Today, readers, we learn the value of keeping browser tabs open. This is a more fruitful activity than, say, leaving a bag of potato chips open — which inevitably leads to soggy crisps.
While viewing the not-yet-ready-for-public-consumption Ford Ranger on Tuesday, a site promptly pulled down by the Blue Oval, we learned of the upcoming midsize truck’s (estimated) pricing and (likely) options packages. The page was largely devoid of interior shots, however. Until now.
It’s not like the Ranger’s interior is a top-secret dossier, given that Dearborn showed it off at this past auto show in Detroit. The truck shown there was a top-spec FX4 model with all manner of kit.
The interior pictures shown on the Ford site don’t seem to pick up on the selection of various option packages. For example, selecting a base Focus instead of an SEL trim displays the low-spec radio instead of snazzy SYNC3 infotainment. With the Ranger tool, checking the FX4 box doesn’t currently add the Terrain Management System knob to the truck’s centre console, for example. The only seat color shown is beige Medium Stone.
Still, the photos give us a good glimpse into what a non-FX4 Ranger will look like. This image shown above is labelled as representing an XLT with Equipment Group 302A. That trim and options produce a truck with cloth seats, top-spec infotainment, and a leather-wrapped wheel. If the photo’s accurate, XLT Rangers will have chrome(ish) trim on the dash and gauges featuring a speedometer and tach bookending a small central screen.
Flipping to a high-zoot Lariat, we see darker trim replacing the shiny stuff, but the model name remains hammered into the plastic ahead of the passenger. Black trim also adorns the steering wheel. Facing the driver is a different set of gauges with a central speedometer flanked by two blacked-out screens. These are likely similar to the reconfigurable units found in the Edge and many other Ford products.
Comparing the two, the Lariat also gains a push-to-start button and stitching along the dashboard’s leading edge. The latter indicates soft-touch material is reserved for Lariat customers. The 502A Lariat is also shown with B&O-branded stereo speakers. There’s an extra spear of chrome along the Lariat’s door pulls as well.
Also, how many other trucks have a hand-operated emergency brake tucked between the driver’s seat and center console? B&B readers, please feel free to chime in.
Side views of the XLT and Lariat interior are markedly similar, with both Crew Cab trucks showing sensible rear seats with an armrest. A manual sliding rear window with a defroster grid appears, as does an underseat storage box of some kind.
Of course, all of this is unofficial and subject to change. Ford says official pricing will be announced within the next week or so.
[Images: Ford Motor Company]
(Warning Adam Trigger)
So is this what the new RWD/4wd Explorer and Bronco interiors will look like?
:-P
I’m hoping for a rebadge of the Troller.
From what I understand, there will be two off-road SUVs, one will be Bronco (BOF, based on Ranger platform, as is the Troller), and the other will be smaller, possibly unibody, and unnamed at this point (Bronco II?). The smaller is to compete with the Renegade and give us Ford guys something to look at aside from the co-ed approved Echo(echo, echo, echo…)Sport.
The Explorer will be RWD-based, but will not be based on the Ranger. Its a modular unibody platform that can either be RWD, FWD or AWD, will be the basis for the next Mustang, and hopefully the updated suicide-door Continental. I’m sure it’ll underpin the next Edge/Nautilus as well.
I’m looking forward to all this new coming from Ford. Right now it’s a little confusing
It looks nice. I like the ebrake location with a manual.
Im guessing the single cab bench seat is not happening with that shifter location.
You can really see the windshield rake is steep.
Not a fault of only the ranger but it does seem the location of the infotainment system makes placement of useable air vents difficult. It doesnt look like the drivers vents have a good unobstructed path.
Overall the truck is looking attractive.
The air vent problem is the same as with other vehicles less wide than full-size.
It also sucks if you like to have a cell phone mounted to the dash. Automakers should really start considering that buyers might want a place to put their phones in view of the driver.
@salmon,
I think it looks pretty darn good, better than the ex’s Colorado. Since I’m usually in the car by myself, I can shut that passenger vent and I’m thinking it will do just fine.
Regarding putting a cell phone to be seen, if it has Apple CarPlay, that’s all I need. I think you are asking for the Lyft/Uber option.
I like how the new Accord has them between the HVAC controls and glued on iPad. Seems to allow for more passive/even flow than vents flanking the screen.
Cup holder based phone mount – ya losing one holder sucks but there are some very nice ones out there. That is what I did and I’m happy.
