In the past I have owned a 1999 XLT 3.0, a 2001 XLT 3.0, and am currently driving a 2011 XLT 4.0 w/ 165k miles. they've all been good solid vehicles that I have been able to repair and maintain mostly on my own. At some point I'm going to want a new vehicle.

So just wanted to ask, how is the reliability and maintenance, fit and finish, negative/positive attributes of these "New Rangers"? Tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly about them please!

Should I consider buying one? Any particular years to avoid?

 

I like mine 2022

 

Lets start with my history: moved from a 2014 5Ltr F150 Supercrew (with trailer package) to a 2021 Ranger crew cab (as we no longer drag a travel trailer around).

Ranger likes: Ford Connect (start the truck from anywhere in the winter time); seating is comfortable for a big guy (like me); backup screen is really good (as compared with my 2014 Jetta); handles well in winter weather.

Ranger dislikes: big one for me is fuel consumption. As an example, I could make 2 round trips to the Toronto airport in my F150. In the Ranger only one round trip. F150 had 140ltr gas tank, Ranger has 75ltr tank. So I'm not so sure the Ecoboost engine is all that good on fuel. My guess is the Ecoboost works harder at highway speeds than the F150 (I'll let the experts in the forum comment on this).

Next is too may idiot lights. I don't need to know that my seat-belt is done up, or that the passenger airbag is active. IMHO just show me lights when there is an issue.

Next is the Auto shutoff at traffic lights. No rhyme nor reason for when it stays on instead of shutting off. I did find a way to see status info on the instrument console of the Auto shutoff. Many times it was for "charging", after a 2 hour drive from the airport??? And the A/C was not on. And another part of the Auto shutoff that bugs me is the headlights flick when restarting the engine. Doesn't seem like a big thing, BUT I was stopped at the traffic light and the car facing the opposite direction who was turning left in front of me, thought I'd flicked the headlights indicating he should go ahead and make the turn in front of me. Dealer has checked the battery twice and says it's fine.

Rear leg room. I have to have the driver's seat all the way back so there really isn't any room for a passenger back there.

And lastly is hood design. In rainy weather at slower speeds, water seems to run down the hood, somehow collect near the front, and then splash up on the windshield in big blobs. It's almost like Ford didn't simulate rain issues in wind tunnel testing.

So after all that, I still like the Ranger, but I am considering going back to a F150 for the rear leg room.

Cheers,
Ed

 

Like the 2019 ranger standard cab (suicide door version). Put 50K miles on it so far, mostly highway. I like it.

Test drove a Chevy Colorado, and a Nissan (in same general price range). Did not like them, based on visibility from driver's seat, general comfort, location of controls, and their screaming engines under any sort of acceleration. Could not see driving them for long distances. When I got in the Ranger, everything was where I thought it was, my hand went right to whatever I wanted. Seats were good, visibility good, and when flooring it, the engine did NOT jump right to redline... The truck just accelerated and no drama (aside from the fact that it suddenly was going very fast).

Srtuff I like:

Mileage is quite good. I get 28 mpg at 65 mph on rolling terrain (highway 61 N from Hannibal out of MO). When on the interstate at 70-75 MPH, it drops back to about 25 mpg. As for distance driven, I can get from the Mississippi river at St Louis on I70 to Beaverdam on I75 in Ohio on one tank, with some to spare. I never tried to push it to get to Sandusky on one tank, it probably is possible in warmer weather, but I'd be too close to empty. I do not trust the "miles remaining" on any vehicle that much.

Load capacity... I've carried well over a half ton of payload, and the truck never noticed it. Had a thousand lb of scrap iron in it, plus several hundred lb of cap, tools, plus me and fuel. Drove fine, even with all that weight in the bed. The 1860 lb payload is handy. Yeah, an F350 carries lots more, but it doesn't cost $23,500.

It's a good highway cruiser, even with a pretty good load in it.

