Affairs of state take precedence over our car enthusiast’s plans
This was supposed to be a New York International Auto Show spectacular. I even got myself to New York last Tuesday for the show’s Wednesday press day and was enjoying watching the Yankees thrash the Red Sox 8-0 when my wife texted me that my oldest son had given himself a concussion playing frisbee at school (don’t ask, just be glad for Claire’s sake that she has a strong sternum) and they were heading to the emergency room.
Also she wasn’t feeling too hot with what turned out on Wednesday to be pneumonia. Then I got it. Then my other son gave himself a groin pull doing I don’t know what. It’s all been a blur since then. So since I have no first person auto show content for you, instead let’s talk about the surprising resurgence of the midsize truck segment.
Now, it’s not a huge resurgence. Previously inhabited only by the very outdated Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon and Nissan Frontier (the current model was introduced in 2004!), there’s now competition from the new Ford Ranger and Jeep Gladiator. One of those is great, the other is terrible.
The terrible one is the Ford. Now, Ford isn’t having any trouble selling these overpriced, questionably-styled things. Apparently in some places they are 200 days behind on filling orders. But it just isn’t enough truck, even for a midsize, to be worth your while, because each of the competitors offers something it doesn’t, starting with the value proposition.
I’m only considering 4X4 models, because you shouldn’t buy a 2WD truck. I had an ‘84 Chevy C/K 1500, and stopping on a wet hill was a nightmare, because I was never going to get going again. To get into a 4X4 Ranger is going to run you the best part of $40,000.
A 4X4 Frontier, as old as it is, is maybe $29,000; and the Tacoma and Gladiator are $33,000 (admittedly, the Gladiator has only been on sale for a week and there may be a little price gouging going on right now); and the Colorado is inexplicably $35,000.
All of them, especially the Gladiator, are far better offroad. The Toyota will undoubtedly have the best reliability of them all, and it and the Jeep will have the best resale value.
The only engine available in the Ford is the corporate 2.3-liter Ecoboost turbo four-cylinder. Used in many Fords, its 270hp output in the Ranger is lower than any other application, which is actually good as this is generally a high-strung engine and I’d be concerned about its longevity in a truck.
Toyota offers either a little 2.7-liter four or 3.5-liter V-6; Nissan a comparable 2.5 or 4.0; Colorado has a 2.5, 2.8-liter four-cylinder diesel and 3.5-liter V-6, and the Jeep has the Wrangler’s 3.6-liter V-6 only, with a 3.0-liter diesel upcoming.
Only the Ford engine is turbocharged, and it comes only with a trouble-prone 10-speed, while all but the Colorado offer a manual (standard in the Jeep!) or a conventional automatic. All four have similar tow ratings, with the Gladiator slightly ahead at 7,650 pounds.
The only thing Ford has going for it against the competition is newness and features, and those are easily matched by the Jeep. Colorado, Frontier, and Tacoma will all have new or substantially new 2020 models, so Ranger’s got about twelve more months of novelty before it becomes an afterthought.
If it were my $33,000—and given my abiding mistrust of anything Fiat-Chrysler this is really saying something—it’d be the Jeep in a heartbeat, with the Toyota my second choice and no third. The Ford is just too little and too late out of the gate.
David Traver Adolphus is a freelance automotive researcher who quit his full time job writing about old cars to pursue his lifelong dream of writing about old AND new cars. Follow him on Twitter as @proscriptus.