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My 12k review and thoughts

Jmarler

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I just reached 12000k miles and drove on a road trip so I thought would finally give a review on my ranger. I love this truck. Its fast and smooth. I have the 2021 xlt 301 4x4 super crew and I’m pretty happy with it.

I only have a few minor complaints which isn’t that big of deal.

  • It’s annoying trying to the latch the back seats. Its crappy design. I had a 2006 impala, and the rear seats where much better closing and leaving folded down. But honestly I don’t ever get back there. My little dogs have car dog beds back there and they ride with me a lot.
  • No lower grill for the bumper. I don’t know what ford is thinking leaving that space open. That’s just an invitation to rodents and road debris. I wish I would have noticed when I bought my truck because I could have installed something there right away.
  • The rough suspension. Most of the time its not so bad but I did a u-turn one day and the road was uneven, and it shook the whole truck and I was bouncing all over the place. Its on my to do-list to get replace. I’m leaning towards the fox 2.0 or ford fox 2.0 performance. I haven’t done it yet because its pricey.
90% of the time its pretty smooth going over bumps and stuff. I had a few passengers not to long ago and I asked if it was bumpy to them. They said it was fine. For my road trip, I had no issues. I drove from San Antonio to north Oklahoma. I was expecting some bounciness once I hit Oklahoma because the roads aren’t very well taken care of. But it was smooth.

For performance, I honestly think the stock tune is fine once its smooths out the longer you drive it. I took an hour drive to my fathers in laws ranch and I was hitting 90mph like it was nothing. Before my road trip I put on the 87octance soft shift performance and i think it really works well. I can tell it made huge improvement on the sport mode shifting. On stock sport mode, it seemed to struggle going from 60 to 70, with the tune, it just goes up quickly. I play around with sport mode when I’m on back roads or I enter the highway. But I switch it back because it takes a good hit on my mpg. I’m hoping to go back to 93 octane in the future.

My miles per gallon for driving, I was averaging 23 mpg and when I filled up I got over 400 miles to empty. I was wanting to get up higher but there’s so many tailgaters in Texas, I just had to keep up with the flow of traffic. So far I added running boards, tail gate damper, bug shield, the lower bumper grill, mx4 back flip, chrome ranger letters, and Livernois tune.

I let my brother and my friend drive it, now they want one. When I got here, my friend asked me to use my truck for picking up a recliner. On the drive up there, I saw a Honda ridgeline so I had to fly by it. He asked me why, so I told him honda ridgelines aren’t real trucks and they think there cool but there not. Lol. I also told him about the tune and he asked why do I need it to go even more faster. I told him it’s a ranger, it’s a scouting truck. I should be able to go anywhere quickly.

My father-in-law criticized me for not having a towing hitch because he wanted me to pull a trailer for him. But I don’t really ever have a need to tow anything so its not on my priority list. If he really wants to me tow something, then he can he give me money to buy one. But I’ve been thinking about just going with ford tow package. I would rather get theirs than get an aftermarket one.

Overall, I love this truck and I’m not a knit picky person when it comes to little things. Sometimes I get wind noise when driving, sometimes I don’t notice. Nothing on the truck is deal breaking. I agree the interior could use an update but coming from a 2006 chevy impala to this truck, it’s still an upgrade to me. I plan to keep the truck as long as it can go. Hopefully it will last me a long time.
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Progeny2021

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My 2019 Lariat has yet to reach 12k miles. Stock shocks are crap - shame on you Ford! Using 93 E0 before installing the FP Tune made a noticeable difference by itself. True happiness? Buy the Ranger you want and option it like you want - well worth the money IMO. I've on my 4th - every last one has put a smile on my face.

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Jmarler

Jmarler

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Theres a tsb for the rear seat latch.
It should have been fixed on the 2021. Is it still a hassle to latch with tsb fix? I have to get on the passenger side to make it latch.
 

Jrel209

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It should have been fixed on the 2021. Is it still a hassle to latch with tsb fix? I have to get on the passenger side to make it latch.
not sure, havent gotten it yet. The dealer i go to doesnt have an express shop and they focus on commercial sales. So its a pain just trying to find a good time to get something like that done. It took like 2-3 weeks out before they could do the vibration tsb on mine.
 

philanderer

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My 2019 Lariat has yet to reach 12k miles. Stock shocks are crap - shame on you Ford! Using 93 E0 before installing the FP Tune made a noticeable difference by itself. True happiness? Buy the Ranger you want and option it like you want - well worth the money IMO. I've on my 4th - every last one has put a smile on my face.

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what are those thingys holding the hood up? ive seens pics of the 22's and they dont have em
 

Progeny2021

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what are those thingys holding the hood up? ive seens pics of the 22's and they dont have em
Gas struts. Among the numerous items (I'm aware of) that have been 'decontented' from Ranger since 2019. Waiting to see if anything has been included back in to the 2023s.

Recalling when Ford removed the underhood lamp from the 1988 Ranger XLTs - '87s had them. Plug on firewall was still there, as were the mounting holes behind the hood insulation. Down to the dealer parts department I went....
 

cVelBlu91

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Lovely shade of blue.

From your profile pic I see yours isn't the FX4 - for some odd reason while reading your post I assumed FX4 - only because my Dad's FX4 is very bouncy and rough over rough pavement and terrain. Maybe then it's the suspension geometry on the 4x4s that are pretty rough. Granted 4x4 trucks aren't known for riding like a Range Rover either but my F-150 is a bit smoother, probably due to wheelbase and weight.
 
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Jmarler

Jmarler

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Easy to latch on my 2021. It was built last April
I can get it to latch, I just have to go to the passenger side. If I havent done it in awhile, i have to get myself to remember how i did it. My truck was made in March of 2021.
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