Good to drive, does not beat you up like some trucks. Comfortable with no bad features in terms of seats etc.

Power: The turbo means that passing is easy, acceleration is good and fast (after some turbo lag).

Comments:

The auto shutoff issue has several causes... Apparently the auto shutoff is blocked in cold weather, certainly when engine is cold, and apparently when battery is cold also. There are other cases where it is blocked as well, I don't know the whole list. Overall, I like the feature, I just wish it worked more of the time., without "special condition" blocking it.

I had the "vehicle charging" for 600 miles at around 20k miles.. Turns out the "battery control module" (it actually has a different name, which I forget) was defective. When I checked the battery voltage, it was always around 11.5, which is way too low. The module and battery were replaced under warranty. Good since.

Biggest issue that remains is a tranny that has rough shifting that the dealer cannot or will not fix. It's worse in cold weather. But it works, and it's a truck, so an imperfect tranny shift is not unexpected, and not a big issue. If my european car did that, I'd likely have a different attitude about it.

Actual defects as-delivered:

The camber was set totally wrong on the front wheels. Several degrees wrong, from the factory. It was set negative. Gave really good cornering, but also wore the tires prematurely, right down to the cords in 25k miles, jut on the inside edges. Dealer fixed that, after initially claiming it was due to "driving style" (wtf?), but their alignment guarantee had expired by the time I noticed it, so I had to pay for it.

I had one of the bad heater boxes.... I was getting 115F air out of the heater with it set to cold on an 85F day. The heater box was replaced under warranty (with about 200 miles remaining on the warranty !).

Stupid nuisance items:

Tie downs in the bed are in the wrong places, sort of put in where there was room, I guess. Set so low that if you have loose stuff like mulch etc in the bed, you have to dig for them to put a cover over the load. And no option to install in a different place.

When the auto shutoff kicks in, the heater puts out cold air until the engine starts again. Seems like the fan should be slowed or some such to prevent that.

Rough tranny shifts.

 

I have a 2022 & I don't like the turbo 4. We wanted a truck & bought the only one that was on the lot. But with all the changes in the 2024 - I'll be trading up for a V6 with 4wd and all the interior features I originally wanted.

 

Out of curiosity, what in particular do you not like about it?

I have a 2019, and mine may be different from yours, but I find it a very good combination of power and economy plus long range.

 

I have 6500 miles on a 2023 XLT 4WD Supercab with the tech 3 package, black trim package, flares, 2 1/2" front lift, tow package, adaptive cruise control, auto stop/start removal... etc.
I like everything with one remarkable exception, brake pedal feel. Brakes are powerful, but pedal travel to initial braking is longer than on most Ford products that I have owned, and when it was spongy and the pedal would pump up I would bleed them or replace the shoes, pads, drums/rotors as required. The only time that a good feel presents is when the adaptive cruise control actuates the bakes. When I go to the pedal it is firm and normal. As soon as the brakes are released the pedal returns to it's original crappy feel.
I was given the use of a new F-150 when the dealer kept my Ranger overnight... the brakes felt just like the ones on my 1998 E250, my '96 Ranger XLT, my '08 Ranger, and numerous Ford products that I have owned or driven...
The Ford dealer tells me that the brakes are comparable to a similar vehicle on the lot, and within specs for the 2023 Ranger..
I have spoken with only one other '23 Ranger owner, his experience is similar. Otherwise a very nice American product, a small very capable TRUCK, and a kick in the butt to drive. Plus, chick's dig it.

 

Previous owner of a 2002 Ranger XLT and bought my son a 2011 Ranger Sport (boy did I get a deal!) last year. Own a 2012 Ford F150 XLT w/ less than 100k miles.

Don't care for the new Rangers, especially at the sticker price.

 

I am the OP of this thread. Appreciate all the comments. I have a 2011 XLT 4.0 sohc w/ 165k miles. Mechanically its just fine. But rust is slowly eating it. Have some holes through the bed, core support is really showing it. And it's on the undersides of the doors as well. I really like this truck but for one thing, I occasionally need to carry 4 people.

