Test drove a Ranger yesterday

[hawk43]

Vega was car of the year.
Citation was car of the year.
Alliance was car of the year.
Corvair was car of the year.

But they are not the Ram...The Ram kicks ass.


I remember test driving a Citation..

Sponsored

 

[Floyd]

I would say I understand where the OP is coming from on acceleration - in regular drive mode the Ranger is geared more toward fuel economy until you mash it. If you really want to see how it preforms drop it down to Sport mode (S) or just mash the accelerator and see what happens.

I looked at the full size pick ups and feel they were just to big for me and my needs. I was coming from a Jeep so the midsize was the perfect size for me. I think its hard to compare mid-size to full size just so different. Like comparing a turbo 2.3 liter to a Hemi - the Hemi is always going to be faster.

2WD Ram 1500 Hemi vs 2WD Ranger.. Looks like it just ain't so.

 

[Floyd]

But they are not the Ram...The Ram kicks ass.


I remember test driving a Citation..

Ever drive a turbo Corvair or even a Monza 140?
The secret to winning is to jump off the line and leave an oil slick for the competition!
I'm telling you that thing would pass anything on the road but a mechanic shop!

 

[chasvs]

As an owner of a 2011 Tacoma, .

After driving the Ranger, I would definitely buy a Ranger over a G3 Tacoma. Now would I trade a good running G2 Tacoma and $18k-$20k for comparable Ranger? Probably not. Sure, the Ranger is nicer, but I didn’t see enough improvement over my G2 Taco to justify the car loan for close to $20k. With that being said…

Seriously?

 

[JimG_AZ]

Seriously?

Yes, seriously. After discussing this with my wife, here is why I am keeping the Tacoma for the time being. Assuming the XLT FX4 4x4 OTD price was the Tacoma + $20k. If I were to finance the $20k over 4 years, according to my credit unions website the APR is 4.15%. That gives a monthly payment of $453, and if I take the loan to term, the total interest would be $1740. Avoiding that monthly payment sure does make the Tacoma look good. If I were to buy the Ram, the monthly payment would be significantly worse. Now if money was not a consideration, I would be driving a new truck today.

My son really wants to buy the XL FX4 we test drove. He was trying to convince his mother to let him buy it yesterday. His only problem is that he is a college student and really can’t afford it with his part time job.

 

[JimG_AZ]

Good luck with that Ram. Hope you have another vehicle to drive while it's in the shop.

Now stop wasting our time like you did those dealers.

This sounds like something a Toyota salesman would say! Do you sell Toyota's?

 

[JimG_AZ]

This!! I always tend to "overthink" most things before buying them but when I wanted to upgrade my tires I spent a lot of time comparing different brands, sizes and their weight. I really wanted to go up to 285's but I knew that size and weight would put a considerable amount of drag on the truck and I'd take a good hit in mpg's. I went with the 265/70/17's and while they're a little larger and heavier than stock they didn't kill my mpg's or the overall feel of the truck. Even with this upgrade my Ranger it still far more powerful than my '16 Tacoma!

I think you made a smart move not going to the 285's. The lifted Ranger that I drove is over at Chapman Ford in Scottsdale.

 

[Dokkenmire]

I traded a 2018 Ram 1500 Harvest Edition for a 2019 Tacoma...then traded the Tacoma for my Ranger lol.

The Ram easily was the best riding truck I've ever driven and the transmission was phenomenal. BUT, they want you to run 89 octane in the hemi and it wouldn't break 18mpg no matter how I drove and the resale value is pretty terrible. The stereo and backup camera glitched about 1/2 the time and something would drain my battery completely dead overnight sometimes. I couldn't trust it and the dealer couldn't fix it.

The 6 speed auto in my Tacoma was garbage and after our first hour long drive I hated the seats. It served its purpose as a place holder till I found what I actually wanted. Gotta respect the Tacoma's resale value, I lost nothing on trade.

The Ranger runs on cheap gas, gets 22mpg for me with a 2 inch leveling kit and larger tires, merges on the highway with ease and doesn't hunt gears on slight grades, and was $10k cheaper than my Ram (granted my Ranger is 2wd) but similarly equipped. The only issue I've had with the purchase and ownership of my Ranger is how horrible the sales experience was.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

I traded a 2018 Ram 1500 Harvest Edition for a 2019 Tacoma...then traded the Tacoma for my Ranger lol.

The Ram easily was the best riding truck I've ever driven and the transmission was phenomenal. BUT, they want you to run 89 octane in the hemi and it wouldn't break 18mpg no matter how I drove and the resale value is pretty terrible. The stereo and backup camera glitched about 1/2 the time and something would drain my battery completely dead overnight sometimes. I couldn't trust it and the dealer couldn't fix it.

