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CHEVROLET COLORADO VS. FORD RANGER VS. HONDA RIDGELINE VS. TOYOTA TACOMA: DOWN ON THE FARM


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I gotta say, I've been living with this truck for two weeks now and I really don't think the interior is bad.  Not even that, I think its actually pretty nice and I don't even have the Lariat. I look at the images of the Colorado and Ridgeline and can't understand what they are bitching about.  I don't care that the top of my dashboard isn't soft touch....I don't touch the dashboard!

The ride is a bit bumpy, but no more than any other truck I've driven and light years ahead of trucks I've owned in the past.

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16 minutes ago, falconlover 1 said:

No surprise here. The Ranger is a 6 years old truck...

 

Maybe the new one that will come in 2021 as a MY 2022 will be the best.

I agree falconlover 1 sir. Actually I believe Ranger is closer to 10 years old. It was introduced in Australia in 2010. 

Motor Trend may be surprised that Ranger didn't score higher. People here on Blue Oval Forums who know that 2019 U.S. Ranger is a "hack job" of the original T6 Ranger are not.  

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Any comparison that includes the Rigdeline in these truck test automatically gets disqualified in my mind. I don't care if they want to market it as a mid size truck. It's a mini van in a truck costume. Honda knows their audience though. Anyone who buys this isn't going to take this thing on any anything worse than a dirt road, haul anymore than a few bags of mulch, or tow more than a jetski.

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It was about as worthy as the "Grand Tour" trio doing a review of trucks.  At least you view it as entertainment.

BTW, the newest episode of GT had the European Ranger with 3.2 diesel, up against the VW Amorak, and the Mercedes re-badged Nissan.  The VW outperformed the tired 3.2 Ford.  But in the end, they all agreed they'd rather have the Ranger in an apocalyptic world.

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1 hour ago, jcartwright99 said:

Anyone who buys this isn't going to take this thing on any anything worse than a dirt road, haul anymore than a few bags of mulch, or tow more than a jetski.

About the same as the average owner of a Ranger, Tacoma, Colorado or Frontier.

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Colorado is an old truck too... the Isuzu D-Max came out in 2011 around the same time as Ranger.

I think the difference is that overseas D-Max/Colorado was such a dog that  GM had no choice but to  made substantial changes to it for the US market, thus making it much better. Whereas Ranger was already the top of the class truck overseas so Ford essentially just engineered an adequate (actually outstanding) gasoline drivetrain and didn't bother with a lot of other things.

The surprise here is that how poorly Ranger's suspension tuning seems to be... and suspension tuning is something that Ford usually ace.

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If other reviews had the same conclusions I'd say that Ford has a problem on their hands. But given that at worst, the only common issues seem to be some slight interior material choice and mirror control location nitpicking. Most other reviews have come to a very different conclusion on the suspension tuning.  I'd say that MT's "stance" has more to do with "business issues" on their end than actual vehicle performance..

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1 hour ago, J-150 said:

About the same as the average owner of a Ranger, Tacoma, Colorado or Frontier.

 Ok, fair point to a degree. You might, once in a lifetime, see a Ridgeline offroading on a trail. Where as the Ranger, Colorado, and Taco are much more likely to be abused like this. The majority of truck owners don't abuse their trucks like that. However,   Ranger, Colorado, and Taco (and even the Frontier), are real trucks that can take the abuse if you decide you want to. I am not so sure about the minivan truck.

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1 minute ago, jcartwright99 said:

 Ok, fair point to a degree. You might, once in a lifetime, see a Ridgeline offroading on a trail. Where as the Ranger, Colorado, and Taco are much more likely to be abused like this. The majority of truck owners don't abuse their trucks like that. However,   Ranger, Colorado, and Taco (and even the Frontier), are real trucks that can take the abuse if you decide you want to. I am not so sure about the minivan truck.

The Frontier still exists?

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2 hours ago, 92merc said:

It was about as worthy as the "Grand Tour" trio doing a review of trucks.  At least you view it as entertainment.

BTW, the newest episode of GT had the European Ranger with 3.2 diesel, up against the VW Amorak, and the Mercedes re-badged Nissan.  The VW outperformed the tired 3.2 Ford.  But in the end, they all agreed they'd rather have the Ranger in an apocalyptic world.

I actually was quite impressed with the beating that Richard put on the Ranger. It may have been slow but some of those jumps, were pretty good for a stock truck (non raptor). The Mercedes truck bed ended up flexing so much the tailgate wouldn't stay up!!!

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Even before this review MT had a bee in their bonnet about Ford calling the Ranger :all new" and at every chance remind folks that it's an older truck

I think people should take comfort in that this is a matured design with lots of the critcal bugs worked out years ago. Sure, there's a different power train for North America but the Ranger was a breath of fresh air compared to global prucks back in 2011, it absolutely knocked global Colorado out of the game

Edited by jpd80
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To be honest the Colorado/Canyon are more refined than the Ranger or Tacoma. I not so “pro-Ford” that I can’t be honest about these things. Even though I’m not a GM fan I can give credit where credit is due and they deserve credit for putting a lot of effort in totally re-doing that truck for the North American market. It’s a class leading midsize if you leave the  Honda Ridgeline out because I don’t really consider it a real pickup truck. If you can take the blue blinders off you can easily tell GM put more effort into making a North American friendly truck versus the Ranger.

Now with that said, I ordered a Ranger because I’m 100% brand loyal to Ford. I wouldn’t consider buying anything else. If someone was not brand loyal and asked me what midsize they should check out first I’d tell them the Colorado/Canyon. Although I’d give Ford the advantage as far as power train is concerned, I’d give the Colorado/Canyon the advantage for packaging, ride and handling, and overall aesthetics.

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56 minutes ago, 2005Explorer said:

If you can take the blue blinders off you can easily tell GM put more effort into making a North American friendly truck versus the Ranger.

If Ford was starting with such a (by all reports) substandard vehicle, they probably would've done that, too, but they were starting from a much better base. I'm also betting that the 2003 Colorado wasn't nearly as refined as the current model, let alone this first-swing Ranger.

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21 hours ago, rperez817 said:

You obviously didn't read the whole article.

 

20 hours ago, akirby said:

Yes I did.  Where in the article did the Ranger perform worse than the Ridgeline at “trucky” farm tasks?

Yeah akirby?!? Wait'll Jaguar Tesla comes out with their truck...it'll be a luxury off-roader that no one can beat!!!

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