With the rust, and the need for passenger capacity am thinking about a new vehicle. But the price tags on them do make me pause.

What if any engine issues are there out there on these new trucks? How is the reliability, need for repair, ability to service them yourself, etc?

 

You and I both. I live debt free, and its first time the out the door prices was over 20k with owning a the car being traded in. My mileage is 4500, and it's a 2019 Ford Ranger STX. So, sat myself down, thought a lot about it. it is a bad decision to trade right now. Even used truck would be over priced. I am best off spending the $1200 for an extended warranty on the truck and not worrying about repairs.

cash buyers like me, are not interested in joining the party of over priced autos. Last time I was at a dealership, I saw prices in the 100k range. typical prices were 60-80k.. At that price I am keeping my truck till the wheels fall off.

 

I'm certain this horse has been ground into a fine powder by now, but I'll jump in with my experience:
The truck: a 2019 Lariat SuperCrew 4x4 (I wanted the FX4 but that was a 9 month wait). It currently has ~35,000 miles on it. Purchased in Feb. of 2020.
The (sometimes crazy) things I've done with the truck - which I've named AwesomeSauce: City driving, highway driving, towing, off-roading, hauling, towing it on a U-Haul auto carrier (not the dolly - don't do that).
It's been from ~300 something feet (or whatever Death Valley is) below sea level to 11K something feet above sea level (Loveland pass).
It's towed a bobcat (trailer, bobcat, bucket, and one accessory were 7400lbs), and a 7000lb (when loaded) 20ft "cargo box" trailer from Michigan to Oregon via I-90.
I've had ~1700lbs of bagged sand in the bed, too.
The "must have" accessories I added: spray in bed liner, steps, the soft-folding tonneau cover, and the factory trailer brake controller. Next on the additions list is the factory dash cam.

I've averaged (when not towing) around 28mpg mostly highway, around 23mpg mostly city, and about 25mpg combined.
Towing... well, the bobcat tow I averaged around 14. The long-haul from Michigan to Oregon (2300 mi because of a few scenic detours) averaged 18, which I'm assuming was because the V nose and cargo trailer were more aerodynamic. A 12ft U-Haul from Michigan to Chicago and back didn't seem to affect MPG at all.
Bobcat and "The big move" were done at ~65mph.

Towing the bobcat: I could hear those tiny turbos howling, and literally watch the gas gauge move, but in terms of acceleration and handling, the truck hardly knew it was there.

The U-Haul: Again, the truck didn't seem to notice it, although with the U-Haul specifically the factory anti-sway kicked in a few times on I-94 (slowing down 5mph solved it).

The Cargo Trailer: Pulled beautifully at 65-75mph, again the truck didn't even really seem to notice its existence save for the whirlpool like sound coming from the gas tank and the occasional demonic vacuum cleaner noise up front when pulling up a mountain. - I was an OTR truck driver until very recently, and while I think the sound of the turbos on the ranger are "cute" they don't really hold a candle to a jet-engine like noise of a 13L diesel working hard. That said, I do kinda wish Ford had figured out how to use turbo back pressure for pseudo-engine breaking on the downhills. Mmmn the stink of hot brakes.

Off-roading: Snow deep enough to swallow me to the waist, mud (it doesn't like mud), up a "Why am I doing this?!" incline in 4WD low, some very, VERY mild rock crawling since I don't have the bash plates and other protection of the FX4, it's been on a beach (twice!), and gone down the most rutted, beat-to-hell two track I didn't mean to find in the top half of "The Mitten" (top half of the lower peninsula of Michigan) to get to a "hidden" lake a buddy told me about. Then it went back the other way on the same nasty two-track.

Okay, enough of the fun!

