Last week our Ford team invited media to Utah for their first experience with the all-new 2024 Ford Ranger and Ranger Raptor. They had driving experiences that included on- and off-roading, fresh snowfall, high altitude passes and towing including using the newly available Pro Trailer Backup Assist. Check back on Friday for Ranger Raptor first impressions.
Raves
That wider track and slightly longer wheelbase also help the truck feel very stable at all times, even when pushing it a bit harder than is probably advisable. – Lucas Bell, Road & Track
The 2.3 remains an impressively smooth engine with plenty of torque to make you wonder, at least in a vacuum, if something burlier is really needed. The Tacoma’s turbo-four feels a bit agricultural by comparison. – James Riswick, Autoblog
Ford's 10-speed automatic might seem like it has an unnecessarily large number of gears, but then you notice that it never really hunts for a gear while accelerating. And having all of those ratios so tight helps the turbocharged engine to provide strong yet smooth power — like a perfectly brewed cup of strong coffee. – Brian Wong, Edmunds
Steering feels totally normal, perfect, nothing wrong, the right amount of weight for a truck this size. Nothing wrong with steering is the biggest compliment ever. – TheStraightPipes
The improved ride quality makes the Ranger more comfortable for passengers, and the front seats also seem to be improved as well, providing plenty of support for even long trips – Brian Wong, Edmunds
We didn’t get to drive all day, but if we did, we’d just consider it a great excuse to ooze deeper into the plush seats and enjoy the comforts of the Ranger’s cabin, and every trim level was a comfortable place to spend time. Ride quality follows suit, as the Ranger seems to float like a pontoon boat over the road—this is a nice-riding truck. - Jefed Korfhage, Motor Trend
Yes! Simple vinyl floors, this is sort of the hallmark of base trucks, it’s nice to see here if you get in with muddy boots this is going to be easy to clean. – Truck King
The cabin is clearly the most improved player on the Ranger bench—of course, the front seats themselves are attractive-looking buckets. The surroundings are interesting and layered, and the materials are varied, mostly soft-touch, and attractive. – Dan Edmunds, Car and Driver
Suspension has been improved vastly from the last one, like literally it doesn’t even feel like it’s the same truck, like they could have renamed this something, that’s how good this suspension is now compared to the last one. – TheStraightPipes
Is the new Ranger a slam dunk? It has vastly improved stats, but it will take more game time and an instrumented test to know how it stacks up against the competition. It's clearly no longer alone in the basement, and despite a few quibbles, there's a lot we really like. – Dan Edmunds, Car and Driver
Its strengths continue to be its more maneuverable size and stout standard towing capacity, augmented this year by better on-road manners and improved tech, especially the towing assist. – Kyle Patrick, Autoguide
Ranger is equipped with first-in-class Pro Trailer Backup Assist and Trailer Reverse Guidance systems. No matter how experienced you are at towing, we can appreciate a bit of help finagling the camper backwards down a squiggly driveway. – Jefed Korfhage, Motor Trend
It’s massively, shockingly quiet inside. There’s tremendous amount of headroom, which can, surprisingly, be an issue in midsize pickups. Crucially, the window is near perfect as a place to rest your elbow while steering. – Rory Carroll, Jalopnik
Both digital displays work well, so don’t expect a penalty for not moving to a larger instrument cluster. – Wesley Wren, Autoweek
Payload (on our tester) is 1579, really impressed by that because a lot of these midsize trucks once you start adding options to the payload really drops quickly, and that is a pretty damn good payload number, that’s better than some full sized trucks. – Tim Esterdahl, Pickup Truck Plus SUV Talk
While the 2.3 sounds small, it delivers big. Punch the throttle and there’s a surprising amount of forward thrust, so much so a huge swath of buyers will never need to spend more for the bigger 2.7. More satisfying — and possibly the best attribute of the new Ranger — is the incredibly comfortable ride it delivers. – Derek McNaughton, Driving.ca
Gone are the EcoSport-with-a-bed looks, replaced with a stronger, more chiseled design all-around. Ford’s design team has raised the hoodline for a more confident look, without the Ranger becoming a caricature of aggression. – Kyle Patrick, Autoguide
I’d buy it over the Tacoma because of price, because of features, I like the seating position, I like the visibility, I like the room in the cabin, I like the fuel economy, wow, I’m running out of things to not like… Ford’s done a really good job here. – Tim Esterdahl, Pickup Truck Plus SUV Talk
I have a deeply embedded memory of dozing in bib overalls and parka, perched on a Ranger’s jump seat and pinched against the window, headed out to a dumb teenage job shoveling roofs for cash at a ski resort. Every time I see Ranger of any vintage, I am warmed by it. – Rory Carroll, Jalopnik
Rants
The electronic shifter in the Lariat is annoyingly counter-intuitive to use: its manual controls and lock button are in the same spots as this shifter, the left and front respectively, but the shape has me using the manual controls as the lock button. Every. Single. Time. Kyle Patrick, Autoguide
My list of let-downs in the interior is long. The seats are just OK; the cloth material on the XLT reminded me of the seat covers I got for $25 on eBay for my Scout—it’s super thin, and so is the cushioning under your butt. – Andrew Collins, The Drive
ROUGH, RUFF, that transmission tuning is rough… The transmission makes the truck feel slower than it is. – TheStraightPipes
This is just not a particularly pleasant vehicle to drive—which severely undermines the appeal of a mid-sized, family-friendly 4x4. From where I’m sitting, the new Ranger has the roughness of a Wrangler or 4Runner without the charm—I think that's simply because, while its chassis is refined, its interior is not. – Andrew Collins, The Drive
Hard plastic is found in ample supply, which really isn’t too big of a deal – it’s a truck. However, if you want soft coverings on the door panels, and touch points, moving up to the XLT and Lariat models will net exactly that. – Wesley Wren, Autoweek
Ravants (a cross between a rant and a rave)
The new 2024 Ford Ranger is a tough little truck that doubles down on useful features, particularly for towing, storage and working out of the bed. Less impressive is the interior, though, which leaves a bit to be desired. - Stef Schrader, Cars.com
