Ranger Regrets
OK, we get it. Ford’s all-new global Ranger is “90 percent of an F-150” and it would make as much sense to sell it here as it would for Toyota to sell the Hilux alongside Tacomas and Tundras. We may not completely buy the argument that Fiesta, Focus and F-150 make for an adequate replacement to a true compact pickup in the US, but having starved that segment for so long, it’s understandable that Ford would now leave it to die. After all, nobody’s offered a truly new compact pickup for so long, it’s almost impossible to say whether the consumers or manufacturers killed off the once-burgeoning segment of efficient, utilitarian trucks.
With Mahindra struggling to offer its diesel pickups to American dealers, we aren’t holding out much hope of anything compact pickup-related changing anytime soon. Sure, there are whispers of a GM compact pickup in development (and some promising talk from Nissan), but that’s strictly in “wild ass rumor” territory. Meanwhile, VW is trying to apeal to more American consumers, doesn’t have a full-size truck lineup to cannibalize, and yet refuses to send its Amarok stateside. If any of the automakers is going to take a risk on compact (preferably diesel) pickups, Volkswagen seems like the one to do it. Alternatively, Mazda has its own version of the new Ranger and no full-sizers to cannibalize. Someone step up here!
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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I have been saying fo a while the small truck market is shrinking because no ones brining anything interesting to the table. After reading some comments on here about pricing I looked up base MSRP on some small pickups. Holy cow, last time I priced a new compact truck 10 years ago you could walk out the door of chevy or ford dealer with a reg cab 2wd stick and AC for 10 grand all day long (I had several friends that bought 99 s-10 this way) Now I' thinking the pricing is a little out of wack.(considering my friend at the local nissan dealer tells me they sell at least 1 Versa a week as low as 11,000) Back in the day A base compact truck was about the same price as a base compact sedan (not sub compact)
On the Ford Ranger official Facebook page, Ford officials have let slip that the new global Ranger 4x4 Quad Cab measures in at 5359mm long, 1850mm wide, and 1815mm tall. That works out to 210 inches, 72.8 inches, and 71.5 inches for those of us still afraid of the metric system. Ford claims the Ranger is a 9/10ths F150? How? The 2010 F150 4x4 Quad Cab measured 243.7 inches long, 78.9 inches wide, and 74.3 inches tall. 210 is 86 percent of 243.7. In width and height, yes, the new Ranger is slightly more than 90 percent the size of the 2010 F150's measurements. But in length, which is where the F150 gets its bed hauling capacity and legroom in the Quad Cab configuration, the Ranger is nearly a whole yard shorter. That's pretty noticeable when you're parking the truck or maneuvering in other tight quarters such as your garage. Let's take a look at two other Fords for comparison's sake: The Fusion and the Taurus. The Fusion stacks up at 190.6 inches long, 80.1 inches wide and 56.9 inches tall. The Taurus measures 202.9 inches long, 85.7 inches wide, and 60.7 inches tall. Once again, the biggest difference is length. The Fusion is fully 93 percent as long as the Taurus, 93.4 percent as wide as the Taurus, and 93.7 percent as tall as the Taurus. That full foot of missing length in the Fusion will make it easier to parallel park. But I guess we should discontinue it because it's "9/10ths" of a Taurus.