JW

Translation: "I don't care what they're going to do; all I care about is rehashing mistakes and rubbing everyone's nose in the past."

Here ya go...

Sheesh, I've been saying this for HOW long now (see link in signature)? They already have the drivetrain, much of the interior, much of the exterior, some of the glass, a big portion of the frame, etc. etc. etc. I should probably clarify my earlier rant a bit. I'm part of a very large Ranger enthusiast community. Not owner, enthusiast. Given the membership of the top Ranger-specific sites out there (over 200,000 people, considering some membership overlap between sites), I'm not alone. Believe it or not, Rangers aren't just used to run auto parts or haul lawnmowers. There are plenty of people who take as much pride in our Rangers as anyone you'd find in the Mustang enthusiast community. I totally support a redesign of Ford's compact/midsize truck, something else I've been shouting about for years. The thing that pisses me off is that a Ford-built compact/midsize truck has ALWAYS been a Ranger (the Courier was built by Mazda). Ford's only changing the name to F100 so they can bundle it in with the rest of the F-series sales. It's sneaky, disingenuous bullshit. Plus, if it's as big as Igor says it will be, it's WAY too big to fill the void that will soon be open. With all the smart moves Ford has been making (despite the numerous attempts hacks such as pcsario keep attempting to force on us to the contrary), this is one I just flat-out do not get.

How old, exactly? The 97-03? The 92-96/86-91? Any of those are MUCH larger than a present-generation Tacoma. I have no desire or need for a "midsize" truck that will end up being larger than my Expedition (my '94 Ranger is actually as long as my Expy, although it's about 8" narrower). I was hoping for something a lot smarter than this. Guess I'm now stuck looking for a used 4x4 Ranger (I was holding out to see what they'd come up with in a redesign). Good job killing off another icon.

Sheesh! Looks like it took a piece of that Suburban, too Just think, though - in a few months they'll have something else to celebrate.

I'd like/use the ignore feature a lot better/more if people didn't quote others so incessantly. Totally negates the feature. What I need is an ignore feature at work...

Think you're right about that...

Boy, you really get off on this stuff, don't you? I like it, I think primarily because P71CrownSchtick doesn't like it. This thing will absolutely be a winner for Ford, just like other things that are coming, whether you can accept it or not. And, on the subject of things that are coming (and personally I couldn't be happier)... :happy feet: :happy feet: :happy feet: :happy feet: :happy feet: :happy feet: :happy feet: :happy feet: :happy feet: :happy feet:

I want the wheels from the GR-1 for my Ranger

If you're not careful, you'll get kicked out of the Honda Owners Circle Jerk Club.

I've been a systems/network admin for close to 15 years. The only rampant hardware failure I've experienced was a batch of Western Digital 1.6 GB hard disks (yes, this was a long time ago) with bad controllers, some of which were in workstations that were vital to the company's operation. To this day I won't buy WD hard disks. Dell also had a huge batch of bad motherboards in some of their OptiPlex desktops, but to their credit, they replaced every one of them without much hassle. Richard's right that the components don't vary much from one manufacturer to another (Dell, for example, gets their monitors, mice, keyboards and the like from the absolute lowest cost supplier every single time - back when we were still buying CRT's, we received three different models on orders just in a one month period - all of them 17", but the case designs were all different, different stands, etc). The key is in their support. In my experience, Dell's customer support has been first-rate, especially on their server/networking products. XP Pro (and Server 2003) is my OS of choice. Just too much fluff in Vista, and an obscenely obtrusive effort towards security. It reminds me a lot of when personal firewall products were first introduced, where they allowed NOTHING by default and needed a shitload of configuration just to live with them. I'll avoid going to Vista as long as possible. I hope Server 2008 isn't the same. SVT_MAN - if you think Office 2007 is great, you should see Exchange 2007. It is outstanding, quite possibly the best product they've ever produced. It is fast, stable, and rock solid. It took me three days to get a mixed 2003/2007 organization running, whereas it took two months to get a 5.5/2003 organization working properly. They've actually gone away from the GUI interface for a lot of tasks, so there's a whole new thing to learn, but in the long run I think it'll be easier to remember command syntax instead of remembering where that one option on that one tab in that one submenu in the huge tree is located (Exchange 2003 is pretty bad about that). Side note - I had 200+ Windows clients switched to 2007 in a couple of days, but it took about four days to get our three Mac clients working on the 2007 server. However, I don't hang Apple for that one; it falls squarely on Microsoft and their half-assed Entourage email client. It's as though MS worked extra hard to make it a pile of crap, as a not-so-subtle "screw you" to Mac users everywhere. It has had the benefit of allowing me to learn more about OS X, though, and I'm looking forward to trying out what Richard posted. None of the Mac faithful in my company could tell me how to do any of that stuff.

I love when these things happen. It's fun to watch tommy get all sanctimonious on us

If the Mac operating systems are just soooo bitchen', why did Apple start building Macs that can run Windows? Any of you Mac lemmings ever try to troubleshoot TCP/IP connectivity? How the hell do you ping something with that pile of shit?

I see mfr plates from Michigan in California occasionally. Saw several of them when a local company was testing the (then new) 97 F150 for Ford.

Wow. Well, at least if things don't work out there, he can always come to California and be the new sheriff of Orange County. He apparently has the credentials for it.

tommy8768 should be along shortly to put some spin on this. After he gets through fixing all those Siennas in the service bay.

Where did I say I hate Ford (uh, I own three of them)? And for the record, I have nothing against the Panther platform. I just enjoy watching you guys wring your hands and gnash your teeth and bitch about everything Ford is building now, all while trying to fight evolution. I could go on and on about how my beloved Ranger line is being run into the ground, but what's the point? Change happens. Get used to it. Let the :cheerleader: continue!

My initial impression of the new design is more favorable than that of the previous (current) design, which grew on me in time. There are little quibbles (the droop in the headlights, the shape of the taillights), but nothing that would stop me from buying one. The fact that none of them seat seven is the deal-breaker (but that's what SUV's are for). I'm officially out of the pickup market until a couple of my kids grow up (unless Ford comes through with a killer 4x4 Ranger redesign I can claim as my daily driver; I'm not holding my breath). The new Super Duty frontend took a while to grow on me, and now it's not so bad. Except for the stripped models, which look like something out of the Special Olympics. I get the purpose of the lower headlights, but, yeesh!!!

<thread = derailed> Probably, I haven't checked. All four of them did pretty well (one benefit of body on frame design, which is why I like trucks so much). The last one they did survived quite well because they really didn't run it into anything. I'm not too impressed with the hosts' engineering backgrounds, though. All through the show as they're setting up the tests, it was one after another because their premise was so horrifically flawed. A sandpit (a la runaway truck ramp) would have been far more effective/easier/cheaper than the half-assed concrete mixes they were trying.

Discovery Channel found a good use for the Panther. They just crash-tested four of them on Smash Lab

Yet, you think Ford should keep building them...

I remember this story. If I remember it correctly, those assholes were doing well in excess of 80 MPH when the collision happened. It's not Nissan's fault that the Altima wasn't designed to get broadsided by a bullet train. I doubt many Fords of that model year would have done any better.

Or emerald green. See a lot of green taxis in SoCal. Tell ya what - you bring the best Panther you can find, I'll bring my Ranger, and we'll go hit Angeles Crest Highway and settle it once and for all :D

For every handling nut that wants IRS in a Mustang, there's a drag racer that loves having a solid axle. Possibly two, even. And if you're so stupid that you can't get your/you're straight, just shut up already!