Very first next-gen 2023 Ford Ranger prototype!

[FoD]

Driving around alone in a car while wearing a mask is like sitting in bed with a condom on and nobody else is home with you.

Except your left hand, Mr. Righty...

 

[r1ch999999]

Driving around alone in a car while wearing a mask is like sitting in bed with a condom on and nobody else is home with you.

Well, if you were doing what you're doing with a condom on, knowing that there would be a different person in the bed doing it after you left, you'd probably put it on do avoid spreading stuff around, and you'd damn well hope the guy before you had one on too.

 

[OFC Ranger]

Hopefully those headlights are placeholders cause that looks like barf.

I'm telling you it looks like the current Ranger and Tacoma are the last trucks to look like trucks. Everything else wants to be some stupid hybrid between a truck and a European sports car.

 

[VoodooRanger]

Things I would like to see with the new truck:
1. Larger fuel tank, at least 21 gallon minimum.
2. Rear seat that doesn't completely fold up/down. Preferably something allows you to have a single passenger, but still able to lift the seat up to stack items behind the driver.
3. Manual transmission option. Hey, I can dream.

 

[Abjectwoe]

2.7L or bust...

It's all but guaranteed though, right?

If the Bronco has it, why wouldn't the Ranger?

 

[Racket]

That one looks more level than ours.

 

[LightingBlue]

From what I see, they have raised the rear of the cabin to square it off compared to 5g ranger. Also squared off the front fenders in a bid to reduce frontal visibility, Raised & flattened the front grill and hood line plus beefed up the side mirrors. Gone are the wheel arch cladding and replaced with a body crease. A lot of effort to artificially make this thing look bigger than it needs to be for it's segment.

Rumor from somebody working in the Michigan plant is that Ranger is going to have a number of bed length configurations possibly including an extended bed (source: Bronco forum user)

Apparently this answers the question that nobody asked: "Can you make the Ranger look more like an F150 so it can go head to head with the old-model RAM's?".

Making Ranger look drastically larger with pseudo macho-face will only work if the Maverick picks up all of the lower-market slack (which I doubt). My guess is that this will hit a weak spot with truck buyers as Ranger loses it's identity in a single generation of purely US design influence (which is very sad as 5g is a GREAT generation for Ranger). Current F150 is larger than the F250 was ten years ago as-is. Bloating out the F150 to the point that Ranger needs to be the "next F150" serves no point and indicates that CAFE standards are dictating the design of this truck more than customers needs.

Prediction:

• Maverick will sell to people who don't need a mid size, which is a small market but Ford capitalize on owning the segment outright.
• Tacoma continues to dominate mid-size truck sales.
• Colorado easily out-sells G6 Ranger as Ranger pretends to be a full-sized truck
• F150 keeps slowly extending to be the size of an aircraft carrier, garages be damned.

Since i'm always wrong, what will actually happen is Ranger goes on a sales tear as every single truck buyer who can't deal with the Nimitz-class size of the F150 and has been waiting for a decade to replace their roached out rusty trucks finally has their fake-butch truck buying option and snaps up Rangers at a record pace! Tacoma still dominates the nimble truck segment.

 

[Espo78]

2.7L or bust...

It's all but guaranteed though, right?

If the Bronco has it, why wouldn't the Ranger?

If the F150 continues to use that engine I doubt that it will be in a Ranger because Ford will do anything to protect F150 sales.

 

[Big Blue]

Still doesn't have extendable tow mirrors, rats!

 

[Abjectwoe]

If the F150 continues to use that engine I doubt that it will be in a Ranger because Ford will do anything to protect F150 sales.

That’s a shame. I’ll be looking at a Tacoma or Frontier for my next truck then.

 

[DakotaGuy]

Things I would like to see with the new truck:
1. Larger fuel tank, at least 21 gallon minimum.
2. Rear seat that doesn't completely fold up/down. Preferably something allows you to have a single passenger, but still able to lift the seat up to stack items behind the driver.
3. Manual transmission option. Hey, I can dream.

Those are all changes I would like to see along with improved Interior materials. It looks like they aren’t messing with the size much and I am thankful for that. If the Ranger grows much more it becomes pointless in Ford’s line-up. I like the just right size. Not tiny like the old Ranger and not gigantic like the current F-150.

 

[AzScorpion]

Things I would like to see with the new truck:
1. Larger fuel tank, at least 21 gallon minimum.
2. Rear seat that doesn't completely fold up/down. Preferably something allows you to have a single passenger, but still able to lift the seat up to stack items behind the driver.
3. Manual transmission option. Hey, I can dream.

It's possible. The Bronco's getting a MT so maybe they'll make it an option in the Ranger too?

 

[Vitis805]

If the F150 continues to use that engine I doubt that it will be in a Ranger because Ford will do anything to protect F150 sales.

Then why are they trying to make the Ranger look like an F150? Ford marketing confuses me.

I thought I would be sad to see the refresh as I would then have an "old model" but after seeing these images it makes me even happier with my Ranger. The only way I'd trade it in is if they did give us the 2.7 ALONG with Powerboost tech.

 

[myothercarizahearse]

If the F150 continues to use that engine I doubt that it will be in a Ranger because Ford will do anything to protect F150 sales.

I'll never buy a F150. alot of folks don't need/want something that big. we just want bigger engine just cuz. I ended up buying a frontier because ford stopped selling rangers in the USA so they lost a sale

 

[RANGER_MARC]

For my two cents, I don't mind the new Ranger getting a bit bigger and/or heavier, as they will still be way smaller and lighter than what the 150s are and will be. So the Ranger will still be the more practical option as far as parking, garages, etc. are concerned. As for appearance, we cannot see much underneath all the camouflage, but I happen to like the "mini-150" outline. But the really important questions are, what will Ford put in the cab, under the hood, and underneath? Is it getting bigger so that they can stuff a 2.7 in there (maybe even a "power-boosted" one)? Are we going to have upgraded technology (including, especially, music systems) and modernized design inside? Is the stock ride quality going to improve as well? Will there be a Tremor version? Anyway, this is pretty exciting, and I am definitely going to wait until these come out before buying another vehicle!