Bye bye US ranger..

Sad to see the Ranger's go. Over the years my family has owned 5 Rangers:

1983 - Ranger S, 4 cylinder automatic, no other options (not even a radio). 1986 - 2.9L V6 Automatic, Regular Cab, Radio, AC, PS, PB, Short Box 1989 - 2.9L V6 Automatic, Regualr Cab, Radio, AC, PS, PB, Long Box 1992 - 3.0L V6 Automatic, Extended Cab, Radio, AC, PS, PB, Power Lock, Power Windows, Short Box 1999 - 4.0L OHV V6, Automatic, 4WD, Extended Cab (4 Door), AC, PS, PB, Power Locks, Power Windows, Short Box

These were all Farm Trucks mostly driven by my Father (I did drive the 1986 after he got the 89). My Father usually drove them 75,000 miles or so before trading for a new one. My Father passed away a few years ago, but we still ahve the 1999. It is suffering from diminished maintenance and the abuse of my teenage sons, but is still goign strong. In all that time (27 years) I don't think we spent more than $200 on repairs. I can only remember the following failures (batters and routine maintenance not included):

Ignition Module (1986 Ranger) Water Pump (1992 Ranger) IAC Motor (1999 Ranger)

The 1999 has developed a couple of problems in recent years. The radio mysteriously comes on at times (maybe becasue my son ran the thing into a small pond???). The 4WD shift motor hangs on occasion (again, possibly related to my son's abuse - he know how to wack it to get it to shift). The pint on the hood is fading away (it has been in the elements for 11 years...).

The first Ranger was a real stripper. No power anything (including the engine). The second Ranger was a bad luck vehicle. First it got backed into while parked. Then my Father hit a deer with it. Next it was the victum of a hit and run accident while my sister was using it to move. At that point, my Father bought a new Ranger and gave me the 1986. I fixed all the damage and had it painted. A year later a tree fell on it. I took the insurance money and let a body shop have the truck. It was eventually repaired again. I used to see it in the area, but I have no idea of it's ultimate fate.

Ed

It really does not make sense to keep open a plant to build so few vehicles in a year, especially when the F150 sells at that rate in a month or so. On the other hand Toyota keeps making the Tundra that has annual sales that is barely above a single digit, as a percentage of the US truck market.

Maybe Ranger sales would not be so low if Ford had updated it 4 or 5 years ago. The truck has been basically unchanged for 15 years. Meanwhile Nissan and Toyota have upsized their compact trucks to be more like the Dodge Dakota. Ford seems to beleive that they can sell F150's against these mid-sized trucks by offering smaller. more fuel efficient engines. Maybe this will work. But I am not so sure. I have been up and down the pick-up market, from a Courier (1979), to a Ranger (1986), to a regular cab short box F150 (1992), to a mid-sized Frontier (2006), to an extended cab short box F150 (2009). For me persoanlly, the Frontier was the best overall size, except in typical Japanese fashion they managed to make a relatively large vehcile incredibly cramped on the inside (the Frontier was actually less comfortable inside than the Ranger). My current F150 is too damn big, AND too bleeping high for any reasonable use. This is my number one pet peeve with US pick-ups (throw the Turdra, Tacoma, and Titan in here) - they keep jacking them up to satisfy some sort of male ego problem, and this makes them less useful for people who really need a pick-up to haul things. I like the size of the Tacom/Frontier, but they need much better cab ergonomics. I don't need a 500 horsepower engine (nobody else does either as far as I can see). If I could get over my aversion to Chrysler products (and the silly styling of the current version), I suppose a Dakota would best fit my needs. I tried to buy one of those once. They wanted thousands more for it than an F150 with the same equipment (never figured that one out).

Ed

"C. E. White" wrote in news:i7d9h8$6n5$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

Ford is replacing the Ranger with a new F100 that will be Dakota sized, with hopefully the new high output and mpg mtrs. Just hope it will be affordable. KB

I've been hearing the rumor of an F100 mid-sized truck for more than three years, yet it still doesn't show up in any production plans. I'll beleive it exists when I see one at the dealer.

