I disagree. The wiper controls should be a $5.00 switch on the dash. The high beam control should be a $3.00 switch on the floor. Neither should be part of a $300 switch on the damn steering column.

AND, we shold be able to turn on the windshield washer BEFORE we turn on the wipers so we don't scratch our damn windshields.

 

Ahhh... The old days....
You have to stop now. I am starting to miss my '83 again.

 

I for one would love a small diesel P/U. Granted the "new global ranger" is not very small but if it got 40 MPG I'd be all over it (and there's no reason a small P/U shoulden't get 40 MPG with a diesel)

I'm wondering how Ford (and the rest of the manufacturers) are going to meet the upcomming CAFE standards without putting a small diesel in their pick ups....

 

About the video: like other guys have said, steel wheel on steel rail is very low friction, and if that locomotive has roller bearings (instead of solid brass bearings) the amount of friction is incredibly low!

Back in the early 1930s Timken (the same company that makes roller bearings for our pickups) had a locomotive built and installed their roller bearings in it. To prove just how low the friction was, they had three women (in high heel shoes!) pull it back and forth a few feet in the Chicago station! Timken's locomotive was MUCH larger than the one the world ranger pulled, so it isn't all that impressive.

Sam

 

"To prove just how low the friction was, they had three women (in high heel shoes!) pull it back and forth a few feet in the Chicago station! Timken's locomotive was MUCH larger than the one the world ranger pulled, so it isn't all that impressive."

But I bet those women were !!

 

No kidding! There's pictures of it around somewhere, I'll have to see if I can find them.

EDIT: here it is: http://www.nmslrhs.org/images/photos...ll%201111.html

Sam

 

Trains move every day utilizing 0.5 h.p./ton. 1.0 h.p./ton is pretty good, and you're strolling through tall cotton with 1.5 h.p./ton.

With all that said, if there is enough power and traction to overcome inertia and rolling resistance (bearing friction), it will move and it doesn't take much to move...more to maintain speed, much more.

Ranger? Just one more slap in the face from another globalizing company. I made a list of all the successful product lines Ford has either killed or divested itself of:

Farm tractors, road tractors (tractor-trailer power units), the L-Series "Louisville" trucks, all rear-wheel drive passenger cars, passenger "mini-vans" (Flex-you call that a van?), Ranger pick-ups, and it is rumored the full-sized van could be on the chopping block (it would already be gone if those 'Euro' things had caught on).

So what has Ford really provided? The F-Series. That's all that has lasted over time...and it is one of the few Ford lines I have never owned or cared for much.

So, Global Ranger? No.

I got possibly the last remaining 2011 manual shift Ranger in the Northeast. I am now enjoying it and the 27-28 mpg it provides.

The two vehicles I have will last me until I can no longer drive, so I'm leaving what's left of Ford to all you younger folks. It's your Ford now, I am done with it.

 

Sell it in North America and when it becomes a runaway success, start building "global" Rangers for the NA market at the defunct St Paul Plant.

 

So i have been reading this thread and it leaves me a little sad. Not about the opinions, but becoz of where you live you have to live with what products manufactures dish up.

About the Ranger, i look at it slightly differently as it is not meant to impress Americans who has all those love F-series available while the rest of us pay through yore teeth to have one importted and then do a righthand drive conversion. It is realy aimed i think at potential Toy Hilux,Nissan Navarre,Mitsu Triton buyers.

Also it was said that the Ranger is supposed to have some of the Raptors styling elelments. Also they are forever telling us that it "resembles" the American F-series trying to satisfy folks like me who longs for the trucks you all have in abundance.

That said i think the truck is a good effort for its intended market and matches and betters anything the competition has to offer. I would have liked them to offer the F150's base 3.7 V6 as option though.

-Valdor

 

Valdor, if it makes you feel any better I am jealous of your Ranger that is available to you. I am confused how so many can claim how big it is! It is closer to the US Ranger than a F150. I would take one in a heartbeat if it was available and didn't cost an arm and a leg! Give me your 2.5l gas engine with a 5 speed, longbed and standard cab. I would probably be happy with the smaller diesel just wouldn't want to pay alot extra for it. I think there is a small touch of sour grapes myself.

 

Hi there, thanks for feeling my pain lol. The 2.5 will be a good sandard engine. They got 3 diesels aswell of which 2 of them is different output versions of the 2.2tdi (a cheaper enrty level 113hp 212ft/lbs and a 147 HP 380 ft/lbs version) and then the 3.2 i5tdi. I just wish that more of us could have access to more products, in my case have a F250 as option and you guys have a compact as option. Especially as Ford is claiming "one global product" strategy lately. In a perfect world i guess...
-Valdor

 

Well thank American politics for the loss of American jobs and products to other countries. But when those big buisiness boys get their butts in a crack who do you think they holler to for help? Why Uncle Sam and his taxpayers of course! I just bought a new 6.7 f-250 in August after driving GM for close to 40 yrs. and one of the big deciding factors behind going to Ford besides the quality of the new drivetrain was the fact that Ford did'nt ask or need a "bailout" from us taxpayers only to lower quality and raise cost of the vehicles they produce. The Ford Ranger was in my opinion the best small truck ever produced anywhwere and to take it off the U. S. market is really a crying shame and an embarrasment for Ford.

 

Different "worlds" and vehicles here, but here Ford South Africa, decided to cull off the Ford Bantam, a front wheel drive mini pickup based on an older generation Fiesta. It maybe alien to you, but over here, OZ and South America this type off vehicle is very popular for small bussiness and leisure. Not my taste but i recognise its use and frugal mpg.
Much like with your version of the Ranger, instead of upgrading it, they let it fall from segment leader to segment also-run. This culling off is made, they say, to make space for producing the global Ranger. I think they could have gotten more stretch fot their buck and brand by staying in a market segment rather than ignoring it.

 

Sounds like my little 87 Subaru Brat I have had for well over 14 years!

 

Exactly. I have owned bigger trucks and, unless you really need the capacity, the extra size/mass just isn't worth the hassle (parking, garage space, etc). To me, a truck is a tool. Like any other tool, the right tool for the job isn't always the biggest. Ford still sells a lot of "little" Rangers, which speaks volumes in regards to how many folks out there just need a small, simple, basic truck.