over zealous, but it really isn't. The very first time I opened the tailgate, I popped the handle and let go. Of course, I expected the tailgate to gently lower. And of course, it didn't. It slammed down as I was turning away and it caught the bone on my wrist. Four days later and I'm just now starting to get full movement back. Despite that incident, I've come close to doing it twice more.

It's funny the thing that become important, that didn't seem important before you had them.

There is a big plus to having the XLT, and that is the instrument cluster. It is soooooooooo much better than the cyclopes cluster on the Lariat. How Ford thought the Lariat cluster was an upgrade, is beyond me.

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[TomC]

I'm with you on driving another Ford after driving my Ranger. My wife's 2016 Ford explorer has the same instrument cluster as the Ranger, but I have gotten used to the adaptive cruise control of the Ranger. The explorer doesn't have it. Her yelling at me functions much like the adaptive cruise, except I have no control over distance it activates.

 

[DHH]

Her yelling at me functions much like the adaptive cruise, except I have no control over distance it activates.

I do miss the ACC on the XLT. I use it all the time on my truck.

 

[WOADKIL]

As the title states; I have a Ranger & rented a Ranger.
I'm out of town and rented the XLT for 6 weeks. I'm a week into the rental, and there are a couple of differences that are driving me crazy.
One is the door handle lock/unlock feature of the Lariat. I never had that feature before buying my truck, and never really thought much about it over the last couple years. When I bought the truck, I thought.....ahh, couldn't care less one way or the other. Even until I got the rental, I thought it was no big deal.
Now that I don't have it!.........I'm going nuts without it! It's amazing how frustrated I get, pulling on the handle and nothing happens. Then I have dig into my pocket to get the keys....which have dropped below my wallet and phone, and wrestle them out.

I know, I know.....new world problems.....but unless you've experienced it, you won't understand it. I didn't.

The second issue is not a difference between the Lariat & the XLT, but a difference between my truck and the rental.
Now before I get into it...and at the risk of offending some people...I'm going to throw this out there. I am really over all the damper jokes. They were funny at the start, but come on, can we not move on. They're just not funny anymore. At this point, I liken them to kindergarten jokes. Oooohhh, he said "poo". ?
Ok, so now that I have everyone's fingers all tingly, ready to post a response, the other HUGE issue I'm having with the rental is it doesn't have a tailgate damper.
I am saying this in all honesty; once you have a tailgate with a damper and you use a truck without one, it actually becomes a safety issue. That may sound a bit over zealous, but it really isn't. The very first time I opened the tailgate, I popped the handle and let go. Of course, I expected the tailgate to gently lower. And of course, it didn't. It slammed down as I was turning away and it caught the bone on my wrist. Four days later and I'm just now starting to get full movement back. Despite that incident, I've come close to doing it twice more.

It's funny the thing that become important, that didn't seem important before you had them.

There is a big plus to having the XLT, and that is the instrument cluster. It is soooooooooo much better than the cyclopes cluster on the Lariat. How Ford thought the Lariat cluster was an upgrade, is beyond me.

For $20 put one on the rental!

 

[AzScorpion]

As the title states; I have a Ranger & rented a Ranger.
I'm out of town and rented the XLT for 6 weeks. I'm a week into the rental, and there are a couple of differences that are driving me crazy.
One is the door handle lock/unlock feature of the Lariat. I never had that feature before buying my truck, and never really thought much about it over the last couple years. When I bought the truck, I thought.....ahh, couldn't care less one way or the other. Even until I got the rental, I thought it was no big deal.
Now that I don't have it!.........I'm going nuts without it! It's amazing how frustrated I get, pulling on the handle and nothing happens. Then I have dig into my pocket to get the keys....which have dropped below my wallet and phone, and wrestle them out.

I know, I know.....new world problems.....but unless you've experienced it, you won't understand it. I didn't.

The second issue is not a difference between the Lariat & the XLT, but a difference between my truck and the rental.
Now before I get into it...and at the risk of offending some people...I'm going to throw this out there. I am really over all the damper jokes. They were funny at the start, but come on, can we not move on. They're just not funny anymore. At this point, I liken them to kindergarten jokes. Oooohhh, he said "poo". ?
Ok, so now that I have everyone's fingers all tingly, ready to post a response, the other HUGE issue I'm having with the rental is it doesn't have a tailgate damper.
I am saying this in all honesty; once you have a tailgate with a damper and you use a truck without one, it actually becomes a safety issue. That may sound a bit over zealous, but it really isn't. The very first time I opened the tailgate, I popped the handle and let go. Of course, I expected the tailgate to gently lower. And of course, it didn't. It slammed down as I was turning away and it caught the bone on my wrist. Four days later and I'm just now starting to get full movement back. Despite that incident, I've come close to doing it twice more.

It's funny the thing that become important, that didn't seem important before you had them.

There is a big plus to having the XLT, and that is the instrument cluster. It is soooooooooo much better than the cyclopes cluster on the Lariat. How Ford thought the Lariat cluster was an upgrade, is beyond me.

I've never driven another Ranger so I have nothing to compare. I will say every F150 I had was usually the STX with the Fx4 package so it had some options but not all the bells and whistles like my Ranger Lariat. I'll admit once you have it it's very hard to go back to something without it so when I ordered my Jeep I got a loaded Rubicon.

