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Ford Offering Up To $2,000 Off Ranger Pickups In April


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4 hours ago, Anthony said:

What cracks me up is C&D had a comparison back in January and the Ranger was 2nd ahead of the Colorado. https://www.caranddriver.com/features/g15378489/best-midsize-trucks/ . Makes you wonder who ante'ed up for ad dollars this month?

I think that ranking from January may be based on Car and Driver's First Drive of 2019 Ranger. First Drives lack the formal instrumented testing that Car and Driver does for its comparison test articles. The Ranger First Drive article was posted to the website on December 18, 2018. You can tell from the (C/D EST) in the performance portion of the Specifications box below the article they didn't conduct their own measurements.  https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a25606776/2019-ford-ranger-pickup-drive/

The most recent ranking is based on an actual instrumented testing and driving evaluations done by Car and Driver editors and engineers.

Speaking of Car and Driver, I noticed that the PDF test sheets are harder to come by on their website. Prior to the recent redesign, they would put links to these test sheets in almost all articles involving instrumented testing. But not anymore it seems. The test sheets had lots of interesting details. See attached example for 2016 GMC Canyon Diesel.

2016-gmc-canyon-diesel.pdf

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On ‎4‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 3:39 PM, 02MustangGT said:

I read the C&D article.   The Ranger has negative marks for fit and finish (something about the headliner), on road ride (this has been called out by multiple sources), and braking (pedal feel and 70-0 stopping distance).  They also rated it last among the trucks tested, the Gladiator was rated one place ahead.  

C& D has a long history if anti ford rhetoric, every other publication has been relatively praiseworthy. As for the Gladiator...pretty cool...but significantly higher MSRP with comparable equip...heavy, slow, gas consumption and a tiny bed...but C & Ds WINNER!...As for ride...90% of that is to due with tires....not a fan of Fords choice, and apparently one gets better mileage than the other with more off road chops...

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On 4/20/2019 at 7:29 PM, snooter said:

Well that did not take long....and you thought ranger was any threat to the taco???.....

Guess that sums it up in a nutshell! 

If:  We all agree that 'Truck Buyers' are most loyal -

Then:  It would be perfectly logical to believe that the thousands and thousands of young Toyota Taco buyers are future Tundra buyers.

That's a lot of future truck buyers that won't even look at Ford.  Difficult to feel sorry for Ford -they had two generations to become cool to young buyers, but somehow came up short again and again.

Same problem that Harley Davidson has.

Edited by Kev-Mo
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7 hours ago, akirby said:

If that were true Tundra would be outselling the domestics.

Thousands of those young Tacoma buyers will likely be older Tacoma buyers someday unless their life changes enough they want a full size truck. If they do many will probably choose the Tundra, but Ford, GM and Ram will likely pick up some of those buyers because generally domestic pickups are viewed more favorably then domestic cars and CUVs by this group.

Ford does need to steal away sales from Tacoma and Colorado/Canyon to be successful with the Ranger because they’ve been out of this segment for a long time. I think they also will sell Rangers to people that are loyal Ford truck buyers who settled for an F150 before because that’s all they offered. I’m one of those people who downsized and as a daily driver I enjoy the Ranger much more than the F150.

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8 hours ago, 2005Explorer said:

Thousands of those young Tacoma buyers will likely be older Tacoma buyers someday unless their life changes enough they want a full size truck. If they do many will probably choose the Tundra, but Ford, GM and Ram will likely pick up some of those buyers because generally domestic pickups are viewed more favorably then domestic cars and CUVs by this group.

Ford does need to steal away sales from Tacoma and Colorado/Canyon to be successful with the Ranger because they’ve been out of this segment for a long time. I think they also will sell Rangers to people that are loyal Ford truck buyers who settled for an F150 before because that’s all they offered. I’m one of those people who downsized and as a daily driver I enjoy the Ranger much more than the F150.

I think the majority of Tacoma buyers want a Tacoma not a full sized Tundra just like many Ranger buyers want a Ranger not a F150.   Or they're loyal Toyota buyers who won't consider another brand.  Conquest sales are always good but they come from all brands and all types of vehicles.

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18 minutes ago, akirby said:

I think the majority of Tacoma buyers want a Tacoma not a full sized Tundra just like many Ranger buyers want a Ranger not a F150. 

Yes sir. Toyota's pickup truck plant in San Antonio (TMMTX) is at full capacity right now, 3 crews and 3 shifts working overtime. Toyota reduced Tundra production so they can make more Tacomas with the capacity they've got. Also, the Toyota plant in Baja California is providing some overflow for Tacoma production as well.

