TireSmoke.org

After some research about midsize pickup trucks, and some debate with myself, I decided that if I could get a good enough deal on a new truck, I would trade in the VW and then sell the F250 and narrow my fleet down to one daily driver that would handle at least most of my work load too. I narrowed my search down to Rangers and Colorado / Canyons. What I wanted was an extended cab, 2wd work truck. The V6 Colorado with the tow package would pull up to 7000# like Fred's truck, and the Ranger with the 2.3 Turbo (only engine choice) is rated to 7500# with the trailer package. The Ranger has a little more carrying capacity, but not enough to sway my decision.
It seems that there aren't many 2wd extended cabs around NE Ohio, and then throw in the tow package kicker and there are even less. After some decent internet searching, I found a 2020 Ranger at Park Ford in Tallmadge that had what I needed and also a 2021 Colorado at Sarchione Chevy in Randolph. Both of these trucks had a sticker price within a couple hundred bucks of each other. I was leaning toward the Chevy, but liked the Ranger too and it seemed to be more equipped for the money. Long story short, the Ford dealer offered me $500 more for my trade AND had a $1500 bonus if I was trading in a vehicle, which made my Golf worth way more at the Ford dealer and thus got my payment down almost $40/month lower than the Chevy.
So today Dad and I took the drive to Tallmadge and brought home the new Ranger. It's a nicer truck than I expected really. The 2.3 turbo is pretty strong (270HP / 310 lb Ft) and it has a 10spd auto that really keeps the motor on boil under WOT but goes pretty unnoticed during normal driving. The bed is a little deeper and wider than I expected too, which is nice, and the miniscule back seat bottoms are removed easily, and probably will be for life. I would never subject anyone to that back seat except Abbey, who will be OK with it.
I still have a bunch to learn about the controls, and will over time. Even though it's an XL "base" model, it still has tons of gadgets. The only options this truck has is the SXT package (aluminum 17" wheels, some graphics, and fog lights), and the towing package which is a hitch, a bigger front grill opening, and I'll assume a trans cooler. It even has rubber floors, but cloth seats.

Things I still need to do to it before it's really service ready:

Tonneau Cover
All weather floor mats to catch rocks and crap
Spray in bedliner
Brake controller
K&N Air Filter (yeah K&N)
Snow Tires and Wheels

It was a fun day and sunny, which has been rare. It took us a little extra time getting to the dealership, but I'll let Fred tell the tale...

More to come as we gather the parts and start using this as designed.

-BP

"“It was a fun day and sunny, which has been rare. It took us a little extra time getting to the dealership, but I'll let Fred tell the tale... ”"

It was early morning; I’d just finish my daily ride on my recumbent bike when I received a text from BP.
“I’ll be there at 10:15, find out where to go” to which I reply OK! I took a quick look at where Park Ford was,
I thought simple, down to 76 past Summit to Tallmadge Rd. which turns to East Rd, to West Rd. the address was 400 West.
Simple right.
Away we went, beautiful day for a ride, really excited about the new truck possibilities as we chatted along the way.
There is Summit, won’t be long now. Well, soon it became obvious something was amiss, so we stopped for a moment.
No problem, I saved the address 400 West St., so I had never used my cell phone to find anything, here was my big chance to try it.
Typed in 400 West St. and we were off following the gal in my phone. When she said we have arrived, it was a dead end street.
So, we stopped again. Now I asked my phone to find Park Ford, by now BP had his phone out and my phone agreed with his phone,
so now we were again only 15 minutes away from 400 West AVENUE which we were able to find.
Our original arrival time was 11, we did manage to arrive before noon.

After seeing the Ranger and a quick test drive, he was ready to “Do The Deal”.

This is only if I'm not as fast as a certain Hot Rod Canyon running around Chardon:

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/a ... nger-tune/

-BP

Since I still don't think liters, the converson gives 140 cubic inches. 320 HP from 140 CI is AMAZING!!.

320/140 = 2.28 RWHP/CI

WOW!!!

13s?? 12s??

I'd pay $825 for 45 horsepower and a warranty, pretty sweet deal!

It's a fair deal for sure. I'm guessing this won't happen, but you never know. It would be awhile though.
Stock I've seen that they've been tested about 14.6 in the 1/4. I would think the tune would be good for .3-.4. I'm sure I'll run it in the spring to see what happens. That will be good break in time.

-BP

Isn't that the same motor you ran in your brown Pinto station wagon back in the day?

Haha! Almost the same... This new one is way stronger. This motor in my Pinto and trans would have been a MONSTER!

-BP

Put one in an SVO Mustang and wake that thing up! It’s amazing the technology- with the factory upgrade that 2.3 has more HP and torque than my 89 Vette had from the factory. You still going to have a hard time catching it in the 1/4 mile

It's a little over 4145 lbs without me in it. It has a 3.73 gear and 7th gear is 1:1. I'm guessing it will be in at least 6th gear by the end of the 1/4, but probably 7th. I've read 14.6 @ 96mph out of these on 87 octane. But they do recommend 92 if you're towing, so that should help in race mode. On the right weather day, I would like to think a low 14 depending on traction. From a roll it would be interesting, at least up to the 111mph speed limiter, or the first curve in the road.

I got the new tonneau cover installed today. I ordered it from Summit on Friday and it arrived Sat afternoon. It fought me more than others I've installed, but it looks good. I'll post pics in the light.

-BP

With the sale of the F250 complete, I can move onto getting the spray in bedliner done. This is scheduled for next Thursday. I'm getting a Line-X PRO liner sprayed in. This stuff is apparently super heavy duty and basically indestructible. We'll see, but it will be nice to have it done so I can start beating the crap out of my bed.

I'll also probably get front all weather mats from these guys at the Lake County Line-X store.

-BP

BP,

How does the tonneau open? I did some pretty cheap electric latches on the El Camino.

It has one little latch on each rear corner and it just pops up when you release the latches (they're spring loaded). It makes it impossible to get into with the gate closed and locked unless you knife through the cover. It works pretty easily. If the factory did a factory cover with electric latches that would be cool, but I don't think I would make the effort to convert what I have.

Did you post about the electric latches on the El Camino? It would be cool to see.

-BP

Yes. https://www.tiresmoke.org/viewtopic.php ... eau#p13712

I remember now after reading it again. What you did certainly makes sense in that scenario, and budget friendly too! That was a cool ride for sure.

-BP