2019 Ford Ranger

[noseoil]

Have had a lot of trouble finding the right Ranger for a tow vehicle, but we placed an order for a 2019 last week. Wondering if anyone is using the new Ranger as a tow vehicle yet? The straw that broke the camel's back happened on the way home from Bonneville this trip. Went over Monarch Pass in Colorado (11,200') in 2nd gear at 3,000 rpm in 2nd gear at 30 mph with the 4-way flashers lit up. It was a horrible drive home this year with the 4 cylinder Nissan.

While it's been a good truck for towing in the lower elevations, these hills in northern New Mexico & Colorado are just too much for it, so it's going away today to a new owner. Hope he gets plenty of use out of it in the next few years. Will post my impressions of the new Ranger once it arrives. We're getting a 4X4 with the tow setup & 101A option package, plain vanilla, white, simple & should be OK. It's the 2.3L 4 cylinder eco boost motor (270hp & 300'/# torque) with a 10 speed automatic transmission so it should do better on hills & still get good gas mileage.

[M C Toyer]

Looking forward to your review of the Ranger. What is the rated tow capacity and GVW?

Before I bought my present Jeep Liberty in 2012 I drove and towed with a 2007 Ford Explorer Sport Trac w/ V6, 4WD and Automatic Trans and was quite pleased but since they stopped manufacturing that model in 2010 did not have an comparable replacement. Wondering how the Ranger might compare to the Sport Trac.

I am really turned off by the new Jeep Gladiator but am looking to replace the Liberty in the new future and that model has likewise been discontinued without a comparable replacement.

M C

[Pinstriper]

I saw a new Ranger in the wild yesterday, just in a parking lot. It was a crew cab and short bed, aka the old Explorer Sportrac.

I have no other information, other than to confirm they are on the street now, which was the first one I had seen.

Curious, what is wrong with the Gladiator ?


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[gudmund]

what I have seen so far is a -7500- lb tow rating for the new Ranger (7000 lb for the V6 gas Colorado/7700 lb diesel & 6700lb for the V6 gas Tacoma)

[noseoil]

Tow rating of the base model with a tow package is 7,500 pounds, but that's a bit more than our teardrop is going to need at this point. The carry weight is 1860#, again, that's more than we intend dealing with in a 6' long bed configuration which we've ordered.

Max load for tongue weight is 750#, but if there are any squatting issues, we'll add air bags to this truck if it's necessary to level things out while towing with a load. The truck we ordered has a standard receiver hitch & wire harness for a 7-pin & 4-pin system.

After a bunch of looking, I still can't find what the tow package includes other than the hitch & wire harness. Not sure about transmission or engine oil coolers, or a different radiator. I'm still looking...

[bdosborn]

Th turbo will make a huge difference going over the passes. I just cant get my head wrapped around a 4 banger for a pickup, but the specs look solid so please post your impressions after you get it. I have a 2015 V6 Tacoma and while it tows fine, you really have to put the spurs to it to get it to pull since peak torque is so high in the RPM range. I kept my Dodge Cummins when I bought the Tacoma just for towing over the passes...

Bruce

[halfdome, Danny]

I had a similar experience in the late 70’s towing a utility trailer with a Unisaw with a 6 cyl 1978 Chevy pick up going Over Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado. I was going about 10 mph all the way up, ugh!
Maybe you expect more performance, but going over the continental divide is tough on towing.
My 2006 Chevy Trailblazer has a straight 6 and tows a lot better ( more torque) than the V6 Blazer it replaced.
They were similar sized engines.
Danny

[Squigie]

I hope you like it.

My wife and I have talked quite a bit about picking up a new Ranger.
Our two biggest concerns, however, are the size (it's a lot bigger than its older brothers*) and that 10-speed transmission.
*(The Raptor version is just shy of being as big as a 2003 F-150 Supercrew. It's so big that the Aussies classify it as a full-size truck.)

We've had several cars with the new 347-speed automatic transmissions. (Okay, 7, 8, and 9 speeds.) And, well, we find them annoying. The transmission is never actually in gear. It's always between them, because it's always shifting; and the economy programming in the computers that run them make the whole system hesitant to down-shift ... which, especially around town, means the vehicle hesitates to downshift for so long that it then has to go for a two, three, or even four gear downshift. Our Toyota with a 7-speed auto is so bad that it will actually come to a stop when going up a steep enough hill (at less than ~25 mph), because it rebels against the initial downshift so vehemently that it's too late by the time it actually surrenders. (A common complaint from other owners - it isn't just ours.)

To make matters worse in the Ranger's case, my wife had a Fiesta with the "automatic" transmission that was actually a twin clutch setup with two 3-speed gearboxes side-by-side in the same case, shifted by a computer. (Gears 2, 4, 6 on one side; 1, 3, 5, on the other; reverse ... somewhere.) Yes, that transmission. The one so terrible to drive, after break-in, and so unreliable after a few hundred miles, that there have been at least three class-action suits against Ford.

