new ranger review?

[TCowner]

I come here with a heavy heart. I come here with my tail tucked between my legs. Yes, I feel defeated and ashamed.

As some of you know, I have not been the most avid owner of the new Ford Ranger mid size pickup and its typically my complaints about the ecoboost 4 cylinder engine. I think its noisy, especially when cold, and I have not been impressed with the fuel mileage.

So last weekend I decided to forget about the dash computer's mpg report and instead go to actual numbers based upon topping off the tank at the beginning and end of my trip and I was not pulling a trailer. My trip was a round trip from Red Wing Minnesota to Hayward Wisconsin and back. This is all two lane roads running just over 60 mph but there are about seven or eight small towns that required a drop to 30 mph. When I did my calculations I ended using 14 gallons of fuel for the 345 mile trip. This calculates to 24.64 mpg.

This was actually pretty close to what the dash computer was telling me.

SO, I can't explain what has happened. And I said earlier, I am contrite. I still have issues with the noisy engine and the disappointing mpg numbers when pulling my empty enclosed snowmobile trailer. But at least with normal driving I probably will have to stop my complaining.

 

[Oaktree]

I still have issues with the noisy engine and the disappointing mpg numbers when pulling my empty enclosed snowmobile trailer. But at least with normal driving I probably will have to stop my complaining.

No need for apologies.
Makes me wonder if it just really needs to work hard in order to pull a trailer, where as when not towing you're not running the turbo much. I guess that's the downside of a small, turbo'ed engine in a truck.

 

[KennyG]

I think there are two types of gas engine truck owners - those who are disappointed with their towing mileage and those who lie about it.

 

[ArlyA]

No need for apologies.
Makes me wonder if it just really needs to work hard in order to pull a trailer, where as when not towing you're not running the turbo much. I guess that's the downside of a small, turbo'ed engine in a truck.

Seems like we need to look at what your vehicle will be doing in its life. For example follows.

We need something that was easy to drive around town and got reasonable fuel mileage. This sounds like a little 4 banger engine would be fine. But over the weekend, we needed to tow our trailers and have enough ponies to do interstate speeds with. Some of our secondary roads in the UP are 65mph and interstate roads we are actually a long ways away from us. But for doing this, sounds like we'll need a larger, more HP engine which will take more to fuel to operate all week long.

This eco-bosted turbo whatever engine will give us the extra ponies when needed, not all the time. Its kind of the best of both worlds.

I should add, we are quite happy with this trucks towing capability.

 

[goeduck]

Smaller displacement turbo engines were never designed to get good mileage towing. They were designed for performance and good mileage under normal driving conditions yet have enough grunt to pull a load while gulping gas IMHO.

The whole premise is that these trucks will seldom tow, but they can do it when needed and it is hard to argue that that is not how 90% of these trucks get used. If they tow full time I doubt the engine will see a long life. Just my 2 cents.

 

[ArlyA]

Smaller displacement turbo engines were never designed to get good mileage towing. They were designed for performance and good mileage under normal driving conditions yet have enough grunt to pull a load while gulping gas IMHO.

The whole premise is that these trucks will seldom tow, but they can do it when needed and it is hard to argue that that is not how 90% of these trucks get used. If they tow full time I doubt the engine will see a long life. Just my 2 cents.

I did not state they'd last as long, IF operated at high outputs, nor they'd get great fuel mileage while towing large sails. Our ranger does not get great mileage while towing our camper.

 

[goeduck]

I did not state they'd last as long, IF operated at high outputs, nor they'd get great fuel mileage while towing large sails. Our ranger does not get great mileage while towing our camper.

My post was not intended to be responding to your post. Just a general comment about how I think Ford was intending these engines to be used. They are great engines by most all accounts.

 

[ArlyA]

Must be spring! Camper was taken out of storage yesterday.

 

[Oaktree]

The whole premise is that these trucks will seldom tow, but they can do it when needed and it is hard to argue that that is not how 90% of these trucks get used. If they tow full time I doubt the engine will see a long life. Just my 2 cents.

Which is a decent compromise IMHO.

 

[TCowner]

I picked up a nail in the left rear tire on Sunday but didn't discover it until early evening. It was too late to take the injured tire for repair so I opted to install the spare. The Ford engineers who came up with this procedure are evil.

Without a Youtube video I'm not sure how long it would have taken. It takes a few minutes to find the jack and wheel removal tools. Next, you have to assemble a three piece extension handle to activate the jack. You have to unlock an access port to insert the tool that allows you to lower the spare to the ground. You can't see where the end is going to get to the mechanism that activates the lowering mechanism. There is a funnel shaped piece of plastic the will try to guide you to the correct spot but that still requires some luck.

Getting the jack to the recommended spot for lifting of course requires you to lie on the ground. Once positioned you can't access it in any other way but from the rear of the truck, hence the the five foot long, three piece tool. Once positioned the jack actually lifted the truck rather well, surprisingly.

So about 40 minutes later, and with the help of You tube, I had the spare on. Since I was planning on taking the truck to a tire repair shop on Monday I decided to secure the jack in its' resting place behind the seat. Five more minutes to get the securing bolt to line up properly. Its a tight fit.

Of course the spare wheel and tire are rated for 50 mph maximum so when I started the truck every alarm is going off warning me of rear tire failure. And I discovered Monday morning the cruise control doesn't work. The low tire warning and traction control icons are activating about every two minutes.

And all of this took place in my driveway under fairly safe conditions. I can't imagine trying to do this procedure on the side of a rode.