all i know is when i looked at rangers, here in MN every dealer has acres of supercab 4x4's with automatic. you have to special order if you want another style ranger. i didn't want to wait.

 

in texas we have ext 2wd 3.0's everywhere

i wish our dealers had a surplus of 4.0 4x4's...

 

In my last post, I simply pointed out several factors about Rangers that have come under scrutiny that could simply be fixed by a different vehicle. I don't understand the desire for a Ranger if you demand all kinds of performance out of them that they don't offer when a different vehicle could be purchased achieving the same goal, with no additional modifications. And for some reason, stick-shifting into a female's crotch is funny or a cool thing to do, and I was repremanded when I spoke my feelings against that comment. If I am off-base, PLEASE enlighten me.

 

all i'm gonna say about this thread is... the only reson i'd go buy and extended cab would be so i could fit A. more girls in the truck or B. more speakers :)

 

Recently the jump seats have come in handly at the end of the night when there were too many girls and not enough seats
Seriously, for a short trip to take a friend or two home who has had too much to drink the jump seats are just the ticket. Johnny Law can say nothing and you are doing a good turn for a friend at the same time.

 

All of the Southeast is like that too. When I went with my parents to get their '02 Ranger, there were 2WD Super Cab 3.0 Rangers and 2WD Super Cab 4.6 F-150s as far as the eye could see on the lot.

Funny thing is, I went to get my truck at a different dealer and aside from one program truck, all of the other Rangers were regular cabs with manual transmissions.

 

i idnt purchase my truck as it was my fathers before mine but there were no supercab 4wd manual in red anywhere he had to order it and it tooks weeks to get it.

Andrew

 

I went with the SuperCab because I'm tall and usually need the 'indoor' storage space the extended cab provides...

 

HA! I used this particular 'feature' to my advantage several times when I had my '99! ... "Uh, excuse me miss.."

And to DownSouthTAS: I was in my early 20's. My father made a comment about this 'feature' almost immediately after I bought the truck and he was in his mid 50's at the time. I think we both qualify as adults, but I guess we're just a bunch of pervs over here! ;-)

But this time around I went shopping for a 4-door supercab. It was a must have for me. I love having the extra space to cram crap in the cab and have it remain dry and secure. I don't mind the extra length or weight of the truck. I certianly didn't buy a pickup to go fast!

My list of 'must-haves' for this truck were 4x4, 4-door supercab, stick, and cruise control. That means I was limited to the FX4 and FX4 LII. My dealer had no FX4s in stock in any colors I liked, meanwhile he had an LII for just a little bit more and it looked (and drove) much better to me, can't really say why.

One thing I did want to downgrade at first was the bucket seats. I wanted a bench for the option of extra seating capacity. More than once I've crammed way too many people in the cab just go get them somewhere. While I knew it wasn't comfortable, I knew having a bench gave me the option of seating three across in the cab, plus 2 more in the ex-cab. ... But then I actually sat in the buckets. Night and day really. So w/ the move to an ex-cab I only gained the capacity for 1 additional passenger, but those seats are just so much more comfortable!

 

Thank you August Bilstein!!
It's the OEM installed Bilsteins brother, it's the Bilsteins...


PS Bubba - why don't I see your name on the list of Centralia attendees??? :cry:

 

on 2004 models, 3.0l manual
Regular cab: Curb Weight: 3028 lbs. Gross Weight: 4380 lbs.
Supercab: Curb Weight: 3193 lbs. Gross Weight: 4600 lbs.

I don't know the difference between curb and gross weight(with payload??), but it appears to be 165 to 220 pound difference for a supercab. That's next to nothing. Maybe a tenth on the quartermile, but then you look at the avaialable 4.0l and that argument is moot.

I recently upgraded from a 2003 Regular cab, 3.0l manual to a 2004 Supercab, 4.0l auto. My impressions:

Supercab is much more stable on the road. A little less agile, but doesn't feel as twitchy on tight turns, bumps, road undulations etc.
4.0l is awesome, nuff said.
I miss throwing my own gears, but I do love the 5 speed auto. So far it's done pretty well in sticking with a good gear in stop and go traffic. I do miss downshifting, but now my girlfriend can drive the truck too (is that a good thing?)
Gas milage, suprisingly, has improved. 15 MPG to 16 MPG.
The larger tank in the supercab is good. I am now getting around 280 miles per tank instead of the pathetic 220's in the regular cab.
Interior room, NO COMPARISON. I can acutally have adequate room for a subwoofer now, AND both front seats can fully recline when they want to.
Road trips, nothing compares to a supercab. Unless you like driving for hours next to a cranky girlfriend who can't recline her seat to snooze (or maybe it was the subwoofer pounding right behind her seat, and I mean right behind the seat).

