Threw in the towel on my Ranger

Dr_Strangelove

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@Smudgpot23 - best of luck with the new Yeep! Enjoy it in great health and I hope it treats you right.

@lazynorse - I love reading stuff like this. I want to transition from paved camping to "wild" camping with my family and I'm often disappointed/intimidated by the list of mods I thought I'd need to achieve this.
 


Joeiconic

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"Rubbing against obstacles" is going to be a problem in any vehicle. Sounds like the truck just isn’t for you. My truck spends a ton of time off-road and zero issues relating to your concerns so far.
yep, folks can always find a way to justify trading vehicles.
 

subquark

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In 40 or so years of buying (only ever new) cars I can say hands down, no doubt, absolutely, my wife’s 2019 Mazda CX-5 is the best car I’ve ever owned. The “bang for the buck”, the fit and finish, the driving feel, and the so far anyway reliability (zero, not one issue) can’t be beat. Too bad THEY didn’t build the Ranger!

So far, less than 2500mi on my Lariat / Tremor things are ok, can’t complain except for the fact that Ford cheeped out (well, mine suffers from a few “deleted, should have come with” items, but that’s another story) / couldn’t install a windshield properly, the recall I still haven’t dealt with for fear of what might happen to my “new” truck.

I honestly don’t feel this, owning the Ranger, will be a trouble free enjoyable relationship. I hope I’m wrong, but I have a feeling.
My wife has a 2022 CX-5 and I'm incredibly impressed by the build quality and the technology. It's incredibly capable. The traction is phenomenal and even that it has different HP based on the fuel used. And, like you said, the fit and finish, inside and out, is incredible.

Funny that the Ranger originally came from a Mazda. I'm also a bit bitter about all the deleted items and I think it's crappy for Ford to treat us like that. I mean come on, no power mirrors on the base model and only one one-touch window?

My Ranger's just an XL, so it's really basic compared to her "Signature" CX-5 (ooh, too fancy for me and my dump runs!). =D

And my background of an FJ40 as a daily driver since 1976 biases me a bit to Japanese quality (and my wife's had 2 Corollas - one of which she put 360K miles on in 10 years).

But the Ford Ranger has been instilling confidence in me so far (only 1683 miles so far). I hope to drive it a long time as a great replacement from that old FJ. =)
 

TOMDEE

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After 2 + years with 2020 my XLT sport 4x4 I somewhat reluctantly traded it off. I spent a fair amount of money attempting to overcome some of its shortcomings.
I used it mostly for "lite" overlanding. Never spent more than a few days in the bush due to work. It did remarkably well off road after putting Eiback coilovers on.
The Roof nest RTT was a joy especially after I upgraded from a RCI rack to the RSI smart cap.
The things that I couldn't get over were the extremely flimsy beer can sheet metal it was made with. The cartoonishly huge and ridiculously expensive rear LED taillights. It was a short production vehicle here and is never going to have much aftermarket support and what products are available seem to be way over priced. The 10R80 may have been a future problem waiting to happen.
I loved the power of that 2.3 and the way the truck looked. The armrests were in a uncomfortable location but I found the seats very comfortable and had plenty of leg room. Interior noise levels were very low and the AC worked well. The windshield was just to massive and in the summer there was so much heat that the AC had to tun at full tilt just to keep comfortable.
All said, it was an good truck. Just not for what I was needing it for. This forum was an awesome source of knowledge and I will still frequent it as many of you are like family.
I hope all of you have many years and hundreds of thousands of happy miles with your Rangers.
Skidplate.
my a/c has never had a problem keeping up with the um " Huge Windshield"?? i try to park with my back to the sun if that helps in the future
 

TOMDEE

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I would have to agree on the armrest being in an aweful position...

It needs to be able to slide forward - even my base model subi does...

I always feel like I'm leaning on the little tip and it's gonna break off.

How does the Rubicon ride compared to the eibachs on the ranger?
YA THE ARMREST IS SHIT ESPECIALLY FOR THE PASSENGER
 

GTGallop

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@Smudgepot - Was that you that parked it in the underground garage at Fashion Square for work?
 
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FordFreak

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There is definitely a LOT of wind noise in the jeep. I have the hard top version and I am sure the soft tops are quite noisy as well. The premium stereo package makes up for it though.
I drove from Florida to California in a soft-top Jeep in the winter of 1983. Noisy? Yeah, noisy takes on an entirely new meaning.
 
 



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