As much as I enjoy driving a full size 4x4 pickup, I am not enjoying the frequent stops at the gas pump. I have been thinking about picking up a 4 cyl 2WD Ranger, preferably a super cab because I'm a big guy. I commute about 70 miles round trip every day. My brother swears by his 02 edge with the 3.0, which I know is also a great engine. I would prefer a manual trans but an automatic would be okay. What kind of mileage do you guys running the 4 cylinder trucks get? Are you happy with your trucks overall? Any and all feedback is appreciated.

 

from what is read here and other ranger sites, the difference in MPG is not that great between the 4 cyl and 6 cyls! My 94 can get up to 21 on the highway, 15-17 around town. Its a 4.0 man trans SC. I run bigger tires and I have installed a larger exhaust system and a free flow intake. I used to run about 150 RT daily, now I am down to about 15 miles total per day. Fill up once every 2 weeks unless I drive more than normal. A lot will have to do with how hard you mash the pedal and I am not easy in town, and ran 75-80mph when I had the commute. So for all that its worth you can try to tell yourself a 4 cycl will be better, but there was a thread here a couple weeks ago on same subject so maybe search it and see what others had to say.

 

My wife has a 90 rc lb 4x4 with the 4.0/A4LD, it's running 3.55 gears with 31s. It's an absolute pig on fuel, the best we can get out of it is 13 mpg... and it's SLOW. I am not impressed at all with the ohv 4.0! I get better mileage with my 96 F150 4x4 with the 300 and my 84 F250 4x4 with the 6.9 diesel. I have not had good luck with 4.0 V6s, or any V6 period... I prefer L6s and V8s. Maybe we have a bad one, this one has been nothing but problems. Any other feedback is appreciated.

 

My dad's '96 2.3L 4 cyl would routinely get 21 - 22 around town and 26-28 mpg on the highway.

A '90 4.0L, dude, your motor is worn out, so any fuel economy you get is not normal or typical.

 

No that 4.0 is definitely not worn out, in fact it only has about two years on the rebuild. It runs perfect, but it has a never ending rash of computer, wiring, and electrical glitches. Many other components have been rebuilt or replaced on this truck, nothing seems to help. It just won't die so we can hopefully figure it out. I have owned and worked on a lot of Ford trucks, this is the worst one I've ever dealt with.

 

My 2008 4 cylinder with 4.10 gears gets about 20 mpg in town and 23 mpg on the highway. Winter figures are 1 to 2 mpg less.

 

My 93 2.3 reg. cab Splash w/5spd, gets about 27mpg on my 73 mile round trip, mostly hi-way commute.

That's if I stay below 65mph.

 

My '02 2wd stardard cab 5 speed 4 cyl with 3.73 gears gets about 24mpg in town and about 28 mpg on the highway. If geared well the 2002 and up Duratec 2.3 trucks can get great fuel mileage and have more power than the old lima 2.3/2.5 trucks.

 

The old Lima does pretty well in comparison. 85 2.3 5-speed can get low to mid 20's around town with no effort to be economical, and mid to hi 20's on highway cruise{broke 30 mpg a few times}. Keeping it a 65 or less makes a big difference in consumption.
tom

 

If your heads were not replaced or hardened seats were not installed, it was not fully rebuilt and the engine is basically still worn out, the bottom ends on these things runs forever.

Most never ending electric problems are caused by bad grounds. If you are running high performance wires, that will cause never ending electrical problems too.

 

Have an 02 2.3 automatic trans - 22 avg around town and 27 on trips. Consistent over the last 11 years.

Russ

 

I have a 99 2wd ranger. 2.5 with a 5 speed reg cab. I routinely get 24-25 mpg driving back and forth to work. It's not all highway miles and not all town driving. On a long highway trip i get around 28-30mpg. can't really complain IMO

 

4.0 autos really love to suck gas!

 

I just drove from NW of Atlanta to South Tampa & back. I was able to measure mileage for 993 miles of the trip. I used 33.17 gallons. I did not fill up before starting the trip, so there is 110+ miles of local included. Math says 29.93 mpg.
The intermediate 780 miles from Macon & back I used 25.09 gallon, getting over 31mpg.

I set the cruise @ just over 65, but the GPS said I was going 63-64. Didn't run the A/C.

On the leg to TPA, the gauge got into the red, and I wondered if I would run out. I was only able to put in 13.06 gallons in a 16 gallon tank. On the leg back, actually climbing over time, I was only able to put 12.03 gallons in the tank, but the gauge was registering near the 1/8 mark.
With around 73K miles, this Lima is just starting to get broken in, I guess.
tom

 

Since my last post to this thread I made a run of about 225 miles at speeds ranging 63 to 70 mph. Gas mileage was 26 mpg.

I bought this truck used. The former owner had some kind of physical impairment and I don't think he drove it at high speed or aggressively. Since I have owned it I have used top tier gas and have added the Chevron additive several times. I think that has finally started to show a payoff in the form of better gas mileage.