Need dad advice: Ranger Regrets?

[AutobotXJ]

I am absolutely confused by people that are adamantly certain the Ranger is too small for anyone with a family. I guess everyone is different, but damn do some people need a lot of room! ??

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[JeeperCreeper]

I had the exact opposite experience. I was looking at both and bought a V6 Ram 1500. I traded it in a year later for a Ranger.

Ram was really cheap feeling/looking inside, way under powered and the fuel economy wasn't great. Windows wouldn't roll down when it got hot and the rust issues were real. It's not pleasant to park or drive in tight places.

I feel like the 4 door Ranger has plenty of space for a car seat and kids stuff but that's my opinion.

I would suggest taking a car seat and test driving both. See which fits your needs best. Don't buy something you don't really want like me. You'll regret it.

What year was your Ram? Where was it rusting and are you from an area that salts roads heavily?

I'm getting flashbacks from growing up in Pennsylvania hahaha. Seasonal can of krylon for the underbody haha

 

[VAMike]

I am absolutely confused by people that are adamantly certain the Ranger is too small for anyone with a family. I guess everyone is different, but damn do some people need a lot of room! ??

It's possible to make anything work: you can have a family and an old-school beetle or 3 door econobox, but it's a heck of a lot more comfortable with more space. Having more seats than absolutely needed is really nice when you want to take extra people. Bottom line: if you want to optimize for hauling rough/dirty stuff, a truck is the best tool for the job; if you want to optimize for hauling people and/or protected cargo, it's hard to beat a van.

 

[AzScorpion]

I am absolutely confused by people that are adamantly certain the Ranger is too small for anyone with a family. I guess everyone is different, but damn do some people need a lot of room! ??

No different than the ones who need a 3500 sq ft home for 4 people and still say it's not enough room.

 

[slowmachine]

No different than the ones who need a 3500 sq ft home for 4 people and still say it's not enough room.

In Walden, Thoreau makes an argument that sleeping on the bare earth, beneath the shelter of an overturned shipping crate, is a better choice than going into debt to buy a permanent shelter, which would require gainful employment to support, therefore making one a slave to their debt. Clearly, most people disagree, and point out the prevalence of mental illness and drug addiction in those who practice this lifestyle today. Bigger is not better, in and of itself. Smaller is not better, in and of itself. Saying that some thing is better, without context, is nonsense. Better for what? Better for whom? Each of us make this assessment in the context of our own lives. We should all be thankful that we have a choice, and refrain from passing judgement on those whose choices are different from our own.

This morning’s philosophical ramble is shared from my favorite recliner, in the living room of a house much larger than a shipping crate.

 

[RecoilOperated]

I'm sure you have your answer by now OP but I thought I'd share my experience anyway. I went from an F-150 crew to a Ranger crew; we have two kids in Graco 4Ever car seats currently in the forward facing position.

The biggest change is that you can't be willy-nilly about how and what you pack for longer trips. The back seat area of the F-150 is almost minivan sized and you can throw everything but the kitchen sink in there. The Ranger requires some strategy and even then you definitely feel the difference. Case in point; in the F-series my wife could get in the back and sit comfortably between the car seats with a seat belt on, in the Ranger you can barely fit a lunch box between them.

The easy answer with the Ranger is to make full use of the bed, what I wish I had known before purchase is that it can be quite a challenge to weather/dust seal the Ranger's bed if you're going to put belongings and gear in it. I'm looking hard at getting a cap for the bed but first I need to find a way to effectively keep water and dust from blowing in under the large tailgate gap.

 

[Floyd]

I guess the real question after 60 some years of trucks getting gradually larger and larger is...
When is it going to end???
Many new "fullsized" trucks can no longer fit in a single parking spot.
Two "fullsized" trucks almost need to fold their mirrors to pass each other on a side street.
Grown men can't access the box or even the cab of most "fullsized" trucks without some sort of stairway built in.
We have some downtown streets where a "fullsized" truck can not angle park at the curb without blocking traffic lanes. It is now time for adding lane markers with tickets for those who extend into the traffic lanes or extend over public sidewalks.
Some "Pickup" trucks are now literally larger than the grain trucks or even the Semis of the 50s and 60s.
Finally even the small trucks are now larger than their former "fullsized" counterparts.
If this trend continues we will see gridlock on public streets with only a couple of trucks participating.
If passenger vans were to follow the same trend then we would see parking lots getting full with BlueBird School Busses . (It would only take a few)

The Ranger is now large enough that it won't fit in a standard two car garage comfortably.