Personally I don't like the ACC. I always forget when it's on it slows you down to the preset length you set. So I end up going slower because I forget to change lanes when approaching another vehicle. This was the only thing I didn't get (advanced safety group) when ordering my Jeep and don't miss it.

As far as the damper goes I agree that once you have one you get use to it and it's hard to not have it. Now all my F150's never had one and that tailgate was heavy. But it's not so much the weight but the convenience of having one especially when you work out of your truck like I do. The first time I had one was with my '16 Tacoma and it was a nice feature. I always have both hands full of equipment and it's nice to be able to grab the latch with one finger and let it fall without it crashing down. Some days I'm in and out of the bed 6-8 times during the day. Now for the person who only uses his tailgate once in a while I get it, it's probably a dumb mod for them. But as you found out it can be a safety issue especially when you're use to having one.

Yes the XLT cluster is the best one out there and if I could change anything about my Ranger that would be it. Other than that I'm still super happy with it and love driving it!

 

[Brett Fields]

I work a job where 16 hr days are common. Driving tired is a reality of life for me. I will never buy another vehicle without the full suit of sensors & acc ever again. That stuff really works and if I'm being honest with myself, there are 2 people alive today because of it. (Not including me).
...and not to mension the numerous fender benders that I WASN'T in.

Just sayin'.

 

[halligan1201]

I've never driven another Ranger so I have nothing to compare. I will say every F150 I had was usually the STX with the Fx4 package so it had some options but not all the bells and whistles like my Ranger Lariat. I'll admit once you have it it's very hard to go back to something without it so when I ordered my Jeep I got a loaded Rubicon.

Personally I don't like the ACC. I always forget when it's on it slows you down to the preset length you set. So I end up going slower because I forget to change lanes when approaching another vehicle. This was the only thing I didn't get (advanced safety group) when ordering my Jeep and don't miss it.

As far as the damper goes I agree that once you have one you get use to it and it's hard to not have it. Now all my F150's never had one and that tailgate was heavy. But it's not so much the weight but the convenience of having one especially when you work out of your truck like I do. The first time I had one was with my '16 Tacoma and it was a nice feature. I always have both hands full of equipment and it's nice to be able to grab the latch with one finger and let it fall without it crashing down. Some days I'm in and out of the bed 6-8 times during the day. Now for the person who only uses his tailgate once in a while I get it, it's probably a dumb mod for them. But as you found out it can be a safety issue especially when you're use to having one.

Yes the XLT cluster is the best one out there and if I could change anything about my Ranger that would be it. Other than that I'm still super happy with it and love driving it!

I agree that the ACC should have an option to give an audio alert of some kind that it activated. Or at least something more noticable than the little icon adding a line to it.

 

[nevada.tracy]

I'm with you on driving another Ford after driving my Ranger. My wife's 2016 Ford explorer has the same instrument cluster as the Ranger, but I have gotten used to the adaptive cruise control of the Ranger. The explorer doesn't have it. Her yelling at me functions much like the adaptive cruise, except I have no control over distance it activates.

Can't manually shut her off either

 

[NotBudule]

Well well well... sounds like the op had an "STD" injury... how do you like me now ?... (not much would be my guess)

And damper jokes are never not funny, not here anyway...

 

[Joeiconic]

I’m an XLT guy, this is my fourth (3 F150’s). The lack of keyless entry bothered me at first because my other car has it, but over a year later I don’t even think about it now. Have never had a damper and that doesn’t bother me either (and I agree about the jokes - it’s run it’s course). The only safety system I use is the blind spot monitor. That‘s handy as an additional aid in heavy ATL traffic. Tried to love the ACC, but don’t like it either. Plain ol‘ cruise is fine. Like I said, I’m an XLT guy.

 

[NotBudule]

A damper walks into a bar , then slowly backs away...

Wasn't even tryn'...

Hey , Dave ! My damper broke ! Does it have an "extended " warranty ?...

Easy peasy.... I'm here , well forever most likely...

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Can't manually shut her off either

Yeah, they're not too good at following directions.

I once told my wife to sit down and be quiet, and she didn't do either one of those things...

 

[AzScorpion]

I agree that the ACC should have an option to give an audio alert of some kind that it activated. Or at least something more noticable than the little icon adding a line to it.

Yes a short beep (that you could turn on/off) would be good. That would also come in handy for the BLISS too. My Jeep has this for BLISS but it doesn't activate when a vehicle approaches only if you're about to change lanes and someone's in your blind spot. That has come in very handy because the mirrors are a lot smaller than the Ranger and people drive so fast here.

I don't drive a lot on the highway (everything here is close by) and when I do they're usually short trips unless on vacation. So for me I always forget ACC slows you down because is so gradual but for those who use it all the time I'm sure they're use to it and remember to change lanes.

 

[Racket]

You Talkin tailgate damper or glovebox damper??

Regarding the unlock feature I ve become spoiled too by the '19 Lariat in that I can - with the fob in my pocket - walk up to the rear doors to put groceries in before the driver's side.

My only desired mid to the scheme would be to unlock the tailgate at the same time.

As for ACC mine stops working for whatever reason more than it works.

 

[puckdodger]

I do not like the cluster in the Lariat, it is very difficult to see anything most of the time, I don't have the gumption to swap in a different one though. It is funny how our brains work though, even though the OP had a banged up wrist he still did the same thing twice more. Be careful around hot stove elements LOL

A damper walks slides into a bar , then slowly backs away...

fixed it for ya

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