The good: The only maintenance I've had to do so far is the basics - fluids, filters, and in the next month my first set of tires. I've got the technology package (501A) so as you might guess, I love my bells and whistles. When I go on a trip, it tends to be pretty long, so the driver alertness monitor is actually helpful (if the truck thinks you're falling asleep, because you probably are, it will show a coffee cup, then annoy you until you stop falling asleep or pull over. It's also pretty good at catching micro-sleeps, which is amazing to me). I dislike lane keeping assist and generally turn it off, but again on those long trips it can be helpful.
I rely on the adaptive cruise control more than I thought I would in west-coast traffic. The truck is usually faster to react than I am (in the morning, on the way to work and guzzling coffee like it did gas with the bobcat).
Ford Connect is fantastic, and works better than everything else except OnStar/GM connected vehicle systems in terms of controlling the vehicle and the diagnostics info provided.
The truck's handling and ride quality are surprisingly car-like, at least compared to my first pickup (A 1978 Ford F-150 with the Explorer package and a camper shell).
I got the black interior, but really wish I'd been able to get the light gray stone interior. Did you know people smell remarkably similar to bacon when they sit on nearly-molten fake leather seats when wearing shorts? I do now!

The bad: Two factory recalls fixed in the first month of ownership. One was for something to do with the heater, and I can't remember what the other was.
From the factory there was a connector for the audio system somewhere that was cracked and would short whenever it got wet. Dealer fixed it without issue.
I've noticed a gradual decline in fuel economy over time. I don't know if that's because west coast gas is garbage, or because my daily driving route now includes two 4% ~2.5mi grades I have to climb at freeway speeds (coasting down is good tho!).
It's recently developed an odd "double-thunk" when going over bumps that has made me consistently think some part of the bed is loose on the frame rails or there's a suspension issue, but the dealer (out here) can't find anything.
I'm disappointed that I'm already seeing rust on the frame rails (but I guess it's still a Ford in that respect). Note, though, that its first 3 winters were spent in the Midwest, and sometimes quite literally caked in salt until I had an opportunity to wash it off.
The last software update did something to the radio where it will randomly decide to turn on when starting the truck, and not be able to find my phone.

I've had fantastic luck with the 10spd transmission. Once in a very great while when I do something the computer wasn't expecting I'll get a rough shift, but watching it skip-shift on hard acceleration is always fun, and the programming lets the truck lug down pretty far (as it should with a turbocharged engine!) before forcing a shift.

Secondary thoughts: I noticed with the bobcat and the long-haul move that the engine fan was running near constantly unless I was coasting or going down hill.
I'm not completely daft, so yes, I ran Tow/Haul mode with everything but the U-Haul.

Edit because I just saw OP's question about engine issues:
So, between 2019 and 2021 Ford changed the design of the 2.3 slightly. Pre-2021 the interior cylinder walls and head gasket design basically made for a "there is an elevated risk of head gasket failure" situation ("when" could be anything from 100K miles up from what I've read). After 2021 they changed the design of the cylinder walls, and how the head gasket seats, supposedly fixing that problem. Because of the turbocharging, even though it *can* run on regular gas, with the exception of maybe a half dozen tanks, mine's only ever run on premium in the hopes the higher octane and detergent levels keep the engine in better condition. I also run full synthetic oil (as recommended in the manual), and change between 3500 and 5000 miles depending on usage during that time period. The dealers out here on the west coast perpetually don't have anything in stock (plugs, filters) for the engine, and will try and sneak non-synthetic in (I've had to make one drain and re-fill because of that). They usually don't have the cabin air filter either for that matter. So, I have to fight them to order and swap those items out when they're supposed to be.
If you're debt free (and/or have pretty good credit otherwise) I'd actually recommend going through Ford credit to lease one (might have to fight the dealer on that - they don't make as much money on a lease) for ~39 months. You'll get a lower payment (and possibly interest rate) and be able to hopefully wait out the high interest we currently see to buy it out if you decide you like it.
The trucks seem to retain their value remarkably well. When I bought mine out the trade in was higher than what I owed, so I used the difference as the down payment on the new loan.

