The big news in the Detroit Metro area is the new Ford Ranger that is currently being assembled at the Wayne Michigan assembly plant. Ford is now taking orders for the new Ranger and I was considering buying one for the woman until I seen the price.
They are asking between $30,000 and $40,000 for the new Ford Ranger, all of which only come with the 2.3 liter turbocharged 4 cylinder engine. While the truck looks incredibly cute, it does have striking resemblance to Asian trucks, much the same way that Chevrolets smaller Colorado line of trucks. Obviously most people will opt for the more expensive 4X4 extended and crew cab models to make them functional for more than just hauling stuff around in the bed, and who is going to want a standard open differential with 4X4? So the option for the electronic locking differentials will also boost that price up there! So most can expect to pay just under $40k for this pickup truck if they want a proper truck.
That being said, it is cute and it is made in the USA - but is there real value in such a small truck @ $40,000? It would seem that just about anything new now days would set you back about $25-$30k at minimum so in that regard there is some serious value in the $40,000 Ford Ranger that you will not get out of a sedan or an economy car, but really how well do you think a four cylinder is going to do hauling weight? I recall the last model years of the Rangers with the big V6 engines really had a struggle just pulling a car hauler and the suspensions bottomed out with relatively little weight in the bed. I could only imagine this being more of a problem with the four cylinder. It appears from the photos the the Ranger will still use a leaf style rear spring, so perhaps the payload ratings will be on par with earlier models.
I also can not discount the fact that these very small 4X4 pickups do well in the snow but are constantly getting stuck in deeper snow as they become perched up on your typical intersection snow banks having to be constantly pulled off by another bigger truck to gain traction once more. I also have my doubts about the power of the 2.3 under this kind of weight load in deep snow... no doubt the turbo will help and the 2.3 was popular in SVO vehicles back in the day but they did not last long and required constant maintenance! Not only that, they were pure slugs until such time as the turbos spooled up. These reasons here will have many people like me wondering, at $40k why not just get an F150? But you will soon learn that these trucks no longer offer the V8, rather the big V6 engines that were once found in the older Rangers - but even smaller in displacement even! You cant even get a V8 in Fords $80k Raptor! If you want a V8 you will have to move up to the Super Duty class and spend deep to the tune of $80-$100k for what amounts to a Semi Rig! LOL, even Fords top of the like V6 Platinum F150 is nearing $70k optioned out!
Mulling all these options it got me to my next question... Who can afford this!? These trucks, be it the Ranger, F150 or Super Duty cost more than many people pay for their homes! Perhaps I am just not making enough money? But for a nice Ranger you are looking at payment of about $700 a month with zero down and well over a hundred a month for the insurance! That is almost $900 a month for a vehicle, or more than many pay for their mortgages! It is at times like these I feel so blessed to be a mechanic because it is obvious I cannot afford these new vehicles. I have to question, outside of winning the lotto, would I ever spend that much on a vehicle? I am not feeling it...
Perhaps Fords needs to reevaluate their market here in the USA with realistic pricing. Anymore a Ford Truck is costing more than a luxury brand although you can not discount the ride of a Ford is most luxurious, even if it is a truck.
What does everyone else think?
__________________
What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
Yikes, I wouldn't pay that for a Ranger. You never want to buy the first year of anything though anyway.
In other news... My Ford Diesel warranty certification will expire at the end of March unless I take a webinar on a new 1.5L Diesel. I'm actually planning to skip it and let that cert expire. Reason being, the days of Diesel work being profitable seem to be over. I can have a good week going and be on track for a productivity bonus, and then some shit box Diesel Transit van or something will roll in and fuck me up. Since the 6.7 came out in the SD's, it's been really good, so I've been doing 90% of my work on gas powered vehicles anyway for the last couple years. What do you think about this plan?
In other news... My Ford Diesel warranty certification will expire at the end of March unless I take a webinar on a new 1.5L Diesel. I'm actually planning to skip it and let that cert expire. Reason being, the days of Diesel work being profitable seem to be over. I can have a good week going and be on track for a productivity bonus, and then some shit box Diesel Transit van or something will roll in and fuck me up. Since the 6.7 came out in the SD's, it's been really good, so I've been doing 90% of my work on gas powered vehicles anyway for the last couple years. What do you think about this plan?
Yo PowerStroker,
The plan sounds good, & you know what you're doing...But you may have to pee harder in those Cheerios when the Boss finds he has no one to fix the Diesels anymore lol !
I've always thought that a "New" car was bought by a business / company on tax-money, or folks retiring from the work-force, & treating themselves to something special for the golden-years...
You'd be mad to buy a new car the way depreciation is today IMO, not so much its relative cost. The best buys down this way in a general sense are the cars in the 5-15 year-old age bracket. There's plenty to choose from, & at every price-point you can think of.
Ciao,
Rastus
__________________
"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
Yikes, I wouldn't pay that for a Ranger. You never want to buy the first year of anything though anyway.
In other news... My Ford Diesel warranty certification will expire at the end of March unless I take a webinar on a new 1.5L Diesel. I'm actually planning to skip it and let that cert expire. Reason being, the days of Diesel work being profitable seem to be over. I can have a good week going and be on track for a productivity bonus, and then some shit box Diesel Transit van or something will roll in and fuck me up. Since the 6.7 came out in the SD's, it's been really good, so I've been doing 90% of my work on gas powered vehicles anyway for the last couple years. What do you think about this plan?
