What We Love And Hate About The 2019 Ford Ranger

Tweaking the styling has kept the Ranger looking fresh but there are still places where the truck's old bones poke through. Ford's Sync3 infotainment is starting to feel its age, so hopefully, the next-generation Ranger gets the company's new Sync4 system. This generation Ranger also has the same gauge cluster we hated in the Edge ST, which annoyingly splits important information between two small screens on either side of the speedometer.

Although the Ranger has plenty of safety tech compared to its competitors, some of these features aren't as advanced as other Ford models. For example, the Ranger's adaptive cruise control can not bring the truck to a full stop in traffic.

Full-size trucks have mostly moved on from their utilitarian roots to become comfortable daily runabouts. Mid-size trucks, on the other hand, can be quite stiff and unrefined in some instances. The Ranger, luckily, does not suffer from this issue. The ride is smooth and the steering is light, meaning the truck is easy to negotiate in tight parking lots. We enjoyed the seat comfort in our Lariat trim tester and we'd much prefer to drive the Ranger on a long highway journey compared to the Toyota Tacoma we tested earlier this year.

The top F-150 trims offer enough creature comforts to consider one over an expensive luxury sedan but the mid-size Ranger isn't quite as nice. Our top Lariat trim was fitted with leather seats and improved interior materials but there are still plenty of hard plastic surfaces inside and the feeling is even worse on lower trims. We hope Ford brings some of the comfort features from its larger F-150 down to the Ranger in the next generation.

Ford only offers the Ranger with one engine and transmission option in the US: a 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder producing 270 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque going out to a 10-speed automatic. This powertrain feels much quicker than the V6 found in the Tacoma and is capable of towing up to 7,500 pounds, which is class-leading. We wish there was a manual option, but it seems like fewer trucks in this segment are continuing to offer one.

We understand why Ford didn't go through the trouble of bringing the Raptor model to the US, given the amount of development work that would have been required on an already aging truck platform. But there are rumors that the next-generation Ranger will spawn a Raptor model in the US, known internally as "Project Redback." The global market Ranger Raptor is powered by a twin-turbo diesel engine, which likely wouldn't sell well here. But we hope and expect that the next-generation Raptor will make it stateside.