Got my truck on a fantastic lease, but loved it so much I ended up buying it out at the end.

Hope this helps your decision making (if you haven't already)!

 

Interesting narrative... I agree with everything about the Ranger that you mentioned, it's an outstanding small truck with great capabilities. However, you didn't mention the brake pedal feel which is decidedly unFordlike. The brake pedal feel is unlike any Ford that I have driven in my 58 years as a licensed driver. If any of my Ford vans trucks or cars had a pedal feel like what these Ranger brakes feel like... I WOULD FIX THEM. What are your thoughts?

 

To be honest, I've gotten used to it. The brakes on my first truck were always kinda scary squishy from a vacuum leak I couldn't find so it doesn't count. From there I've had cars from Honda, Buick, Chevy (both of which tried to kill me, one by blasting a broken spring up through the driver's seat (lots of stitches) and the other by grenading its turbo and the side of the block at highway speeds due to a malfunctioning electronic wastegate), to a VW. I do remember when I first got the Ranger feeling that there was excessive pedal travel for the equivalent braking force. But I've also dealt with air brakes for a good chunk of my life and depending on who made the truck and who made the brake components, those range from "immovable stone" to starring at the gauges in disbelief that I supposedly have air.

When the adaptive braking or antilock system activates, brake system pressure is boosted by an electric pump iirc, and that drastically changes the pedal feel. No clue about the long term effects, but maybe tweak the computer to have it run constantly?

The other thought is that 2019 to 2023 are basically modified Aussie market rangers. Maybe a preference of that market?

 

Do appreciate the comments thanks. For now I plan on keeping my 2011 going for as long as I can. But eventually I will need a new truck.

 

my primary reason for purchasing a 2019 ford ranger, was simply that fact. it was already tested and proved itself in the land of down under. there were some modifications to fit the us market, overall, I consider the 2019 model as close as the long running rangers in Australia market. This truck is very well built.

With the recent interest changes, and the constant ford raising prices on all cars, by 25%. I am going to hold off until ford cuts the price, if ever, by 25% at least. so this forced me to get an extended warranty and keep the 2019 ranger. Ford really needs to notice, smart buyers, that do not need a newer model are opting out. The economy and job market is horrible, since I have zero debt, I am going to avoid getting any new debt until the job market returns. It would be foolish of me to purchase anything new.

Why not another midsize truck brand, like Toyota, Nissan, Colorado, etc.? my ranger tows a RV trailer, and it does it very well. ranger is at the line for the RV. I am of the belief, that the ranger is the ONLY midsize truck that can tow safely a good sized rv. all others can not tow those 7k numbers safely.

 

Honestly I have never been a fan of the Tonka truck look Ford seems obsessed with for newer models. The 2019 so far for me has been rock solid and put up with so many things I never would have expected it to. And yeah as I mentioned, I towed right at 7500lbs and it didn't even notice it. Now admittedly I wasn't using surge brakes (or heaven forbid *no* brakes on the trailer) but electric over hydraulic brakes running off the factory controller, so I can't say how it would have dealt with those scenarios. But one of the reasons I got it was (never materialized sadly) the intent to get a fox river travel trailer that has a dry curb weight of 7000-ish lbs. Keep the tanks dry while driving and the ranger wouldn't even know it was there. Well, my wallet and the gas gauge would but the truck wouldn't.

 

I’ve put 60K on my truck. Love it! The navigation system needed an upgrade at 50K miles. I just replaced the spark plugs, and also the transmission fluid and filter. We installed a PPG aluminum deep transmission pan. This holds an extra 1.5 Qts of fluid, and has cooling fins to assist in cooling. The fluid was really dirty at 60K. Really needed replacing! We tow a lot of trailers! We have been having some repeat problems with the P402 code. The DPFE sensor is a bad design and easily traps condensation water that damages the sensor.