Guess I'll just keep my 2000 Ranger with 55K on it!

 

In 1995 I bought what I feel is, still to this day, my ideal truck...a bare bones standard bed 4 cyl 4x4 XL Ranger. In 2003 I started looking at buying a new Ranger but found out that a 4x4, 4 cylinder model was no longer available. So I figured I'd wait till it became available again. Well, it looks like NOW I'll have to move over to another brand.

Why would I want a 4 cylinder 4x4? First, I like the economy of the 4 cylinder and it does save the interiors of my cars when I need to make an occasional bulky haul. I also live in northern Ohio and the 4x4 comes in extremely handy during the winter months.

If Ford marketing is reading this...in my book, you ruined a good thing.

 

Ford does have a new design in the wings, but for some reason they didn't want to call it a Ranger, but instead wanted to go back to the old F-100 designation, but the gas price crunch late last decade, sorta put the kabash on it, as it was a larger truck, sorta like the Tacoma, Dakota, Colorado, so the Ranger was spared it's demise until this fall.

I don't want or need a larger pickemup, my 99 Ranger 4X2, 4.0L with the old more fuel efficient pushrod engine with the payload & tow pkg is just right for me & now with 70k miles on it, it's not likely going anywhere!!!! Don't want or need a mid or full size truck.

If ford thought the new upsized F-100 would cut into F-150 sales, maybe thats why it wasn't introduced in 08 or 09 as it was scheduled????

I don't want or need a compact 4dr 4ft bed truck either & if I wanted one I'd go buy the SportTrack, but for my needs it's bed is practically useless.

My Ranger rant for the day!!!! lol

With upper managment decisions like they've been making, they don't need any competition to do themselves in.

 

Too bad they did not bring the small diesels to North America like they have all over the world!

 

I have always been a Ford fan, but Ford motor has had their heads up their rearends. I had to buy a damn dodge because Ford wouldn't build a midsize pickup with 4 doors. Everybody has one except Ford. Nissan, Toyota, Dodge, Chevrolet. Ford hasn't changed the ranger in a lifetime. Name me another truck still using rear drum brakes. Make a truck to compete with Tacoma and Frontier and you will have a big seller.

 

I think if ford had taken the time to redesign a new engine/tran's for the ranger, the mpg would jump at least 5 mpg. How do all these factories plan to comply with the new regulations of 2016 if they keep making the vehicles larger/heavier?

I've always been a Ford loyalist, but the idea that some of ford vehicles are made with 40% of foreign parts or put together in other countries is my limit. If I plan to buy any ford from now on it will most likely be a used one. I'll only buy new if it has 80% or more from these United States. The economy is to messed up to not vote with your wallet, after all this country is motivated by money no matter how you look at it.

I'd rather convert my ranger over to electric than buy a newer fuel efficient car thats built somewhere else. Oh, and in case your wondering. I do check where things are made before i buy.

 

I'm just gonna keep my 02 until it dies. Then I'll bring it back to life with a V8. It's almost 10 years old now, it was built in Sept 01.

 

When the '91 Ranger SC V6 5 spd. finally stops rolling, I'd be willing, in a heartbeat, to buy a 4 cyl/5spd./SC/turbo diesel Ranger - JUST LIKE THE ONES FORD'S BEEN SELLING IN EUROPE FOR DONKEY'S YEARS. If it ain't available in NA, I won't even bother to visit a Ford dealership - maybe a private sale used Ranger, or more likely, a trailer for my '02 Tracker.

I don't need and don't want a full-sized truck - there is a market for a compact truck in NA - Ford just needs to cultivate it as assiduously as they have that for the oversized, gas-guzzling, hulking great things they've been pushing like crazy.

Remember the old advertising adage - First you tell 'em what they want, then you give 'em what you wanted them to want...

 

As other's have mentioned, the reason the Ranger's sales have been so poor is the competition is putting out better products. There are many people who are wanting a small or midsized 4-door pickup and all Ford has is that stupid, overpriced Sport Trac with the useless bed so they are buying the Dakotas (especially if they want a V8) and the Tacomas. I had two Rangers in a row and had been planning to buy the rumored 4 door version when, instead, Ford came out with the useless Sport Trac. That so ticked me off, I went out and bought an Issuzu Rodeo instead.