My Mom has a Ford Transit Connect van that she uses for her business, she runs the hell out of that little shit box! Although I must admit it has the 2.0 gas engine which is probably at least a little better to work on than the diesel version, still it is a real fine pain in the ass to perform a great many repairs on. IIRC these Ford Transit vans are made in Spain? They seem to hold up well here in the rust belt and for people who need somewhat fuel efficient vehicles they seem to be popular. My Mom has over 200,000 miles on hers! Once the fiberglass lining inside of her muffler let loose and clogged the tailpipe causing what many would think was a clogged converter, come to find out it was just the fiberglass insulation inside either the muffler or resonator that let loose and balled up in the curve of the tailpipe causing a restriction. Perhaps you may see this on some of your transit vehicles at your shop and it will save you the time dropping the converters like I did, only to find out it was just the fiberglass pack in the muffler or resonator!
With regards to skipping the webinar on the 1.5L Diesel, well... that is a choice only you can make although I doubt your ego will allow you to let your certification expire. I feel that way every 3 years when I have to re-test on 4 of my certification categories but eventually end up getting them done, usually around my birthday when renewing my license plate as that is the only time I visit the Secretary of State. You have to take the test under State oversight and only a few places offer the test.
Glad to hear the 6.7 Diesel engines are holding up well! I am sure you do not miss them 6.0 diesels! I would imagine you do not see many of them anymore but not because they are not breaking down, rather because they are all out of warranty and the customer pay cost to fix them at the dealer is cost prohibitive.
__________________
What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
Yikes, I wouldn't pay that for a Ranger. You never want to buy the first year of anything though anyway.
In other news... My Ford Diesel warranty certification will expire at the end of March unless I take a webinar on a new 1.5L Diesel. I'm actually planning to skip it and let that cert expire. Reason being, the days of Diesel work being profitable seem to be over. I can have a good week going and be on track for a productivity bonus, and then some shit box Diesel Transit van or something will roll in and fuck me up. Since the 6.7 came out in the SD's, it's been really good, so I've been doing 90% of my work on gas powered vehicles anyway for the last couple years. What do you think about this plan?
Don't know man. I have regretted letting some things expire. Very hard to get, not so hard to keep up but let them go and it's hell getting them back.
Yeah I don't know what to do. My strategy was to let it expire so I wouldn't have to do any shit work, but it turns out we have been getting a whole lot of gas powered shit work rolling in the door, so it may be a moot point. Can't win either way.
Yeah I don't know what to do. My strategy was to let it expire so I wouldn't have to do any shit work, but it turns out we have been getting a whole lot of gas powered shit work rolling in the door, so it may be a moot point. Can't win either way.
LOL,
The gas-work I always thought of as good work...Especially if it's a new car & needs a system fitted-up...You'll find you'll make good $$$ fitting new systems up, once you get to know them well. It was always making the wiring loom that seemed to take the most time, & then making it part of the OEM loom.
The only problems we ever got to see were the very rare fuel-hose leak, where the pipe would crack etc etc, or where the owner would let the coolant life expire, & then the contents of the converter would solidify & block-up, allowing the gas to then freeze-over...Occasionally you'd have to overhaul the converter too, with the convertors diaphragm rupturing or it's pin sticking, but there were repair kits available. We were using "Poli-Auto" kits from Italy, as OEM Ford kits back in the 1990's on our 4.0ltr in-line 6-cylinders, & 5.0ltr Windsor V-8's.
They can be tricky to tune too if a component is failing, but the general tune of the mixture setting was to hold the engine RPM's at around 3,000-rpm +, & then wind-out the flow-adjusting-screw to the mixer, until the RPM's increased, & then you turned the adjusting screw in, one-full-turn.
No doubt it's all different in today's workshops, but if you were happy to lose around 20% of your engines power output, your fuel bill became seriously cheap ( depending on the price of gas of course LOL )...
I had my 5.0-ltr V-8 fitted-up with the Poli-Auto kit, & couldn't believe it when I first filled it up with around 60-liters of gas, & got back a fiver from a 20-dollar note...It was costing around $80:00 in gasoline for the same fill at the time...
You may find that in around 10-years, once a great many cars & trucks have converted to LPG gas, the government will stick the price of gas up, & kill-off the industry. That's what they did here.
Another problem will be the engines running rough from a poor blend of gas-fuel. They're meant to run on Propane only, but fuel companies will mix Butane in the fuel too, to make more money...At a certain percentage of mixing, the engine will develop a poor idle. The only fix is to source a good gas out-let, that doesn't blend the fuel. You'll find that Taxi drivers will know where the best fuel is...
-- Edited by Rastus on Tuesday 6th of November 2018 12:34:16 AM
__________________
"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
Yeah I don't know what to do. My strategy was to let it expire so I wouldn't have to do any shit work, but it turns out we have been getting a whole lot of gas powered shit work rolling in the door, so it may be a moot point. Can't win either way.
It's all shit work. Personally, with my experiences giving up creds it's good to have them. My 2 cents anyway.
So it would seem that Ford Ranger Raptor in the video above is only made in South Africa and only sold there and a few other countries such as New Zealand and Australia. While that is good news for Rastus, one does have to wonder where the US made Ranger Raptor would come in at for pricing since already the fully loaded Ranger is $48k and the Ford F150 Raptor just a little south of $60k.
Here is an article that makes some good points except for one - where is the 5.0 v8 and why is not in the Raptor F150!?
