okay so i saw and heard about the new Dakotas and personally think theyre fugly, especially with that ugly *** bumper on the front the other day i was driving to the mall with some friends and pulled up behind one and saw a nice V8 emblem on its tailgate!! like wtf? it is kinda pointless but would be a really nice option why cant rangers come in v8's?

 

Because they'd sell too well. The 4.7 in the Dakota runs damned well too.

 

its a 4.7 v8?? i wonder how it would do on gas milage..

 

Whats wrong with a company producing a vehicle that would sell really well??

 

yeah but the 4.7L only has like 230hp though.. It sucks big time in the Ram (yes i've driven a few) and I suppose it would be Ok in the dakota.. seeing how you can get a Frontier with a 265hp 4.0L V6 that gets better gas mileage than that 4.7L V8- i dunno.. hah

 

 

I say why can't Ford have the equivalent to the Dodge R/T Dakota with the 5.9? I'd be interested. Those things are a beast straight off the lot.

 

Acutally the 5.9L isnt much faster if even faster then a 4.0 Ranger. Weird thing is they both do a 1/4 mile in 15 and 0-60 in a little over 7.

its like a fluke with dodge, they have to crank the HP because they weigh so damn much. Case in point. Dodge SRT8 Charger - 450hp which is as fast as a 300 HP Mustang GT...

however if the ranger were to have the 292hp 4.6 in the sport trec thatd be mad sex.

 

Well the Dakota is a mid-size truck and the Ranger is a compact truck. If you put a heavy V-8 in a Ranger it would make it handle like crap. Especially the 4.6 have you ever seen how wide they are?? its like a big block. It's probably the same reason they never made a V-8 S-10.

 

That didn't stop people from making their own!

 

mmm 4.6L powered Ranger

 

Who needs to handle when you can go fast in a straight line? lol, I know what you mean though. Most the guys around here do 350 smallblocks in older s-10 pick-ups or blazers. But they're like me, they sacrafice handling for what they want.

 

Dakotas having V8's is old news atleast the past 7 years. My friend has a 4.7 that will smoke the hell out of a 5.9 R/T that thing is fast as hell. I love the old body style ones my other friend has a quad cab with the 4.7 and it is nice as **** leather interior and everything.

 

^^^^^ Yes but they also have a HO version of that same V8.

Power options:

3.7 V6 - 210hp 235tq
4.7 V8 - 230hp 290tq
4.7 H.O. V8 - 260hp 310tq

 

the 4.7 was ok, exc when supercharged, then it was good

 

4.6 or 5.0 factory ranger would be sweet.........or diesel...i like that better

 

Even if they did there minimal year to year changes and put a diesel and a heavy duty 5 speed auto or 6 speed manual (I would rather have a stick) I would buy one in a heartbeat......

 

Greg

 

whats giving it that extra 30 ponies??

 

it may be nice but camon...a diesel ranger?? is it really necessary? lol

 

To answer this question, YES absolutely. The South American Ranger (same family as our Ranger) has a 3.0L Power stroke option. How does 280ft-lbs at 1600 rpm sound? Plus, with that small 4 cyl diesel, MPG is probably high 20s.

In general, the Ranger V8 is an interesting idea for production. A mini lightning if you will. Sadly, not a chance in hell. Problem is the current Ranger is based on the 95 Explorer chassis / body structure. Back in the development of that, V8 in small SUV was not considered necessary. So, the vehicle was never designed for a V8. They were able to SQUEEZE the 5.0L in for e 96 model year as a running change, but it never was a well sorted package. With the new Explorer in 2002, it was designed from the beginning to fit a V8 - the 4.6L. The sport trac benefited from moving from the old 95 Explorer platform to the 2002 explorer platform in 2007. That is when it got it's V8 option.

There is no way to fit a Ford current production V8 in the current Ranger chassis, so not gonna happen. Also with current consumer trends for economy, you can guarantee if the Ranger was redesigned for NA, it would not have a gas guzzling V8 option.

The Ranger was never designed to be a hot rod or anything other than an economy vehicle to help equalize truck CAFE numbers. You can see that by the lack of updating and option content. It is a stripper economy vehicle that never received the attention it should have. It could have been a MUCH better truck if it received the funding / attention necessary. Ford did have a new Ranger in the works back in ~2002 that would have been similar to the 2007 sport track, but got killed since it wsa too expensive / upscale.

 

Umm pretty damn nice IMO lol but where are you going to use it? Im sure some people might find some good use for it i.e. towing trailers, boats, motor homes, heavy materials that kind of stuff but then everything on the truck has to be built to handle that kind of torque. I know ill never need/use that much torque but dont get me wrong it would be nice to have it for when needed. Even for showing off once in a while...

 

wow.. when are you gonna do mine? lol

 

lol ditto ^^^^