 

If the profits go off shore I don't care if they build them here. They build them here cause it's cheaper than shipping cross the sea. Pay amoung car builders is about the same, though non UAW plants have more flexabilty in plant workers . Low production models are still made offshore. I am happy they build some here, but personally the so called quality advantage is not there in the imports so why support other countries, we have done enough for most of them already. so I buy Fords and if there made in Mexico or Asia or Louisville it helps my state and \the economy. Now to be clear, I really don't care what other's buy, that is a personal choice. But we send enough dollars overseas buying oil, any cash we can leave in the US loop is good for all that are left here

 

All the new Rangers have 4 wheel disk brakes with ABS.

 

They need to bring in the ROW Ranger diesel. Based on the Mazda BT-50 chassis, this is tougher and gets better mileage than the current Ranger. But for some reason execs keep insisting that Americans don't want a compact diesel pickup, leaving people like John Perez to steal money from would- be investors time and again PROVING that people want them.
I am building what I can't buy, if Ford brought over the ROW Ranger with the 2.5 or 3.0 TD, I would buy one. I don't know how I'd come up with the money, but I'd find a way.

 

I had a new Ranger in 88 great truck, outgrew it 10 years later. Full size fit best.

 

Lots of good points made today.

Product configuration has been key buyer requirement for decades, but even more so in the past two to three decades. In order for businesses to remain competitive, they need to make important decisions about variants and options. Asian automakers are decades ahead of US automakers in their operations to facilitate the production of custom vehicles. In an age where configurability of purchases reigns supreme, the Big 3 lag behind and are losing market share daily. Without the bailouts of a few years ago, GM and Chrysler would have gone bye-bye. Ford has been smarter…but by how much? Pawpaw’s right: competition isn’t what is killing the Big 3. The Big 3 are killing themselves with bad management and weak leadership (e.g. Wagnor, Nasser).

On the subject of Quality, the Asian automakers are decades ahead of US automakers. The US automakers have made reasonably good strides to improve on quality, especially in the last 10-15 years, but there is a significant gap between #1 and #4. A few years ago, a survey comparing the top quality vehicles had a single US automaker entry (the F150), no German vehicles, and no Swedish. The rest were all Asian manufactures and models (Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai had the majority). That’s quite a statement.

Buying American – a noble cause for certain, but not always a smart decision (likewise, I’m not judging anyone as it’s a preference thing). After WWII, we had the best quality products world over. But very little was done in the 60s, 70s and part of the 80s to maintain this advantage. Automakers banked on Blind Loyalty (buying American made products). This actually enabled the bad behaviors of the Big 3 businessmen: didn’t need to spend money on Quality since we had good patriots buying whatever they pumped out. But as they lost market share, they started to take notice. The new paradigm was a Quality paradigm and the AP manufactures had a 40 year head start (Toyota, Honda, Nissan/Datsun). So, buying American has a potential side effect in that it can reward inferior leadership and management (the workers are left in the heaps of unemployed in the end when the business are gone as result in the longer run). Ok, now the other hand, many nations have laws in place that make importation of product extremely difficult and lengthy to resolve. This is by design. If it takes 5 years to register a product in a nation, negotiate tariffs, etc., then there is a good chance that some nations (e.g. China, Brazil) will try to develop that product at home to keep their wealth within the nation. So their national policies support a buy at home ideology. We should make it harder to qualify goods here for importation and give our businesses a chance to be competitive. But without good leaders to lead these businesses…the point is moot.

Enough of my rant…but for what it’s worth, I’ll drive my Ranger and keep it up as best I can through my ownership like skapsch.

Kevin

 

I actually emailed does about this and they said the new world ranger is about the same size as a first gen tundra and said they would rather sell f150's then a ranger because the size of the two trucks are so similar. They told me to get a new f series.