We KNOW that the 10-speed in the Ranger is a different beast. But the Fiesta really burned us.
If Ford will rush that pile of garbage to product for the Fiesta, what corners are they willing to cut during re-engineering for the first NA release of the Ranger?...

Th turbo will make a huge difference going over the passes. I just cant get my head wrapped around a 4 banger for a pickup, but the specs look solid so please post your impressions after you get it. I have a 2015 V6 Tacoma and while it tows fine, you really have to put the spurs to it to get it to pull since peak torque is so high in the RPM range. I kept my Dodge Cummins when I bought the Tacoma just for towing over the passes...

Bruce

I've owned a 3.5L Ecoboost, and driven several vehicles with it and other Ecoboost engines.
I've also talked to many owners of various other Ecoboost engines - from trucks and commercial vehicles, to passenger cars.
You'll get no complaints from me.

That 3.5L Ecoboost Explorer Sport was the best tow vehicle and highway cruiser I've ever owned. Not once, in the two years that I had it, did it ever downshift to pull a hill (and by 'pull a hill', I mean "climb a mountain"); and it made several trips with 4,000+ lb trailers hitched up. 6-8% grade, 60-65 mph, 4,000+ lbs on the back, and it didn't need to downshift. It just spooled the turbos. ...And then went back to 35 mpg on flat ground.


It's only failings led directly to it being sold, but they weren't engine related.
(Electrical problems were an issue. But, most importantly, there was a TON of wasted space in that interior. It wasn't designed well. And when my wife decided to use a buy-one-get-one-free coupon to pop out twins, we found ourselves in a situation where we could not fit all of the kids in one vehicle unless we amputated the legs of the kid(s) in the 3rd row seat(s), or strapped some to the roof.)

[noseoil]

OK, the best made plans, etc. I wasn't looking forward to waiting 8-12 weeks for the truck, so I began looking last week for a "used" ranger, when lo & behold this popped up in the search. It's a used 2019 Ranger XLT with all the bells & whistles & I do mean ALL. Included in the package are the 4X4 I wanted, a factory tow package & locking diff. Added to this are the 302A package which includes leather wrapped steering wheel & shift knob (wow, a big plus in my book, certainly a must have), with adaptive cruise control & the adaptive lane change nanny, XM radio, 8" touch screen, weather tech floor mat liners, running boards, window tint, back-up camera, auto-starting, electric mirrors which will park in tight places, etc. I'm still trying to figure out how to use all of the stuff it has.

A Honda dealership outside of Albuquerque had it on the lot & took it in trade on a new Honda. The owner put 400 miles on it, then had to stop driving due to dementia after a doctor's visit, so it was traded in. Bottom line is, we had to pay a few thousand more for this model than for a stripped XL, but saved about $7,000 from the new price due to the used status.



Just got a new tow hook for it yesterday (this thing sits a bit higher than the old Nissan, about 6") so we haven't towed with it yet, but it's a rocket when merging onto a freeway ramp (0-60 is just a tad over 6 seconds with the 4 cylinder). I haven't used the "Sport" or towing mode yet, but it's quick enough in the normal driving mode. It's amazing how much technology is crammed into a new truck now, but I hope to figure it out soon. For now, I'm happy with the truck, the deal & what we did to find a good used vehicle.

[Squigie]

Nice find.
Enjoy it.

---

I ordered a Ranger twice - once in 1998 and again 2002. I will probably never order a vehicle again.
The first dealer (in Utah) took the order with a smile, and then changed it behind my back, because they thought they knew what I wanted better than I did. When it came in, I went down to the dealer, asked where my truck was, was escorted to something completely incorrect, was shot down when I suggested that they were joking, and then we had a polite conversation about how they needed to figure out how to shove what they ordered into a special part of their anatomy. Amazingly, they admitted to deliberately changing the order because I optioned a "weird truck that would never sell" if I didn't buy it. Well... You fulfilled part of that prophecy!

I spent the next three years using the Ford 'dealer search' feature to try to find what I wanted, somewhere in the country; but never could. There was always one major flaw in anything close, such as the wrong engine, an ugly color, wrong bed size, or wrong cab; or enough 'minor' flaws added up to just make it unappealing, such as several options being acceptable but not desirable, the color being less than great, and the truck being on the other side of the country. I gave up and opted for the long wait again.

The second one that I ordered (in Florida) was an extremely similar situation. But when the truck showed up with completely the wrong options on it, they blamed Ford's 'regional' optioning system and limitations, claiming that what I wanted wasn't available to be ordered for Florida. I politely told them to find another buyer and stop blowing smoke up my 'chimney', because that's why the special order system exists! They got testy. I left.

I spent another two years searching.
One day, after a long trip that padded my bank account with a lot of per-diem money, I got a result as I was burning some time before work (~10 pm).
Right cab, drive train, gearing, engine, color, interior, everything that I wanted; but it did have the more expensive choices for three options where I was waffling or indifferent: Bed style, rear window style, and cab configuration. (Flare side vs 'style side', fixed glass vs slider, and 3-door vs 4-door; respectively.)
I stared at it for a while before realizing that the truck was just six miles away ... at the other Ford dealer in the area (also in Florida... ).