The 6 speed auto in my Tacoma was garbage and after our first hour long drive I hated the seats. It served its purpose as a place holder till I found what I actually wanted. Gotta respect the Tacoma's resale value, I lost nothing on trade.

The Ranger runs on cheap gas, gets 22mpg for me with a 2 inch leveling kit and larger tires, merges on the highway with ease and doesn't hunt gears on slight grades, and was $10k cheaper than my Ram (granted my Ranger is 2wd) but similarly equipped. The only issue I've had with the purchase and ownership of my Ranger is how horrible the sales experience was.

Hi D,

Agree....Sales experience sucks. X plan helps as all the cards on the table are face up.... That said, my local dealer is a POS in my opinion, so I purchased my Ranger from a great Dealer some 50 miles away. I do not CLICK with this local Green Valley Dealer, who I discovered has its tentacles into California...

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[Dokkenmire]

Hi D,

Agree....Sales experience sucks. X plan helps as all the cards on the table are face up.... That said, my local dealer is a POS in my opinion, so I purchased my Ranger from a great Dealer some 50 miles away. I do not CLICK with this local Green Valley Dealer, who I discovered has its tentacles into California...

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Toyota and Ram treated me like gold, their online prices were legitimate and reasonable and their service departments did everything in their power to help me with any issues. My local Ford dealer treated me like dirt, lied about their prices and made me fight for hours just to get (what I didn't know at the time) the standard Ford rebates. Never again.

 

[chasvs]

Yes, seriously. After discussing this with my wife, here is why I am keeping the Tacoma for the time being. Assuming the XLT FX4 4x4 OTD price was the Tacoma + $20k. If I were to finance the $20k over 4 years, according to my credit unions website the APR is 4.15%. That gives a monthly payment of $453, and if I take the loan to term, the total interest would be $1740. Avoiding that monthly payment sure does make the Tacoma look good. If I were to buy the Ram, the monthly payment would be significantly worse. Now if money was not a consideration, I would be driving a new truck today.

My son really wants to buy the XL FX4 we test drove. He was trying to convince his mother to let him buy it yesterday. His only problem is that he is a college student and really can’t afford it with his part time job.

So it’s really a financial decision. To claim a Gen2 Taco beats a new Ranger just doesn’t make sense.(That was my interpretation of your comments on the test drive, so excuse me if I’m wrong ) I traded a 17 TRD PRO Taco and don’t miss it one bit.

 

[hawk43]

Ever drive a turbo Corvair or even a Monza 140?
The secret to winning is to jump off the line and leave an oil slick for the competition!
I'm telling you that thing would pass anything on the road but a mechanic shop!

My dad bought my mom a 62 Corvair convertible when I was 11 or so in the later 60's and he bought a turbo off a monza in a junkyard later on and tried to get it to work but I don't think he ever got it dialed in...Car was white with red interior and the famous power glide...

 

[MikeD]

I test drove a 2020 Tacoma 6 speed manual and it was definitely quite sluggish at low speeds. I even second guessed whether it was a V6 at first. I however didn’t have any problems merging onto a freeway. At low speeds the Ranger definitely felt peppier due to the low RPM torque. That said I’m still strongly considering the Tacoma if significant incentives don’t appear on the Lariat in January.

 

[Floyd]

Toyota and Ram treated me like gold, their online prices were legitimate and reasonable and their service departments did everything in their power to help me with any issues. My local Ford dealer treated me like dirt, lied about their prices and made me fight for hours just to get (what I didn't know at the time) the standard Ford rebates. Never again.

Unfortunately... my Ford dealer IS my RAM dealer!

 

[JimG_AZ]

So it’s really a financial decision. To claim a Gen2 Taco beats a new Ranger just doesn’t make sense.(That was my interpretation of your comments on the test drive, so excuse me if I’m wrong ) I traded a 17 TRD PRO Taco and don’t miss it one bit.

Yes, it’s strictly a financial decision. A G2 Tacoma will not beat a Ranger in race. It will not be too far behind it though. A race between a Ranger and a G2 Tacoma will be a lot closer than a race between a Ranger and a G3 Tacoma. The 4.0L v6 has a lot more low end throttle response than the 3.5L v6. Toyota screwed up putting the 3.5L v6 in the G3 Tacoma. They should have stuck with the 4.0 or turbo charged the 2.7L 4. The other area where the Ranger beats the G2 Tacoma is the 4.0L v6 is a pretty thirsty motor. The Ecoboost gets much better fuel economy. Now there are some advantages that the G2 Taco has over the Ranger, but I would rather not discuss those here because some people would come unglued.

Sponsored