Not-Yet-Dead Ford Ranger Outsells Mustang In April

[The Dark Knight]

The Ford Ranger, one of the oldest vehicles currently in production, is slated for termination. That didn't stop It from outselling Dearborn's recently facelifted Mustang and these nine other vehicles last month. The Ranger's last major update? 2001. Wow.

SOURCE

[brandotron]

My 99 Ranger was the worst vehicle I've ever owned. Total lemon. That was the last Ford for me.

[cab2g]

I have a `00 Rebadged Ranger posing as a Mazda. It's nice having a truck that still looks new because they really didn't update it in 10 years... ahhhh. Now of course, the thing is slow as heck, but people still don't believe me when I tell them it's 10 years old. But the easiest way to tell is the frosted headlamps. They stopped using frosted headlamps on cars in the early 2000's for the most part.

[Dave McFly]

it says the last major update was in 2001, that is not correct, the last major update was in 93. they only gave it a new front clip, new interior, and changed the style of the rear lights and wheels in 2001. I know this cause my buddy had a 2002 ranger that got sideswiped and he got a door off of a 97/98 Ranger as well as the bed, he simply swapped out the tail gate and rear tail lights from his 2002 onto the older bed and then had it mounted to the frame and color matched to the rest of the truck. I wonder what ford's next small truck will look like.

edit, I looked up Ranger on wikipedia, sure the later models had some changes to the way they made the frames, and updated the front suspension but sheet metal wise they have been the same from the A pillar to the back of the bed. it is the same with the Ford Crown Vic it has basically been the same car since 1992 but the body on frame of it has been mostly the same as it has been since the mid 80s.

[Stew]

Originally Posted by Dave McFly

it says the last major update was in 2001, that is not correct, the last major update was in 93. they only gave it a new front clip, new interior, and changed the style of the rear lights and wheels in 2001. I know this cause my buddy had a 2002 ranger that got sideswiped and he got a door off of a 97/98 Ranger as well as the bed, he simply swapped out the tail gate and rear tail lights from his 2002 onto the older bed and then had it mounted to the frame and color matched to the rest of the truck. I wonder what ford's next small truck will look like.

edit, I looked up Ranger on wikipedia, sure the later models had some changes to the way they made the frames, and updated the front suspension but sheet metal wise they have been the same from the A pillar to the back of the bed. it is the same with the Ford Crown Vic it has basically been the same car since 1992 but the body on frame of it has been mostly the same as it has been since the mid 80s.

Not quite correct on both accts. the Ranger received a major suspension upgrade in 98 along with stying tweeks, 2001 got more suspension and styling tweeks and also picked up the 4.0 SOHC V6 along with the 5 speed auto, so 2001 was a rather major refresh.

The Crown Vic received suspension tweeks, a hydroformed frame and rack and pinion steering in 03. Styling was completely changed in 98 also and it is totally different from the 92-97 "aero" vics. I believe it was 2001 or 2002 when the Crown Vic got the PI headed 4.6 also.

[nova]

Originally Posted by Dave McFly

edit, I looked up Ranger on wikipedia, sure the later models had some changes to the way they made the frames, and updated the front suspension but sheet metal wise they have been the same from the A pillar to the back of the bed. it is the same with the Ford Crown Vic it has basically been the same car since 1992 but the body on frame of it has been mostly the same as it has been since the mid 80s.

And like the Crown Vic they'll probably keep making the things till the tooling wears out...

[Adam's Polishes]

LOL... thats nuts!! It has to be something to do with fleet sales... I think every city agency around here has at least a couple dozen of those things rolling around for various reasons.

[Sax1031]

I would have waited for the 5.0 myself. I could understand mustang sales slipping in anticipation of the new motors.

[motorhead]

I don't understand the point here. Where does it stack up against the other trucks in it's class? I see it beats the dodge, but that doesn't surprise me. What about the rest? There is where we will see why it's going bye bye.

[Dave McFly]

Originally Posted by Stew

Not quite correct on both accts. the Ranger received a major suspension upgrade in 98 along with stying tweeks, 2001 got more suspension and styling tweeks and also picked up the 4.0 SOHC V6 along with the 5 speed auto, so 2001 was a rather major refresh.

'styling tweeks' but that was limited to the front clip, trim parts and interior. the cab (minus the front clip), cab doors and bed were the same from 93 to present.