The Ranger is back – and bigger.
But not everywhere.
Out back, for instance. The new Ranger’s bed is actually smaller – relative to the rest of the Ranger.
Because the cab is bigger.
Have a look at the new Ranger next to my old Nissan Frontier – which is the same size (compact) as the Ranger used to be.
Obviously, there’s more cab – length/width and height. But no more bed – and less bed if you get the most cab.
The new Ranger comes in Supercab and Crew Cab configuration only – both with four doors, the Crew’s being full-sized while the Super’s are smaller. But they’re there, regardless.
Which is why there’s no room left for more bed.
The max you can get is six feet – the same as my ’02 (and much smaller) Frontier. And if you get the Crew, you can’t get more than a five foot bed, which is less bed than my smaller ’02 Frontier.
But – apples and oranges, eh?
The new Ranger can carry more people in much more comfort than my Frontier – and the Ranger can pull more than twice as much behind its bed – 7,500 lbs. vs. 3,000 for Silverbell, my poor little truck!
The new Ranger is also quick – something no one has ever accused my Frontier of being – because it comes standard with about 120 more horsepower than my truck’s got.
Still, I think it’d be nice if Ford – if anyone – offered a regular cab (or even just a two-door extended cab) version of their current mid-sized trucks with an eight-foot bed.
Of course, that’d put too much heat on full-size trucks; lots of people might not buy one, in favor of a much less expensive mid-sized truck.
So that probably explains it… .
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More feminization of vehicles, trying to break up the boys only club. Over at Thenewx.org where I post frequently, we all whine how Nissan ended the Xterra line and how LITTLE off road or masculine vehicles are left.
The sad thing is that the mid sized trucks aren’t that much cheaper than half tons, especially when rebates address taken into consideration. The middies sell for far closer to sticker.
On a Gladiator forum I follow, leading up to the reveal, some members were able to get 2018 Power Wagon builds for $45k sticker.
A Gladiator Sport can easily surpass that, never mind the Rubicon.
This vehicle’s mission is personal transportation, with truck capacity sometimes needed. In other words, a compromise design. Most “Compact” and many full size rigs are compromises too in one way or another. I think that the Ranger Supercab configuration with a six foot bed is a reasonable compromise that most buyers can live with.
True a six foot bed is way too short for many serious work truck duties. But it is long enough to do the job for most “personal transportation” truck buyers. In contrast, a five foot bed is just a joke.
I predict the new Ranger will not be a big hit with the work truck and commercial fleet biz.
More like a personal vehicle that can also carry a few bags of mulch. Also, the base model price
is sorta ok, the higher trims are priced very close to F150 territory. Actual selling price, not
Monroney MSRP. My fleet Ford dealer has F150 xlt’s within $1k of Ranger xlt.
you hit it on the head. no 8ft bed for the midsize trucks for the sake of justifying the fullsizers.
Ranger was a(still is most likely)highly prized truck in Mexico. They were economical, cheap to fix and didn’t have a lot of problems whereas you couldn’t give an S10 away there.
I suspect it won’t be a hit now……anywhere. Insurance will be right up there because of the price and replacement parts(this can be said for practically all new vehicles). I get it…..but Ford doesn’t and evidently no other maker does either. You bought those little trucks to have a bed and some pulling capacity but not feeding a hog, either in fuel or insurance. So, what was the thought behind this thing? Mo money? Lot’s mo money? Bigger is always better. That’s what she said…..but I was intimidated to the point of having to rub one side to get the other to come over.
I guess that’s the point. Car makers are now just mechanical whores, take it or leave it. At least Dodge got it right selling several year models as new.
Ok, no one else has said it yet, so I’m going to. The auto industry “offerings” are beginning to resemble 4-wheeled versions of the penis pump! You may now return to your regularly scheduled comments, lol!
This new Ranger may bear the name of the original, but it certainly doesn’t carry on the SPIRIT of the original… 🙁
Hi Mark,
It isn’t a bad truck; in fact, it is what a full-size truck used to be… except for the absurdly small bed!
I’m not saying it’s a bad truck; it may be very good, other than the bed. I think where the new Ranger falls short is that it doesn’t have the traits of the ORIGINAL, the one I remember from the 1980s. Back then, the Ranger was a small, inexpensive, economical, tough, and basic pickup; in that respect, this new Ranger isn’t worthy of the name.
Except the Ranger name used to be a submodel of either the F100 or F150 and a few other things including an Edsel model. Sure it was a probably that small pickup for the longest period of time of anything but the name really doesn’t have ‘tradition’ to it in the first place.
It’s not a truck at all. It’s a car with the worst trunk design in history.
Eric,
I don’t know if the configuration of these trucks keeps the heat off of full size as much as the price vs. full size. For an extra $2-4 grand you can get a–comparably equipped–full size extended cab pickup with an 8 ft bed, v-8, 10k towing and only sacrifice 3-4 mpg’s at most.
If these “mid size” pickups were compact and came at 60% of the price tag of a full size, they’d be worth it. Instead, they’re 7/8’s of a full size with 9.5 10th’s of the price tag, but only about 60% of the capability.
I’m not picking on just Ford. It goes for all of them, other than–maybe?–Nissan.
ancap, have you seen a Japanese truck of any sort with an 8′ bed? I’m not saying they don’t exist but I’ve never seen one and since 7 out of every 10 trucks(I use that term reluctantly)are sold in Texas and I haven’t seen one….well, I’m simply assuming.
Several years ago the wife was working with a lot of other women. One of them came to work one day and said she’d bought a Big truck. Turns out it was a Dodge so the wife said “I didn’t know Dodge made a Big truck.” Of course it was lost on her coworker.
I stopped by to see the wife one day heading to Richie Bros. auction to drop off a trailer and get another. I walked through the bidness and spoke to the women I met. When I left there were 3 of the women standing in a big bay door so I honked the air horn and they all smiled and waved enthusiastically. I didn’t think anything of it except they seemed so animated.
That night the wife said those 3 came back in and said they all said “That good looking guy that was in here just drove by in a big truck(KW)and honked at “me”. I don’t know who he was.” The wife said dryly, “that was my husband”. She said it didn’t really put a damper on their story.
The moral of the story. Lots of women are really impressed by the “size of your truck”. Maybe that’s why the young guys try to make their pickups look huge. Not being a ‘young guy’, I like one you don’t have to strain to get into……and that’s one of the reasons I like the 379 and 389 Peterbilt. It’s a progressive 3 steps before getting into the cab. I used to drive a cabover Freightliner back when that’s all Freightliner made, in fact, it was made by White Trucks. I’d commonly split the leg seam on my jeans getting into the cab. I call those “young men” trucks.