2023 Ford Ranger

Pros:

• A powerful turbocharged engine lets the car move quickly.
• A lot of new safety features
• For city use, something more prominent than the F-150

Cons:

• It was a rough ride on a paved road.
• There is little room for storage in the cabin.
• The infotainment system is not the easiest to use.

How do you move the Ranger? The most appealing thing about the Ranger is its powerful 2.3-liter four-cylinder turbocharger. It doesn’t have the most horsepower in its class, but it’s close. The result is a vital engine that packs a powerful punch when in Sport mode. During testing by invoice pricing, our 4WD crew-cab test truck reached 60 mph in 6.8 seconds, which is fast for a midsize truck.

But the Ranger gets worse after that. Even though the 10-speed automatic transmission in other Ford cars is excellent, it is slow and hard to shift down in the Ranger. When going around corners with many bumps, the suspension is uncomfortable, the steering is too light and numb, and the truck nosedives a lot when you hit the brakes hard.

How comfortable does the Ranger feel? Some people might not be able to handle certain parts of the ride on the Ranger. Even small bumps in the road make the ride seem very springy and bouncy. More than one of our riders felt sick because the ride was too soft and not dampened enough. This makes some bumps seem more significant than they are.

On the other hand, the front seats are beautifully made, softly padded, and can fit a wide range of body types. The backs of the rear seats in the crew cab are a little higher than we’d like, but they’re still comfortable. Road, tire, and wind noises are effectively muffled. We had trouble with the system that controls the temperature. There are a lot of small buttons that are hard to see, and you can’t turn off each of the four vents separately.

How does the inside look? The Ranger has comfortable, easy-to-enter front seats. The position of the driver’s seat makes it easy to use the truck’s controls and see what’s going on under the hood, but some of our drivers needed help getting the chair to recline at just the right angle. Because the headboards are so high, it’s hard to see what’s behind them.

The annoying switchgear makes the inside of the Ranger look bad. Even though the controls are generally well set up, users may not be happy with how they work. Some signs of this are the lack of complicated rules for the entertainment system and the many small buttons on the climate control system.

How good is the tech? Most of the Ranger’s features are good, especially if you get an XLT or higher. These have a lot of USB ports and the Sync 3 infotainment system, which works with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on smartphones. This level also comes with the Co-Pilot 360 suite of driver aids, which includes blind-spot warning, lane-keeping assistance, and front collision warning.

On the other hand, the touchscreen could use a few shortcut buttons, and people who don’t have a smartphone or regular data access will have to choose the Technology package if they want built-in navigation. The voice commands for the Sync 3 system work well and can be used to play music, change radio stations, and use navigational features.

How are the storage and towing going? The Ranger can carry and pull a lot of weight. There are six places to tie things down in the bed, and we like that the tailgate is part of the central locking system. But the high sides of the bed can make it hard to load, and the steel bed and non-damped tailgate are just basic features.

The Ranger doesn’t have a lot of storage space inside. The back seat is a one-piece bench, which makes it hard to fit three people in the back and flip up part of the seat for cargo. It is also hard to store things under the seat. But because the center console and door cubby are short, there is little space for small items.

How well does it use gasoline? Based on the numbers, the Ranger gets the most miles per gallon of gas out of the group. The EPA says that in a mix of city and highway driving, a 4WD car can get 22 mpg. This is better than trucks with V6 engines that compete with it. Based on our past experiences with Ford turbocharged engines, this engine will not give us that advantage in real life. The best tank we saw on our test truck was 20.9 mpg, but we need to research and drive it more.

Ranger, is this a good deal? Lastly, the Ranger can get expensive if you want a model that is at least moderately well-equipped. That would make sense if we thought we were getting a lot in return, but the Ranger’s cabin, with its poor quality and old-fashioned look, hurts its case. The level of warranty coverage is typical for this type of product.

The Ranger sometimes needs to live up to expectations. It has a strong engine and some impressive numbers on the front. But more than these features are required to hide the fact that this truck is a hand-me-down brand new in other countries in 2011.

Our favorite Ford Ranger model is the one in the middle, the XLT. We like the XLT better than the XL because it can be changed to fit our needs. If you want to take the Ranger off the beaten path, the XLT can be upgraded with the Tremor Off-Road package and the necessary tech and convenience features.

Ford Ranger models

The 2023 Ford Ranger extended cab (SuperCab) and crew cab (SuperCrew) with a 5-foot bed are both midsize pickup trucks. You can choose from the XL, XLT, or Lariat trim level. Each has a turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine with a 10-speed automatic transmission that can drive the rear or all four wheels. It has a horsepower of 270 and a torque of 310 pound-feet.