New in SoCal (but not for much longer)

[maxarcher]

I've driven small, sporty, manual cars for most of my nearly 20 year driving career, but I'm moving soon to an area where a 4WD truck makes way more sense, and I've been wanting to switch over to a larger, more utilitarian vehicle for a while anyway, so after lots of research and searching the market for good deals I settled on this 2020 Race Red 300A FX4, which, oddly enough, is an ex-Avis rental truck, but somehow managed to survive rental use in amazing condition. I traded in my '14 Fiesta ST on it in late August and have already put a couple of thousand miles on the truck, including a trip I just got back from yesterday where I put about 1000 miles on the truck in 3 days, climbed from sea level to over 8000 feet, and got off of pavement for the first time and was able to try out 4wd and trail control. I'm loving the truck so far, I've never had such an easy vehicle to drive long distance, the fuel economy was better than expected on the trip (23, which I think is pretty great for a lot of mountain driving in a 4wd truck with A/T tires), being able to drive on rough gravel roads without major worries is a real game-changer for me, and I don't know how I'd manage to clear my house out the way I've been doing for the last few weeks if I didn't have a truck to move stuff with. After years of sports/sporty cars it's nice being able to see around other vehicles and not having a sore left leg after sitting in traffic, too.

Here's one with the ST I traded in, and a couple from this week's trip.

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[Radioman]

I've driven small, sporty, manual cars for most of my nearly 20 year driving career, but I'm moving soon to an area where a 4WD truck makes way more sense, and I've been wanting to switch over to a larger, more utilitarian vehicle for a while anyway, so after lots of research and searching the market for good deals I settled on this 2020 Race Red 300A FX4, which, oddly enough, is an ex-Avis rental truck, but somehow managed to survive rental use in amazing condition. I traded in my '14 Fiesta ST on it in late August and have already put a couple of thousand miles on the truck, including a trip I just got back from yesterday where I put about 1000 miles on the truck in 3 days, climbed from sea level to over 8000 feet, and got off of pavement for the first time and was able to try out 4wd and trail control. I'm loving the truck so far, I've never had such an easy vehicle to drive long distance, the fuel economy was better than expected on the trip (23, which I think is pretty great for a lot of mountain driving in a 4wd truck with A/T tires), being able to drive on rough gravel roads without major worries is a real game-changer for me, and I don't know how I'd manage to clear my house out the way I've been doing for the last few weeks if I didn't have a truck to move stuff with. After years of sports/sporty cars it's nice being able to see around other vehicles and not having a sore left leg after sitting in traffic, too.

Here's one with the ST I traded in, and a couple from this week's trip.

Nice looking. Welcome to the forum.

 

[Magnetetic]

She's a beauty!!

 

[Danager]

That first shot of the truck clean looks like it is out of the brochure! Nice truck. Hopefully many more fun trips in the future.

 

[BS67]

I like the red! Welcome!

 

[Jbrubakerjr]

Great looking truck! Enjoy!

 

[IdahoRanger]

Welcome, good find on the truck, you're going to love it. I find it comfortable on trips like you just did.

 

[RangerPNW]

Great color on the truck! Same color as the Focus ST I traded in to get mine. I too traded up in search of a more utilitarian and comfortable vehicle. One trip down a paved, yet unmaintained service road pretty much told me I needed to ditch the Focus if I wanted to go adventuring.

 

[AvalancheFX4]

Very nice ! Is that Lake Isabella in Kern?

 

[MXGOLF]

Great looking Ranger Max! Welcome to this great forum and I am sure you will love your Ranger!!!

 

[Trigganometry]

Welcome to the family! So you found the truck, then us so great start! Now find your wallet again because hanging out here is probably going to get expensive. Beautiful color BTW! Oh Need a damper on the tailgate. When Dave returns hit him up for a deal and your complementary tee shirt! ?

 

[BladeRanger]

I've driven small, sporty, manual cars for most of my nearly 20 year driving career, but I'm moving soon to an area where a 4WD truck makes way more sense, and I've been wanting to switch over to a larger, more utilitarian vehicle for a while anyway, so after lots of research and searching the market for good deals I settled on this 2020 Race Red 300A FX4, which, oddly enough, is an ex-Avis rental truck, but somehow managed to survive rental use in amazing condition. I traded in my '14 Fiesta ST on it in late August and have already put a couple of thousand miles on the truck, including a trip I just got back from yesterday where I put about 1000 miles on the truck in 3 days, climbed from sea level to over 8000 feet, and got off of pavement for the first time and was able to try out 4wd and trail control. I'm loving the truck so far, I've never had such an easy vehicle to drive long distance, the fuel economy was better than expected on the trip (23, which I think is pretty great for a lot of mountain driving in a 4wd truck with A/T tires), being able to drive on rough gravel roads without major worries is a real game-changer for me, and I don't know how I'd manage to clear my house out the way I've been doing for the last few weeks if I didn't have a truck to move stuff with. After years of sports/sporty cars it's nice being able to see around other vehicles and not having a sore left leg after sitting in traffic, too.

Here's one with the ST I traded in, and a couple from this week's trip.

Nice and Welcome to the forum.

 

[maxarcher]

Thanks for the welcome, everybody!

That first shot of the truck clean looks like it is out of the brochure! Nice truck. Hopefully many more fun trips in the future.

Haha yeah, I was kind of amazed at how the photo came out myself. I've got a background in automotive photography but I'm pretty rusty and this was just an impromptu cell phone shot so I was surprised to see it looking so nice, got really lucky with the lighting.

Very nice ! Is that Lake Isabella in Kern?

It's actually Topaz Lake, only about a hundred yards past the Nevada border sign.

Welcome to the family! So you found the truck, then us so great start! Now find your wallet again because hanging out here is probably going to get expensive. Beautiful color BTW! Oh Need a damper on the tailgate. When Dave returns hit him up for a deal and your complementary tee shirt! ?

Yeah I'm already accumulating a pretty long list of planned mods. A tailgate damper is definitely on it, but also a lot of more major stuff, like aftermarket wheels with 33"s and just enough lift to clear them (probably with Fox 2.0s in the process), aftermarket bumpers with lighting and maybe a winch, definitely some mudflaps after seeing how much crud gets kicked up by the front wheels, and so on. Some sort of bed storage for ratchet straps etc. would be nice too, maybe one of those swinging side boxes.

 

[VegasRanger]

Nice truck! Where you moving to? I left Commiefornia 6 years ago. Best decision I ever made.

 

[maxarcher]

Nice truck! Where you moving to? I left Commiefornia 6 years ago. Best decision I ever made.

Northern NV, preferably the Carson City/Carson Valley area but I'm having a hard time finding a decent rental there - my trip a few days ago was to go look at some properties and it was basically a bust. I've been trying to get out of CA for years myself, most of my friends bailed on this disaster ages ago but my career got me stuck and I'm only finally getting out because I decided to walk away from it and go become a commercial pilot instead, and Carson City has an amazing flight training setup with some specialized stuff you can't find many other places so I'm going there for a couple of years to train and build hours. Longer term I'm hoping to head even further east, though, hopefully somewhere like Wyoming, Montana, etc.

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