Ford was wrong when they thought that U.S. Ranger customers would "upgrade" to F-150 upon Ranger's discontinuation in 2011. To a lot of Ranger owners like me, an F-150 is not an upgrade at all, it's simply the wrong type of truck for what my family and I need and want. Just like a tablespoon isn't an "upgrade" of a teaspoon.

Edited by rperez817
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29 minutes ago, akirby said:

I think the majority of Tacoma buyers want a Tacoma not a full sized Tundra just like many Ranger buyers want a Ranger not a F150.   Or they're loyal Toyota buyers who won't consider another brand.  Conquest sales are always good but they come from all brands and all types of vehicles.

I completely agree. While the F-150 has gotten bigger than I like, after looking at the Ranger it isn't an option. I'm sure the next Ranger will get a little bigger, but never enough to make it an option.......and there are plenty of people who look at it just the opposite......no way one truck will cover all bases.

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42 minutes ago, 70 Stang said:

I completely agree. While the F-150 has gotten bigger than I like, after looking at the Ranger it isn't an option. I'm sure the next Ranger will get a little bigger, but never enough to make it an option.......and there are plenty of people who look at it just the opposite......no way one truck will cover all bases.

I'm hoping the next Ranger doesn't grow in size. If it continues to grow it'll be almost an F150 so then the next F150 will have to grow more and after awhile we might as well all be driving Super Duties around. The current Ranger is just about the perfect size. Cab space could be a bit more optimized, but outside dimensions do not need to grow.

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11 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

I expect this will be addressed too. I could see the frame length growing by maybe an inch to enable the cab to gain a little more back seat space but that's about it. 

What will they have to change to support a V6?

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Rebates are expected by domestic brand buyers, which is why they are saying "we cant make $ on smaller cars". With a "truck" product, they can raise the sticker, and slap on a rebate to say "look at the bargain you are getting!".

There are still quite a few buyers who rely on rebates for down payments or to offset neg equity. Since they "have to have a new truck" to show neighbors, co-workers, friends and relatives they're "making it".

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5 hours ago, akirby said:

For the 47th time, that’s not why they discontinued it.

I'm aware of why the old Ranger was discontinued in U.S. and Canada, namely the product was simply too old and couldn't meet upcoming regulatory standards at the time.

The issue is that Ford misunderstood their Ranger customer base. Ford's internal research back in 2011 was incomplete and misled them to conclude most existing Ranger owners would be fine with one of these Fords as a substitute or replacement. 1.) F-150 V6, 2.) Transit Connect, 3.) Fiesta. Seems crazy now, but I think it was Derrick Kuzak who supported that notion.

Anyway, what's past is past. I'm glad that Ford managed to bring T6 Ranger to the U.S. market this year. Much better that they have something to offer, even if it's far from a best in class product, than not fielding a midsize pickup truck at all in the U.S.

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15 minutes ago, rperez817 said:

I'm aware of why the old Ranger was discontinued in U.S. and Canada, namely the product was simply too old and couldn't meet upcoming regulatory standards at the time.

The issue is that Ford misunderstood their Ranger customer base. Ford's internal research back in 2011 was incomplete and misled them to conclude most existing Ranger owners would be fine with one of these Fords as a substitute or replacement. 1.) F-150 V6, 2.) Transit Connect, 3.) Fiesta. Seems crazy now, but I think it was Derrick Kuzak who supported that notion.

Anyway, what's past is past. I'm glad that Ford managed to bring T6 Ranger to the U.S. market this year. Much better that they have something to offer, even if it's far from a best in class product, than not fielding a midsize pickup truck at all in the U.S.

I’m not sure I would characterize the Ranger as “far” from best in class. 

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28 minutes ago, rperez817 said:

I'm aware of why the old Ranger was discontinued in U.S. and Canada, namely the product was simply too old and couldn't meet upcoming regulatory standards at the time.

The issue is that Ford misunderstood their Ranger customer base. Ford's internal research back in 2011 was incomplete and misled them to conclude most existing Ranger owners would be fine with one of these Fords as a substitute or replacement. 1.) F-150 V6, 2.) Transit Connect, 3.) Fiesta. Seems crazy now, but I think it was Derrick Kuzak who supported that notion.

Anyway, what's past is past. I'm glad that Ford managed to bring T6 Ranger to the U.S. market this year. Much better that they have something to offer, even if it's far from a best in class product, than not fielding a midsize pickup truck at all in the U.S.

Wrong again on so many counts.