Why in God’s name would you give a truck a console shifter? It boggles the mind.
“Why in God’s name would you give a truck a console shifter? It boggles the mind.”
Agreed. Maybe to attract the female of the species?
I assume you mean attract the female of the species as a customer. One of the fringe benefits of bench seats was that you could have your honey sit next to you in the center passenger position when you were driving.
When I was a kid and we’d pass a car with the passenger sitting in the center seat next to the driver my grandfather would say, “That’s one of them cars that is so hard to drive, it takes two people.”
You might google, “Duck Boy Montana Double Date.”
Agreed. Push-button or nothing. With big buttons that even my dead grandfather could see. And they should be single function so there’s no confusing if the car is in P, N, D, R, or L(1-3).
Seriously.
If the truck is too narrow for a bench, you might as well put the shifter on the console. Really, the only question you should be asking is why a full-size truck would have a console. And that can also be answered by “the buyer never uses the middle position anyway.”
The appeal of the bench isn’t putting someone in the middle it is that it allows me to spread out like a MFer.
Global Rangers (single cab or otherwise) have been buckets-only for decades now, as have most other midsize pickups, largely due to preference of manual tranmission, but also because on both compact and midsize pickups, the cab is just too narrow to comfortably seat three across anyway. The middle “seat” on old compact Rangers was something like 8″ across.
In a side impact, the hardest thing in the cabin for the struck-side occupant to hit is often the other front seat passenger. Buckets with consoles keep that problem nice and contained on the far side of the vehicle. Benches assuredly do not.
Kind of surprised that GM’s novel front-center airbag, introduced in the prior-generation Lambda triplets, hasn’t proliferated. It was designed to prevent front occupants from colliding with one another during side impacts.
yeah, I have a 2011 Ranger with the 60/40 split bench, and seating more than 2 is… impractical at best.
It needs more buttons on the steering wheel
Would you rather a touchscreen?
And the logic behind putting the radio and HVAC controls as low as possible is unquestionable. Overall, the interior looks about 8 years out of date, making it competitive with most other pickups.
You can tell it’s from other markets, on account that it’s a truck with a handbrake rather than a foot one. As well, it shows its age in the general area with the radio controls in it. Looks old.
Also of note, can’t close the vents.
You sure the vents don’t close? Many vents now appear to have no shutter mechanism, but can be turned all the way to the left or right to completely shut the vanes.
That’s a fair question. They might close all the way – however I do find closing the air supply to said vent a more effective method than the close vanes type.
I’m certain they do close off all the way, other Ford products have vents w/o the on/off lever and they close fully.
I agree that a full shutoff switch gives peace of mind, but I’ve found that the F-150 vanes will close pretty much airtight.
“You can tell it’s from other markets, on account that it’s a truck with a handbrake rather than a foot one.”
Tacoma has a handbrake…?
Looks a little dated for something “new”, but a clean simple design nonetheless. I’m not a fan of the handbrake, unless with a manual, which is not offered. It wastes too much valuable center consol space. I’ve come to like electric E brakes. I also don’t like it when the armrest gets one side chopped like here.
The Lariat looks nice – it doesn’t appear to have a sunroof in this image. If no sunroof on the top trim I’ll pass.
That whole interior design…2019? Not 2009, you’re sure?
Yeah my thoughts exactly. The GM midsize Twins aren’t exactly high quality, but at least the interiors look modern and fresh.
That center stack is just awful. The entire interior looks very mediocre on a rental car level, but that center stack is astonishingly bad.
Tough crowd around here. It looks fine. Padded touch points. More restrained than the Taco, no more outdated than the bland GM twins. It’s far more cohesive than the faux-macho plastic blockiness of the F150’s dash and I don’t see how the materials could be any worse.
Looks nice to me. If Ford grow enough of a brain stem to stick the 2.7EB into the Ranger and I can one replacing my F-150. Moving down to a smaller size truck would be nice.
The 3rd Gen Tacoma has a handbrake located in the center console.
Are you kidding me? The Ford Rangers interior looks dated? The GM trucks look ancient and korean car company quality from last decade bad.
I don’t mind the console shifter, but thanks to the E-brake, the cupholders are tandem, leaving only enough armrest for one elbow. But then who gets which spot? You’re guaranteed to take swig from your buddy’s drink repeatedly. You might as well pullover and makeout at that point.
A combination console with a column shifter would be fine, but who asked for a center console in a midsize truck with cramped knee area as it is anyway?