I hit the dealer after work the next day (about 10 am). They didn't even know they had it. It had come in on a truck over the weekend, gotten stashed in the back of their storage lot, and still hadn't been processed into inventory. They also didn't understand why they had it. Wrong options for Florida, since they didn't order it.

Who knows... Maybe it was someone else's special order.

But, I finally had the Ranger that I wanted.
It's been a good truck. I celebrate its birthday every year. It rolled out of the Twin Cities assembly plant on December 6th, 2003, as a 2004 model.

[Aguyfromohio]

Th turbo will make a huge difference going over the passes. I just cant get my head wrapped around a 4 banger for a pickup,...

My first new car was a 1986 Toyota pickup 4 cylinder, a little short-bed 4x4 with a turbo. I kept that truck for 10 years and loved it. It was under powered by today's standards, but in low range 4WD it would scramble up a steep hillside like a mountain goat.
Those older turbos had lots of lag before the power came on, and it whistled like a police siren a quarter mile away. My friends would look around to find the cops. The newer turbocharged engines are much better.

[gudmund]

the 10-speed transmission Ford is using in the 'New' Ranger seems - so far - to be working fine !! It was built by a 'corporate' deal between GM/Ford. GM so far has been using it in their high 'HP' Corvette/Camaro/Silverado's and Ford in their Raptors/F-series and now the Ranger's = being used in more and more models for both as time goes on................

[dmdc411]

We live in southern Minn. My dad special ordered a 2001 Ranger. 4.0v6, 5 speed, reg cab, ac, am-fm radio. Here's the catch. They were being built 45 miles away in St Paul yet! He knew the dealership owner, so it wasn't a problem. Paid for it up front. $9950. They drove up together when it was ready. Still has it today! Living in New Mexico for 8 winters has preserved it fairly well. 100k miles, new shocks and couple set of brake pads is all its taken. He moved back to Minn last summer. His age and knee problems prevent much use of it now.

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[Squigie]

How's it treatin' ya, noseoil?

[noseoil]

Finally did some towing this past weekend with the teardrop & new camper shell which arrived from Lear (the 100R model). It's a good fit & seems to be good for our needs, but a 5' bed still seems pretty small to me. At this point, there isn't a shell made for the 6' bed, so I guess it's good we got the super cab model.


My son had an elk hunt in southern Colorado, so I went along to watch. We didn't have any luck (I'm thankful, as packing out a bull elk at 10,200' is not my idea of fun), but did have a good time & enjoyed the outdoors, seeing a new area & stalking some deer which were in the area. It would have been better if we had more time for scouting, but his time in the military takes a bite out opportunities for some activities. Here's a shot of opening morning, before the snow started.


The road up to our hunt area, a bit nasty with rocks, switchbacks & some very steep pulls. We left the trailer in camp for this stuff.


OK, here's the report on towing with the new Ranger. It did very well with the teardrop. I used the transmission mode called "Sport" which allows the engine to run at closer to 2,500 rpm than the usual 1,500 (which is the normal mode for fuel economy, some "jumpy" shifting is the result of trying to keep the r's down). It pulled very well over Raton pass. Leaving town there's a good grade into Colorado, a good test of the engine-transmission combo. The 10 speed transmission is really good for towing & sport mode seems to be a good way to avoid the jumpy shifting some people don't like with this engine/transmission combo. In normal mode, it will shift from 1-3-5, etc. due to computer programming. In sport mode it shifts a bit tighter & runs into the rpm range more for power. All in all, the truck barely knew there was a load behind it. I did notice the load when getting on the interstate, it had to get on the boost a bit for merging, but there was enough power to pull harder with a load than I needed. At speed, it runs very well & fuel mileage was about 18.5 mpg with the trailer attached. It might have done better on the flats, but most of the trip was up & down hills & mountain grades, so I still don't know about towing on flat easy stretches yet.

I finally got to use the 4X4 mode in both low & high range. It did pretty well considering there is a completely factory suspension under the truck & it has the typical cheap stock tires, which are not well suited to climbing rocky slopes. Grades on the "road" were very steep, switchbacks were tight & most of the road was rocky & pretty bad. Fortunately, we made all the grades, turns & bumps without any trouble. My son's 4X4 is a full size GMC & would have had trouble with the very tight turns & some of the narrow stretches. His truck would have worked, but it would have been a lot more difficult in some of the areas, especially the switchbacks. He would have had to back & fill once or twice to make some of the turns the Ranger made easily.

So bottom line on the 2019 Ford Ranger is that it's a good truck which tows well, has plenty of power & works very well as a tow & camp vehicle. Oh, I almost forgot, having a back-up camera which sees the hitch is really nice. My old Nissan was good, but with the standard transmission & no camera, hooking up was a bit more time consuming. Now it's a simple matter of backing up gently, lining up & dropping the hitch onto the ball. I'm getting spoiled with the remote start feature & "bun" warmers which come on when it's warming up as the mornings get cooler. There are still too many bells & whistles to deal with on this model, but it gives me something to do in my spare time. It was worth the money.