It wasn't that it couldn't be updated.   Sales dropped like a rock and not just Ranger, the entire segment.  Tacoma went from 178K to 106K.  It was cheaper to kill it and close the factory than keep the factory open and update it.  They simply couldn't afford to do that at the time since they were still recovering from almost going bankrupt.    All the talk about replacing those sales with other vehicles was just corporate marketing speak.   They knew people wanted Rangers but it was difficult to justify before Bronco came in the picture.

As for it being far from best in class you're crazy.  The only thing that may not be as good as the competition is the suspension and even that is close.   The fact that C&D put it ahead of Canyorado and Tacoma after driving it should tell you something.   You can't go always go by numbers on paper.

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6 hours ago, akirby said:

For the 47th time, that’s not why they discontinued it.

No. But they did expect most buyers (non budget) to buy an F-150 supercab instead. Ford didn’t deem the development cost of a US Ranger worthwhile nor did they want to risk F-Series crown. 

 

Reality is a lot of people don’t want a truck as big as the F-150 has become. Not to mention the price is getting further from median income. 

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9 minutes ago, blazerdude20 said:

No. But they did expect most buyers (non budget) to buy an F-150 supercab instead. 

 

Is that speculation or inside info?   I think they expected some buyers to go F150 but I think they were content to lose the other buyers because it wasn’t worth the investment to keep them (at the time).

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1 hour ago, tbone said:

I’m not sure I would characterize the Ranger as “far” from best in class. 

I cannot imagine, that as a 'truck' the Ranger is not near the top of the class. The drive train alone is in a class by itself. I am disappointed that after all the waiting, the Ranger did not blow away everything in its class.

I would never actually purchase Car and Driver, but I can't wait to see this article.  Don't tell me (actually please tell who won if you read the article)-  the Honda Ridgeline won the competition, because what Car and Driver thinks is, everyone wants a 'truck', but they really want a truck body on a car.  If they didn't load all of them up with 700lbs payload while towing at least 3000lbs up the Ike Gauntlet. preferably in a blizzard, then to me it is not a real truck test.  I am not really concerned that my truck rides like a car, if I wanted that, I would buy a car.

Interesting - one of the TFL Truck comparison clips explained why Toyota intentionally makes weak frames (we all know about Toyota's weak frames), it is so they can articulate more off-road in deep ruts.  An intended or unintended by-product of this is a smoother ride.  Of course, this initially looks great when driving an empty truck in deep ruts, but long term, and for all the things a stronger frame provides, I would give up a bit of articulation and take the Ford fully boxed real truck frame in a heartbeat!  While a test like Car and Driver might say we choose Taco because it drives smoother (while empty) and articulates better in deep ruts, don't mind that it might rust and break in half if you live where road salt is used.

Edited by Kev-Mo
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1 hour ago, akirby said:

Wrong again on so many counts.

It wasn't that it couldn't be updated.   Sales dropped like a rock and not just Ranger, the entire segment.  Tacoma went from 178K to 106K.  It was cheaper to kill it and close the factory than keep the factory open and update it.  They simply couldn't afford to do that at the time since they were still recovering from almost going bankrupt.    All the talk about replacing those sales with other vehicles was just corporate marketing speak.   They knew people wanted Rangers but it was difficult to justify before Bronco came in the picture.

As for it being far from best in class you're crazy.  The only thing that may not be as good as the competition is the suspension and even that is close.   The fact that C&D put it ahead of Canyorado and Tacoma after driving it should tell you something.   You can't go always go by numbers on paper.

Correct.

So much happened in 2010-2011 that it's hard/unfair to consider Ranger in isolation. Ford basically killed off all Mercury and BOF vehicles - Ranger, Explorer, Aviator,  Mountaineer, Sport Trac,  Crown Victoria, Grand  Marquis, Town car.

All of those vehicles and their plants were either closed or reassigned to vehicles which complied greater fuel economy under the conditions of Ford's $5.9 billion DOA Lending.It is unfortunate that Ford didn't include T6 Ranger but far from a tragedy.

In hindsight, the only area I would criticize Ford's plan is that Focus/C-Max wasn't built at lower cost plant like Cuautitlan with Fiesta, allowing MAP to build Ranger in 2012 and eventually, Bronco (2015). .....but that's water under the bridge.

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26 minutes ago, akirby said:

 

Is that speculation or inside info?   I think they expected some buyers to go F150 but I think they were content to lose the other buyers because it wasn’t worth the investment to keep them (at the time).

The wording of his response could have been better..

Quote

Much better that they have something to offer, even if it's not a perfect fit, than not fielding a midsize pickup truck at all in the U.S.

 

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