My only compaint is that Ford doesn't offer the 4.0l with the regular cab(at least in 2003), and doesn't offer the 4-door option on non-4x4 4.0's.

 

Could be. I gotta say the chrome shifter came into play too. Just felt like I could get up to highway speed a touch faster. That was my biggest initial disapointment in the 4.0L 4x4, it's a dog climbing up a highway on ramp. Then again that could be mostly me. I'm very conservative w/ the RPMs most days. I test drove an auto and noticed it regularly allowed the revs well past 5k when I put my foot into it..

Money, time, ambition.. Tuff to find the first two and then I just lost the last. I was actually seriously thinking of it and was getting pumped. Then GF got involved. She thinks driving X00 miles to "play w/ the damned truck" is stupid. Instead we're doing a 'romantic' (read: expensive) weekend in VT. That plus a few other surprise expenses and bam! there goes my play cash for a while, and my vacation time.. Ya'll have fun though. Say hi to His Modingness, Mr. Griggs for me..

 

You gotta get your girlfriend into camping Buba. I just got my fiancee involved. Sure there is a little initial investment, but from now on, it's just food, gas and film, well batteries anyway thanks to the digital age.

 

I've got the investment in camping gear covered, I've been camping since I was but a wee little one. Got into it pretty agressivly for a while as a scout. However, in my experience women and camping don't mix! No, my girl isn't that bad, we did a lot of 'mild' camping (National Park & KOA campgrounds) when we went cross country. But Centralia didn't strike me as a camping trip. So tack hotel and such on there as well..

 

Julie loves to go camping. We go several times a year. She might even like it more than I do.

 

I loove my supercab, would never go with anything else :D
I always have crap thrown back there, and I really like the way the supercab looks. Plus I feel squished inside a reg cab.


Not true. Some girls like camping. I for one love it. Done it both tent and RV. My fam and I have been camping for as long as I can remember. The only thing I dont enjoy are the military style showers. Sucks when the water stops and your still full of soap.

 

If there are showers, you aren't camping in my opinion.

 

Tent camping there were at the lil places we stayed. We usually only camp at the beach and in the desert (we RV in the desert). Altho one time we did "camp" out of our old suburban for a few days...that was fun.

Im guessing they had them at the beach for obvious reasons. sand ect. They were nasty showers, but it was clean water.

We never tent camped in the desert. To cold at night, and we used the RV to tow a trailer with dirt bikes and quads. Staying out there for a week without showers/bathrooms would be hard. (for girls anyway )

I consider this camping ... its how we have always done it. Its not like we roughed it. I would love to go on a hiking trip and just bring what we could carry. But with my sister and brother in toe...that would never be possible. I think we would return without them, or my parents would never be the same when we came back.

 

Nah, showers are a dromedary bag hung from a pole or tree and the valve halfways open.

Girls actually like being dirty, they just don't want to be seen while being so... :) Something about just being able to take a break from the routine I guess.

The first trip I took my girlfriend (now fiancee so it must have been a successful trip) was backpacking, in Arkansas, in July. Yes, it was close to 100 degrees, humid, and in tick season. (yes I am a brave man)

It was hot, sweaty, and kinda miserable. But after you clear the trees the step out onto a 300 foot rock outcropping, all that work paid off. I just broght lots of baby wipes so she could clean up a bit before bed, and I made lots of trips down to the stream to filter water. Best thing we did was bring a clothesline so we could rinse our clothes and hang them up to dry overnight. Yeah, the last night we cheated and went into town and bought a cooler of ice and a few bottles of pop, but we always camped with the tent I carried on my back.

We hope to go back this fall around October for her birthday.

Edited for spelling...

 

I always camp on the same river. I bring soap in case I get that desperate for a bath.