Reliability and Adaptive Cruise?

[shane1]

Looking for an midsized SUV or Pickup that is 4x4. Also would like it to be reliable and have adaptive cruise control. My sciatic nerve kicks in about 1 hour into longer drives but it is much better when using cruise. My budget is 40K or less and I will be trading in a 2020 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. I may also pull a small travel trailer later down the road. The trailer we are looking at has a dry weight of 2,947 and a GVWR of 3,900. I really like the 4Runner and Tacoma but the Ranger seems to have the best specs. Anyone have any long term experience with any of these? How well does the adaptive cruise work?

ETA - Just read a few posts about transmission issues. Not sure how wide spread it is but it is a little concerning.

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[P-38Ranger]

I am a cruise control advocate, use it all the time on busy California freeways. The adaptive works great and flawlessly. Car cuts in front, adaptive takes car of it, soft or hard. I have yet to drive a long two lane drive with it, much less tow a trailer.
I have noticed that at the closest setting, it is just a little long, yet a majority of drivers won't cut in.

 

[Grumpaw]

As far as reliability, your going to get all different types of input, depending on year/packages/use.
My 2021 has been trouble free with no down time for anything.
Read thru some of the posts...the later years seem to have fewer problems, especially with the HAVC system.
Your trailer plans will be no trouble for the Ranger, no matter which/what style Ranger you choose. I tow a 7000 lb travel trailer....truck has around 7000 miles towing it over 2 years.
Not too much experience with the cruise as I very rarely use it,, but when I do occasionally use it the adaptive works. But, I never use it while towing, but that just me.

 

[Sped68]

Asking about reliabilty on a Ranger forum will be very subjective. Rare issues will get magnified and at the same time some legitimate issues might get dismissed or downplayed.
my 2019 with 64,000km has been quite reliable. My truck came low on refrigerant which was easily fixed by the dealer. I am a bit paranoid about the hvac blend door issue that affects 2019 trucks but other than one instance where it seemed to have an issue it’s been ok. It’s now off warranty so I’ll be stuck fixing it if it craps out down the road.
The transmission in these seem kind of wonky but that’s how these 10 speeds seem to be for the most part. I’d still like to tune my truck to see if it helps clean up the shifting though
I use my adaptive cruise all the time on the highway and freeways. Works very well in my opinion and you can always shut it off and use regular cruise control though I’ve never felt the need.
I’ve only towed my snowmobile trailer which all in is maybe 2500lbs. Absolutely no issue with that light of a load.

 

[Sped68]

I am a cruise control advocate, use it all the time on busy California freeways. The adaptive works great and flawlessly. Car cuts in front, adaptive takes car of it, soft or hard. I have yet to drive a long two lane drive with it, much less tow a trailer.
I have noticed that at the closest setting, it is just a little long, yet a majority of drivers won't cut in.

I think I have to add this point to my review of the adaptive cruise as well.
the closet distance you can set is just a bit to far away for my liking and the odd person will slip into the space which will then make the truck apply the brakes fairly aggressively to regain the set gap. I can definitely understand why Ford wouldn’t program in a closer gap though.

 

[Ronbo]

Looking for an midsized SUV or Pickup that is 4x4. Also would like it to be reliable and have adaptive cruise control. My sciatic nerve kicks in about 1 hour into longer drives but it is much better when using cruise. My budge is 40K or less and I will be trading in a 2020 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. I may also pull a small travel trailer later down the road. The trailer we are lookin at has a dry weight of 2,947 and a GVWR of 3,900. I really like the 4Runner and Tacoma but the Ranger seems to have the best specs. Anyone have any long term experience with any of these? How well does the adaptive cruise work?

I have a 2019. Adaptive Cruise Control has been flawless. Never failed in over 4 years, and I use it all the time. Works exactly like it should. Reliability has been way above average for me. I had it in the shop only 2 days in 4 years. I enjoy this truck as much now as when I got it new. It’s been a very reliable truck for me.

 

[Blackeagle]

The vast majority of the approximately 10,000 miles I've driven my Ranger have been with the adaptive cruise on. It's worked great for me. The only time I had an issue with it was when the radar panel got spattered with slush and I had to clean it off to get it working again.

In contrast to some of the other folks who've answered so far, I almost always use it on the longest following distance and wish I could set it a bit further. ?

 

[Joeiconic]

I have a ‘21 with about 28k miles. It’s been great and I’ve only incurred expense for regular maintenance thus far.

The adaptive cruise works fine, but I just can’t warm up to it. It has scared me a few times by aggressively braking in situations where it was absolutely not warranted. But I think all adaptive systems do the same thing, not just the Ranger. I have decided to just stick with regular cruise control.

 

[shane1]

I like everything about the Ranger but I am worried about reliability. I had some F150’s at work in the past the the eco boost had issues. There were other issues, but the eco boost had major issues.

 

[jblc]

I agree with others and my adaptive cruise has been fine.
BUT, I felt deceived by the marketing, in that the ranger's adaptive cruise disengages when dropping below ~10 mph.
It is NOT stop-and-go adaptive cruise control -- unlike (I believe) what the f150 can do.
It's would have been most useful to me in slow or stop and go traffic, but it doesn't work for that. For the highway, it works great in almost all cases.

 

[RDJTX]

I love mine. I never use. Adaptive cruise in heavy traffic. Out on the highway it’s awesome so awesome that sometime I forget it’s adaptive and wonder why we are not overtaking the car in front. Then I remember to change lanes and it picks up again lol

 

[Tom_C]

I've had mine for 2.5 years, right around 15K miles. No problems yet. Adaptive cruise works great. I don't tow a large trailer, just small utility trailers and it works fine.

 

[Grumpaw]

I like everything about the Ranger but I am worried about reliability. I had some F150’s at work in the past the the eco boost had issues. There were other issues, but the eco boost had major issues.

Remember...you are asking on a forum with a few thousand members, a very small % of owners. Further, only a few of these members regularly post, an even smaller %. Further, only a few of those have had problems, and an even smaller % have had serious problems.
What it comes down to is that on any forum, for any make/model, you will always have some with serious, and minor, and no problems....but this is out of a number that ranges in the thousands to hundreds of thousands.

 

[puckdodger]

I've driven a couple adaptive cruise / lane centering vehicles and the Ranger system works good, but it is not as refined as a Cadillac or Lincoln system. But it is much more affordable??

 

[shane1]

Remember...you are asking on a forum with a few thousand members, a very small % of owners. Further, only a few of these members regularly post, an even smaller %. Further, only a few of those have had problems, and an even smaller % have had serious problems.
What it comes down to is that on any forum, for any make/model, you will always have some with serious, and minor, and no problems....but this is out of a number that ranges in the thousands to hundreds of thousands.

Thanks, good points. I am just checking multiple data points to try to reduce future headaches.

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