My Observations of the Ranger Lariat After 5 year.

[Chris M]

While I agree (I like buttons and switches) - I did hear a reasonable argument for touch screens the other day - due to all the "features" that modern vehicles have, if you had a button or switch for everything the dashboard would look like the cockpit of a 747 - Touch screens allow them to put a lot more functionality is a small space - plus it saves them money.

Maybe we don't need a lot of the stuff they're cramming into the touch screens?
I do use the navigation occasionally and change radio stations with my touch screen, but thats about all. Other than that it's practically useless to me.

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[TJC]

I find it much more difficult to navigate the touchscreen and drive. You must take too much focus off the road just to change the temp or fan speed. It is as bad as using a smartphone while driving.

This problem does not exist with a knob.

 

[NotBudule]

+1!!!!
OMG so +1.

Freaking touch screens suck. Knobs and switches people!!!!

Exactly! , plus , which is more fun ? Cleaning the fingerprints off your touchscreen or polishing your knob ?

 

[kendive]

When we were looking to replace our 2005 Ranger, we researched and narrowed down our choices to the 2020 Ranger or the 2020 Tacoma. We test drove several Tacomas. Seating felt all wrong and uncomfortable, transmission hunted, and it felt under powered. I tried to like it. Wife hated it. We then tested the Ranger, and it performed heads above the Tacoma. It wasn't even close.

Even with all the issues we have had I still like the way it drives.

I do think all modern cars are cursed with too much electronics. Too many points of catastrophic failure. Minor failures in older models have now become expensive and cascading failures in the newer models.

"If we can, we will" seems to be the technology mantra of the day.
I think maybe is should be "If we can, should we?"

Many times less is more.

Yea the older Taco's with the V6 are POS's for sure. They have no power I would hate to tow with one.

 

[kendive]

I find it much more difficult to navigate the touchscreen and drive. You must take too much focus off the road just to change the temp or fan speed. It is as bad as using a smartphone while driving.

This problem does not exist with a knob.

Yes I miss the F150 everyday.

 

[Swishpapasweets]

Hmm so it's the heater box issue for why the driver side is heat only?

 

[TJC]

Hmm so it's the heater box issue for why the driver side is heat only?

It sounds exactly like the the AC/Heater plenum warped door problem.

 

[Friday yet?]

While I agree (I like buttons and switches) - I did hear a reasonable argument for touch screens the other day - due to all the "features" that modern vehicles have, if you had a button or switch for everything the dashboard would look like the cockpit of a 747 - Touch screens allow them to put a lot more functionality is a small space - plus it saves them money.

Good point. Never thought of that.

 

[fusseli]

OP was just unlucky. I'm at 62k and have had zero issues except for the Synch3 updated they screwed up that defaulted to AM radio. That was very annoying but they fixed it and Ford customer service owned the screwup.

Are the new Tacos still uncomfortable, bouncy turds? No thanks and sorry for the downgrade.

 

[TJC]

Good point. Never thought of that.

How many of those "Features" are really automotive related? The finest products are those that do whatever they are designed to do well, and don't try to be all things to everyone.

I remember way back in the day while I worked at IBM Research using a 3270 terminal program that was under 40K and integrated perfectly in Windows and OS/2. It was extremely fast and reliable, polished and elegant in design.

Then IBM came out with Communications Manager, which incorporated a 3270 Terminal program, and about 20 other communications protocol applications and options all in a single monstrosity of a package. It took an hour to install and configure, and several minutes to start, consumed massive amounts of disk space and memory, and was buggy as hell. Everyone hated it, but we were all forced to use it.

The automotive manufacturers are doing the same thing. I don't need an embedded cell phone in my truck. I don't need an all purpose tablet linked to google or the internet, or feel a need to watch movies in my truck. I do not need to charge up a cell phone in my truck or power my home for 3 days from my truck.

I have dedicated products that do all those things better than my truck will ever do them.

I'm going into reductio ad absurdum territory here, but let's approach it from the other direction. Why hasn't Apple expanded the functionality of the iPhone by designing a truck around it? The Apple iTruck!

Just because you can - doesn't mean you should.

 

[Av8or1]

I took delivery of my 2019 Lariat on 4/12/2019. Right now It's got 48k miles on it and there's been a couple problems, luckily none that have caught me out of warranty:

• Blend Door actuator failed under warranty
• Engine died on me randomly while driving in slushy conditions... but it started back up after waiting 5-10 minutes. I guess this is a known issue with Rangers and Broncos that the throttle gasket can fail, let water in and then freeze the throttle stuck. This was covered under the powertrain warranty, but I'm annoyed this is a known issue, but not a recall. I'd consider the engine failing turning off to be a recall-worthy issue
• EGR backpressure sensor failure causing rough running. It's a $20 part so I bought two of them for when this happens again. Easy part easy fix within 10 minutes, but it is an annoyance.

Overall it's been pretty reliable and for the midsize pickups available in 2019 I'm still certain the Ranger was the best option. I couldn't bear to buy a vehicle in 2019 that still had drum brakes (toyota tacoma) - something that was outdated 20 years prior. The frontier was going through a redesign and had some iffy reliability issues. And the Gladiator was brand new, hopelessly expensive and really is much bigger than a midsize truck.

I've done a pile of modifications to mine as it has to be a medium of overlander/daily-driver/truck, and it does all three pretty OK. If I was shopping for a midsize truck in today's market I'd probably get the new Tacoma - they finally ditched the stupid drum brakes, and it still has a manual option. But for the options I had available at the time and the years I've spent with the Ranger I'm really happy with it for me.

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