2004 Ford Ranger reviews

So, you get all the dealer wonderment about how these things are "bulletproof", "are the most popular truck in the Asia Pacific region" and have stated you want to tow a heavy American Airstream trailer. What you get with a brand new motor (back in 2004): Truckman top just never arrived so 

I was refunded after a 3 months wait and fitted the more rounded roof with roof spoiler(!) model, which actually looks better. I purchased mine in 2004 with standard warranty. In 2007 after 3 years I bought the 5 year extended warranty for £1000; full cover stated the dealer. Stated every service that the smoke was just starting to get noticed. To date I have always taken to the main dealer and had it serviced at the correct mileages. It’s never been abused in the cold and never thrashed. 6 months later I had lots more smoke coming out of it so asked to have it looked at. £1,700 for an inspection as the warranty only covers repairs! The smoking comes from valve seals or something different so they charge to find the fault, the warranty only covers fixing the fault! So on start up (at 30k miles onwards) it has belched out blue/black smoke on start up every day. With no weight or loading when you try reversing up a mild incline you get a smoke screen of fried clutch (been driving 25 years so know how to reverse), no matter how gentle you are to get some movement. Useless in snow/ice melt with the factory Duellers, all over the place on mettled roads. Do not attempt to corner at a reasonable speed in the wet when unladen, you can practice skid pan control on most wet roundabouts. I had 43K out of first set of Duellers and they still had wear left in them so they are made of wood I guess. Falken LandAir AT 110 are working well, but they change the dynamic of the handling so you feel less bumps and have a smoother ride, again the Duellers are made of wood. Fog lights on Thunder are at chip height and I have had 4 so far as they also randomly fill up with water and corrode so they can’t change the bulbs, so it’s £75+fitting+VAT if you want fogs the next year! The MPG is miserable, mainly as the design template was a brick in 2003 wind tunnel, so cruising at 70 (78 on speedo) gives a max 26 mpg un-laden, 18mpg with 200kg in the bed area at the same speed; don’t even think of going faster with a heavy load, you can watch the gauge drop as you put your boot down, plus if you are on motorway in windy conditions it’s like trying to steer a bouncy castle. Every now and then the Speedo zings around to 140mph then to zero, then back to the actual (well, indicated) speed; the Speedo is over the actual speed by 15%, so when doing 70 on the clock the GPS states you are doing 63. I have had to fit a new battery every three years (Winter and cold spell) so far as the charge was just not holding, so maybe not being charged that well. Now I have a fancy new type of battery that is so powerful the engine bursts into life, before it sounded like an asthmatic for 5 seconds before firing up. The 4WD is easy to operate, with electronic diff locks when you engage 4WD, the manual states to NEVER use 4WD if on a any mettled/tarmac road, so you are in effect buying a 2WD for road use, not a 4WD. When you do engage 4WD and turn it will kangaroo around and generally grind to a halt if you use any more than minimum lock. Good points: You can load it up to the roof of the truck top, take out the back bench seat and load that up as well and as long as you can afford 15mpg you can get about anywhere with the right tyres. The interior is a pleasant place to be, although the spings in my seat have now made their way through the padding so some after-markets on the shopping list. Ditch the radio unit and fit something average like a Sony 40+40 Watt unit with factory speakers and MP3 port and I’m happy driving from South London to the Isle of Skye with a few breaks. Also with 2004 understated looks I prefer it to the replacement 2006 that looks like it has most of Halfords bling items bolted onto it, and the stupid higher sides around the bed so you can’t transfer the truck top over from the old one unless you want even more drag. So, would I buy another one, NO. I’d probably go with a Toyota after watching Top Gear drive to the North Pole in a Hilux, the Ranger would have blown up for sure. Also, there are no real options to upgrade suspension to heavy duty like you can get on a Land Rover 130 as standard, no options for after market hubs and manual diff locks, and so I am going to get another vehicle to go to Cape Town towing the Airstream.