So the question remains....when is it going to end?
What really is big enough?

 

[biggestjosh]

I have a 13-month-old daughter and a 35-pound dog. Oh and a wife, too—she helped make our daughter.

So far the ranger has been the perfect size for our family. We do a lot of camping and fishing trips, and the truck has been comfortable on our ~4-hour drives (granted, stopping midway for a couple hours in between the baby's naps). I'm 6'2" and the baby's carseat just fits behind my seat. It would fit with more breathing room behind the passenger seat, but the dog has spent a decade always riding in the back right and he's too much of a grump to change change up his habits.

That said, I definitely recommend a bed topper. We regularly fill the truck bed entirely up with camping/fishing/cooking gear on our trips, sometimes all the way up to the top of our bed topper. With all of us in the cab, there just isn't room for any other stuff in there.

We're expecting our second child around the middle of next year, at which point I'm wondering if we may need to upgrade to a full-size truck. I'm just not sure how we'd fit two carseats as well as a dog in the back bench. Though I'm not sure that would fit in a full-size truck either.

But so far, the ranger has been the perfect size for our family.

A couple pics:

 

[Jmiller]

I can speak as someone that has 2 kids in carseats. My oldest is 3 and is forward facing and my youngest is 7 weeks so is rear facing in a removable infant seat. I have a Diono Radian for my son and he sits behind me. I have my seat as far back as it will go and he still has room. The infant seat is a Chicco KeyFit and sits in the middle. We still have the needed clearance between the seats. When I get home I can take some pictures. I just made the switch to a Ranger from a 2013 F150 Supercrew. I am extremely happy that I made the switch to the smaller truck.

 

[cfhgarza]

What year was your Ram? Where was it rusting and are you from an area that salts roads heavily?

I'm getting flashbacks from growing up in Pennsylvania hahaha. Seasonal can of krylon for the underbody haha

It was a 2015. It was rusting in rear wheel arch. Unfortunately it was hidden behind the plastic wheel liner. It was ~ 5.5 years from the in service date and 50k miles. I'm from Ohio, they salt the roads but I've never had a vehicle rust so bad in 5 years.

 

[Apples]

For some folks, and F450 might be too small!

 

[onobeka]

I have two kids 11 and 5. We usually do trips all four and regularly also my mother is traveling with us and my wife, 5p full occupancy. The cabin is large enough. Since we also do carry the bikes, luggage and construction material to a remote house we have in the mountains, the Ranger does just fine. We are tall people, by European standards, myself I am 187cm and 110kg. I am a powerlifter/bodybuilder.
We still use a large chair for my son.

We also drive an X3, which is a bit larger in the cabin, however in both cars, the “boot” is a concern, even in the Ranger. Yes, they are not comparable in terms of load capacity yet they serve different purpose.

I hope this eases the decision for the OP.

 

[mtbikernate]

Not a dad, but an uncle. did some serious road tripping with 2 nieces in the backseat this summer and the Ranger did quite well, imo. kids did great.

and honestly, I'm amused by the somewhat recent drive to own huge vehicles for just 1 or 2 kids. the Ranger is bigger (cabin capacity-wises) than the biggest vehicles my parents had when I was growing up. Even when my sister and I were teens.

 

[VAMike]

and honestly, I'm amused by the somewhat recent drive to own huge vehicles for just 1 or 2 kids. the Ranger is bigger (cabin capacity-wises) than the biggest vehicles my parents had when I was growing up. Even when my sister and I were teens.

FWIW, a minivan gives you more cabin space, in a smaller footprint, with better fuel economy...

 

[mtbikernate]

FWIW, a minivan gives you more cabin space, in a smaller footprint, with better fuel economy...

sure. we never had one of those, or really ever needed one. my family also never owned an SUV. we had a couple single-cab pickup trucks over the years, a few sedans (small to midsize), and one sports car. never even a station wagon.

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