2019 Ford Ranger Hits the Mark Off-Road
YouTubers find new Ranger is a fine truck when driven within its performance limits, and the 2.3L EcoBoost is a solid powerplant.
Ever since the Ranger returned to the United States after years trekking around the globe, there have been more than a few glowing reviews of the midsize pickup. But now that the excitement is fading into the dust, does the Ranger deserve its praise?
For a pair of YouTubers, the answer is mostly yes, with a little no. Sarah of Sarah-n-Tuned, along with her friend, Instagrammer Sarah Ann (sarahtothepowerof2), recently took out a 2019 Ranger Lariat FX4 to the desert trails near their home of Vail, Arizona to see what it had to offer.
“It wouldn’t be a car review if we didn’t touch on the interior of the vehicle,” says Sarah. “This is the Lariat package, so it does have the leather interior, which I feel like these would be easy to clean, just by looking at them. However, I don’t really like the way it looks, so I’d probably try to save some money by getting the XLT package instead, then using that money I save on upgrading some off-road goodies.”
Sarah Ann, meanwhile, is a fan of the Magnetic Gray dash trim, and how it ties into the dark gray wheels around the Ranger. Sarah does love the power folding mirrors, which she thinks would come in handy for waving at fellow Ranger owners, then reiterates that for $44,000, the Ranger Lariat’s interior could be better, but is otherwise decent for a midsize truck, especially with the many tech goodies included.
“Because this is an off-road review, I’m skipping the on-road portion of it,” says Sarah, “but as far as on-road goes, the past three days I’ve been driving this truck, I’ve noticed that it rewards you for driving it efficiently. I was getting 24 miles per gallon, which is amazing for a truck.”
She adds that the 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine is more than enough for the Ranger, especially with the 270 turbocharged horses and 310 lb-ft of torque being better than a bland V6. The grunty growl helps, too.
“I think this is the perfect size for a truck,” Sarah says. “I don’t feel it’s too small sitting in here, and I’m five-foot-11. It feels like a decent-sized truck. This thing is not that small. It weighs 4,441 pounds.”
Sarah also wishes Ford offered the five-cylinder turbo diesel sold in the rest of the world, adding that if it was available on the Ranger XL, Ford could draw in more consumers without them breaking their banks, especially those who would use the midsizer for work. On the other hand, she wishes the manual transmission was available on higher trim levels, as some customers don’t want to row other things of their own, like the windows.
After traversing across the tall entrance into the parking area along the trail, first in two-wheel drive coming down, then four-wheel drive back up due to the rear tires not providing enough grip on their own, the two Sarahs drove their Ranger into a wash in Sand terrain mode. Sarah says she isn’t sure if she’ll need all four wheels to go through the soft sand, while Sarah Ann pleads for her not to get the truck stuck.
“It’s kinda good that this happened,” Sarah says, “because that’s the whole purpose of doing a review of a truck off-road: So these things do happen, and then you can see how they react in these situations.”
After trying to hand-dig the Ranger out of the wash and 20 minutes of trying to get out, the duo and the truck are rescued by a few friendly off-roaders. Sarah later admits that the Ranger getting stuck was more on her than on the off-road capabilities of the midsizer.
The two Sarahs ultimately give their Ranger a rating of two “meatballs” out of five, stating that the truck is fine “if you drive it within its limits.” But as the old maxim goes, the first year of any new model isn’t always going to be the best one out of the door. We’re sure Ford will improve upon the Ranger over the next few years.
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