TimothyH

Posting this in the gravel forum because we tend to be somewhat adventurous. Outsiders would call many of us "Strange."

I really enjoyed this commercial, especially the kayak guy. I'm not about to go buy a truck because of it but whomever made it probably understands where our minds are at.



-Tim-

Happy Feet

Ah.. the old selling a lifestyle commercial. At least they tried to make it funny instead of subliminal like the luxury suv ad's. But everyone knows the real adventurers are driving mini vans

Lemond1985

I don't think too many Ford Ranger drivers I see on the road do many Extreme Sports, other than extreme beer-drinking. But hey, if appealing to people's Ideal Self sells low-end pickup trucks, why not. Anything to make people forget about Ford factories building trucks for the Nazis during WWII:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_G...ord-Werke_GmbH

wheelsmcgee

TimothyH

Nazis?

Bill in VA

As the owner of a 22 year old Ranger 4X4, when Ford first announced the return of the Ranger a few years ago, I was cautiously hoping. My 1997 has been dead reliable since new and still meets all emissions, plus I just do not wasn a full size truck, in size or cost. Add in that in Virginia with its annual personal property tax, the truck is now tax free.

I signed up for the 'keep me informed' mailings. However, that TV ad was prefaced by a 2 year long e-mail media campaign. Unfortunately with each new email or mailing, everything seemed to presage that it was going to be a tech-heavy and optioned 'life-style' truck with limited flexibility in optioning packages rather than a general purpose truck that could do many things . The lack of a V-6 option and the current lack of a 4 door with 6 foot bed, all available on a Toyota Tacoma, turned me off. Connected cars and tech are nice and convenient until they do not, and being proprietary and interconnected, are costly to fix especially since they are necessary even if you personally are not utilizing them. Besides, the smart pgone does most of them already.

I know a number of Ranger owners who were cautiously optomistic, but all are disappointed in the outcome to date.

I really like my truck (with a cap) for biking bike trips as both bikes can be carried fully assembled INSIDE and COVERED. For more heavily laden trips, the wheels come off. If the trip was muddy, the bikes can come home INSIDE and SECURE, and COVERED and the bed cam be hosed out. No fiddling with securing bikes to hitches or racks, no hitches scratching paint on the car or bike, no trips for hours in pouring rain on the bikes, no brake levers digging headliners, no lookie-loos playing with the bikes when you stop, etc.

mstateglfr 

haha, wow that was an impressive job forcing a Nazi mention into the thread.
kudos for working so hard to make it work.

so far nobody cares, but perhaps someone will eventually care that Ford of Germany from 3/4 of a century ago used forced labor or built trucks for the country's ruling party.

TimothyH

Can't you guys look past the truck and 20th century genocide and take a moment to enjoy the guy rolling the kayak?

"You'll find more cheer in a graveyard."
- Gimli, Lord of the Rings.




-Tim-

Metieval

I am more sold on the 2020 AWD Transit.

Unless your using a tailgate pad, small trucks hauling bicycles is crap! IMO, been there done that. Didn't like it.

Now had ford given us a SFA Ranger..... I might have 100% considered it..... if I was in the market for a Jeep. Those days are in my past though. I just want to go to the trail head, park, and then let the real adventures begin.

CodyDog

I did like the commercial as well as a few of their others. Adventure sport theme is good with me.

CliffordK

I thought Ford had discontinued the Ranger.

They brought it back to life?

Man, the new version has a tiny bed. It can't even fit a couple of tiny kayaks into the bed.

Lemond1985

I believe the Rangers were built by Mazda just before the model was discontinued.

CliffordK

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Ranger

It sounds like a complex relationship between Mazda and Ford.

For the USA market, the Ford Ranger bodies were produced in the USA, but it is possible major drivetrain components were produced elsewhere.

Bill in VA

For the USA market from 1994 on (and some earlier versions), the Ford Ranger bodies frames and most other parts were produced in the USA, but it is possible major drivetrain components were produced elsewhere.

The Ranger was built in the US. The same period's Mazda B2300, 3000, and 4000, were just re-badges. However depending on which engine and trans you specified you might have a US, German, or Japanese component. My Ranger has SAE bolts on the truck, but the engine (German) and trans (Japanese or German) are metric. For the 1998 year the front suspension were from the Explorer. I believe 1998 may have been when the 4 liter engine went to SOHC. Keeping the same body shell was a blessing and a curse for Ford. From 1995 until end of production (2012) some parts interchanged others did not. It was a real truck and Consumers Reports, etc always gave a downgrade and said it rode like a truck... duuh. Parts were plentiful for the Ford (still are), but folks wanted new and different and Toyota gave it. I still see more old Rangers on the road than old Toyotas. Every garage and auto parts store in my area used base models for parts chasers, now they use the small Ford Transit vans of Prius V cars.

I am glad Metieval commented about the Transit AWD. To me that would be the ultimate bike and dog mover for security.

mrv 

The Ranger has been a global vehicle for..... a really long time.
The version being built & sold in the US now is from that global platform. The old Ranger was also badge-engineered for Mazda. As the original Fusion was very much a Mazda6 for a few years (my wife is still driving her Mexican built '09 Fusion 5spd manual 4cyl with over 100k miles on it).
I've got one of the last Foci built here in Michigan - which is the plant that is now building the Ranger.

I suppose if the history of a company affects your purchase of their products today then maybe you're driving a GM product (maybe not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_%26_Me)
You certainly would not drive any Japanese products: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sino-Japanese_War)
Chrysler is now owned by Fiat, Italian!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini
And of course if Ford's history is going to be held against us them, Mercedes, VW, BMW, and Porsche would be held to the same standard.

And last kind of related and not funny that I found funny - the poor guy who sold his F150 plumbing truck to an auction house that sold it off to the middle east: https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/14/us/te...uit/index.html

- Guess it's good this is the Bikes Forum!

cheers.

TimothyH

Wow.

phile

with "free candy" written on the sides?

chas58

Agreed. My wife loved the Jeep commercial - the lifestyle made her want to buy a jeep (or maybe that was just her excuse). Then she saw this commercial and thought it was another Jeep commercial, lol.

I like the commercials. They are fun. I've lived that lifestyle - whether I was driving a jeep, Subaru, or whatever. As long as its not an SUV* (wrangler gets a pass), and I can carry all my gear, fit a bike inside and sleep inside in a pinch, I'm good.

*Its got to have good lap times, because it will be driven on a track.

5teve

I drive a GMC Canyon, pretty much a direct competitor of the new Ranger. I can fit 2-3 bikes in there along with a couple weeks worth of gear and hit the road! With the cap on it, my bikes and gear stay reasonably secure and out of the weather. I'm really happy with it. I was interested to see the new Ranger and it seems like a decent little truck, but it doesn't really bring much new to the table. My Canyon has one feature that the new Ranger just can't match-it's PAID FOR! B-) I'll drive it for a few more years, hopefully someone will build a hybrid/electric bike hauler that will take its place. My Canyon gets decent mileage for a 4wd truck but if something comes along that is more economical but with similar capacities and capabilities I'd be interested.