Motor Trend Jumps Right In: Tacoma vs. Ranger

I loved my old Mazda ranger (b4000). I was looking forward to replacing it with a new ranger. But after looking at the truck in its US spec I just decided I'd prefer a taco more.

Id absolutely kill my old Mazda back if I had the room. By far my favorite truck to live with.

 

The new ranger drives totally different than a taco. It’s from one extreme to other from that dated 6 speed tranny to a tranny that’s trying to do too d@mn much 10 speed. And yes, the ranger is way faster than the Taco when I judged it by the seat of my pants. I still prefer the Taco for many more reasons than it darn good looks.

 

I think they call it Cactus Gray, those bizarre bedsides really throw off the look of that truck.

 

Without reading the article, that crazy ass beltline on the ranger is a deal killer by itself, without even considering any other aspect of the truck.

What's the point of a truck if you can't reach over the rail and lift a 30 pound sack out of the bed? Might as well get a van.

 

I feel ya. One of my fav trucks was my 2000 Ranger Off-road but at 250k it went away years ago. While still driving my cherry first gen Tacoma I highly anticipated the “new” Ranger. Waiting because of the gripes I’d heard about third gen Tacoma’s. Then..... a turbo 4cyl? Nope, no way. So I gave in to the third gen.

 

You say that, and they say that the Tacoma is offered with a 4.0L V6. Who is more not right?

 

Ford must have cut back their ad spend with Motor Trend this year...

 

I'm thinking the opposite. It reads like a smear piece sponsored by ma toyota

 

It is correct on the data page, so I assume they made a mistake? Correct on the other page as well.

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/toyota/tacoma/2021/

 

You could be right ... who really knows? I would love to see the data set from the Intellichoice car rankings but can't seem to find it anywhere. Would be really interesting to do a meta study of that data versus JD Power versus Consumer Reports. They all have flaws but taken as a whole it would be pretty revealing, I would bet.

 

Yes, they obviously made a mistake. That's my point.

 

Hardly worth arguing about. Correct in two places (I can't see the Intellichoice page) but wrong on the summary page. I would think it was an issue if they were wrong in all three places. Motor Trend has been around for many decades and are hardly an unreliable source. That's my point.

Carry on ...

 

I'm 5'11" and can't reach over the tailgate and touch the bed floor on the new Ranger. Silly.

 

Yeah, those bedsides and tailgate are way too high. I was sitting behind one in traffic and it looked like the top of the tailgate was about as high as the top of my windshield!

 

I am not arguing. You made the statement that they were not some second rate auto review publication and I pointed out a mistake they made as tongue-in-cheek jest.

 

I looked carefully at the Ranger. Heck, I even looked at the Ridgeline, just to see what it was about. I really wanted to like the Ranger -- and bear no ill will toward Ford at all. On the contrary, they are a great American company and I'd like them to do really well. I just didn't like it.

One big issue for me is that from a design perspective the Ranger was too boxy while the Tacoma was far more sculpted. Subjective, I know, but that's how it shook out for me.

It is also really weird how it looks so much bigger visually than a Tacoma but the numbers, as have been pointed out here, don't support those perceptions.

It will be interesting to see how much they change the design with the refresh, which is apparently coming soon.

 

I have no issues with Ford either, even own one. Loved the old Ranger's but honestly cant stand the new ones, besides the weird looks of it I absolutely loathe the powertrain.

 

Maybe I can get a Bronco. Fingers crossed when it gets some legs under it, it will be reliable.

 

New Ranger is coming out in a year or two from what I've heard.

The design of the current one is super bland to me. It was clearly designed for markets outside of America.

 

The new Bronco is supposed to use the next Gen Ranger Platform, wonder if it will get the same 7 speed Manual?