Ed

Perhaps, but the market for small trucks in general is not worth the huge expense of updating the Ranger. Me thinks Toyota is sorry they brought the Tundra to market, its best year was its first year and sales have falling in the tank ever since.

I don't know about that, Ford has had the mid size F100 on the shelf for at least eight years and still has not brought it to market, by now it would need to be updated. Perhaps the V6 diesel would help the newer truck CAFE however.

The problem is the income from the full size trucks would have to be used to subsidize the smaller truck, just like the bigger cars have been subsidies the price of small car ever since CAFE but currently light trucks can meet CAFE without subsidize the smaller truck. Now with direct injection V6 getting 30 MPG the subsidy for the small cars is not that critical and their price in going up. Just look at the Fiesta at $20,000, the price of a Focus just two year ago. Even the Focus is up $3,000, now that the 5.0 at

415 HP is getting 25 MPG. That's one mile PG more than the 300 HP 2010 GT

Actually, there are two Rangers. One was designed in the US and is made and sold in the US. The other was designed by Mazda and sold in most other markets outside North America. The one sold outside North America will be replaced by one designed by Ford in Australia. So Ford has a new truck they can sell here. They just don't think it is worth the effort.

Another problem is that a lot of people who bought the Ranger just wanted cheap transportation. Now they can buy the Focus and Fiesta, instead. And, the truck is cannibalizing sales of the F150.

Not according to the reports I read.

Jeff

Nice personal attack.

I know that's the best you can do, I see.

Jeff

Well, this brings up an interesting turn of events in the food chain if someone from ford was thinking.

I always liked my old Mazda B2000 (1986) When Mazda and ford went to bed together, the 25% import tariff hit that killed the nice sized imported B2000. Then the badged Mazda/ranger was born

Maybe ford should do the reverse now. Mazda just announced a new global BT-50 pickup. ford should import and badge the BT-50. Basic Engineering is done. It should not take too much to make it USA legal. They would not need a US factory at low capacity to import badge it. Just don't call it a Courier... ;)

Hey Ford, are you listening????

bob

The problem with that is that Ford already has a new global Ranger coming out. They just don't think they will sell enough in the US with cannibalizing sales from other vehicles to make it worthwhile.

Jeff

even so, the drawings of the BT-50 look cool. It could start a whole new segment of small sport truck like what the "rice burner" did to the small muscle car scene. The ranger was never a hot looking truck in my opinion.

even more interesting, if you look deeper it mentions a new Mazda clean diesel for the series. People have been asking for a small diesel in a truck for years. And i am NOT talking a 6L+ power stroke. You get a small diesel that gets 30/40 MPG and you will get a LOT of peoples attention. Look at what ford is doing with the Transit. Its an imported idea for commercial users to still have a commercial van and get some MPG. The last i read, they had to do some BS stuff of it not having seats or something to avoid the import duty's If you had a small diesel pickup with good MPG, I will bet over 1/2 the auto parts stores in the country would buy them to shuttle parts around. They are already for the most part small pick up users.

Small nice looking truck, choice of hot motor or diesel, its a win-win situation.

Whether Ford acts or not, i hope Mazda brings it into the US. That idiotic 25% duty on imported pick ups needs to go bye bye too if its still in effect. If Ford does not want the market, let Mazda have it. They will need a new truck anyway unless they rebadge the F150.

bob

That is more of the Autrailian Style UTE than a serious pickup truck. Ford already makes stuff like that in Australia. See:

or

And of course they sell Rangers of a different sort in Autralia (and much of the rest of the world):

or

Ed

Ford still offers a light duty truck, the Sportrack, and it is a more capable truck than the Ranger

You have to be kidding. If you actually need a truck, the Sport Trac is no better than a Ranger in any meaningful way and much more expensive. If a Sport Trac meets your needs you likely would be better off with an actual regualr Explorer. And besides, 2010 is the last year for the Sport Trac. Ford is discontinuing it when the new "Crossover" Explorer comes out.

Ed

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