View single post by john112deere

Posted: Sun Jun 28th, 2020 01:49 pm

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john112deere

Joined: Fri Nov 10th, 2017

Location: Vermont USA

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Sad to say that for the first time in, uh, 17 years I don't have a roadworthy Ranger anymore...my '09 was showing the ravages of 10 New England winters, and although I could've probably patched it together and kept driving it a little longer, I could see a fair amount of work on the horizon, and I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep pulling trailers without worrying about frame integrity...so it was time to send it down the road.

I'd been thinking very seriously about a good, clean rust-free Ranger from some other corner of the US- pay a bit too much for a nice one, and put a bit of money into it- still worked out to be cheaper than a new rig. But, for obvious reasons, a cross-country trip for a new truck got a little too complicated this spring...and I (sorta) threaded the needle on trade prices vs incentives on a new Tacoma last month. The last week of April was really the time to buy, but I missed that by a couple weeks.

Didn't even bother to drive a new Ranger- without a manual, there was no way I'd buy one...and of course test drives were a lot more logistics this year than most. Would've liked to see how it drove (same for the Colorado) but in the end it came down to a Wrangler 4-door or a Tacoma...and after driving both, it wasn't that hard a choice. The Wranger wasn't any worse than I expected in the ways they're known to be bad, but the 2020 didn't put a grin on my face the way the TJs do...which makes the bad tougher to accept.

It's a nice truck- TRD Sport, crew-cab with the 5' box...3.5 V6 with the 6-speed manual. My biggest gripe is how much physically bigger it is than my Ranger- it's a compact truck in every useful way, and rides like it (that's not a compliment) but it's a LOT bigger for the exterior dimensions. (An extended-cab 6' box rides on the same wheelbase with the same bumper-to-bumper dims, so it's not the crew-cab that does it, either.) I'm perfectly comfortable driving a big truck- I hold a Class-A CDL- but I don't need or want one.

Still got a worn-out, rotted-out '97 down in the shed- can't bring myself to get rid of it but not sure what's left to save on a truck that rusted out at 272k miles, then sat outside for almost a decade...but she's an old friend, and that choice can wait for another day.

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Last edited on Sun Jun 28th, 2020 01:53 pm by john112deere