2019 Ford Ranger RV towing recommendation and final evaluation

what's going on guys so this video is to talk about my overall impression of the 2019 Ford Ranger the things that I absolutely liked about it some things that I wish it did better but overall to give you my impression of what this truck was like over the last several days after driving is 2019 Ford Ranger for the last couple of days it has definitely proven itself to me in terms of power output torque and performance the 2.3 liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine paired to a 10 speed automatic transmission is the only powertrain option that you're gonna have available in this truck it produces 270 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque which really felt more than adequate for this sized truck driving through the hills driving on some really windy roads through various conditions I never felt as if I was lacking power I never felt as if I wanted something that was faster or with more torque or with more get up and go this truck handled and performed it very very well and that was very impressive for me I know the vast majority of people who were gonna look at buying this truck are simply gonna do it because they don't want the size and heft of a full-size truck they want a little bit more maneuverability when they're driving around in town and when they're parking and they want a truck they can still get up and go onto freeways and expressways with ease and I was really impressed by the overall performance and size of this truck and how the whole package kind of fits together really well now something that is a little confusing to me is the fact that there's no standard trailer brake controller that's built into this truck with the tow package so this truck has some very admirable numbers when it comes to towing and payload upwards of 7,500 pounds maximum towing with a payload capacity in the 1800 pound range when properly SPECT but not to have a factory installed brake controller was kind of confusing now that doesn't mean that there's not one available you can get one installed at your local Ford dealership it is an add-on accessory they built it into the dash so it looks nice and clean and part of the factory package it just doesn't make sense to me why they wouldn't simply offer it as an option when you're specking out the truck from the factory so something that's nice about the new Ford Ranger is that there several appearance packages that are available on the truck now one of those packages is kind of a carryover from the f-150 it's called the STX appearance package it gives you a bunch of upgrades that you would want if you're gonna get the excel package but you want it to look a little nicer a little fancier it gives you 17-inch painted aluminum wheels carbon black bumpers fog lamps some decals on the box as well as the premium cloth seats that give you a better overall feel to the seat than the standard cloth seats that you might have the second one's gonna be the sport appearance package so this is an option for the XLT in the lariat model and it basically includes some really nice options such as some magnetic painted tones around different parts of the bumper as well as the larious 17-inch painted wheels or the optional 18-inch machined aluminum wheels it also gives you some wheel lip moldings and some sport box decals so it's designed to dress the truck up a little bit more and give it more of an aggressive look it definitely made a big appearance difference on the trucks that were equipped with it at this specific event now the final package is the chrome appearance package and it essentially decks the truck out in chrome you get the skull caps on the mirrors you get a chrome grille chrome bumper a lot of chrome accents such as the wheels are also going to be chromed it gives you chrome exhaust tips it basically gives you that lariat look that a lot of people like on the f-150 and the Super Duty but optional on the Ranger as well and as you've probably heard from all the different review videos you've likely watched one of the nice things about the Ranger is that you get a steel front bumper and that really means a lot if you're gonna be taking the truck off-roading if you're gonna be going through adverse conditions where the front bottom can be scraping up against grass or limbs or things like that if you get it with the FX 4 package you also get a really nice steel bash plate down there that gives you extra protection especially if you're gonna be tackling more off-road type conditions so for it has definitely added all their safety technology to this truck they call it Ford co-pilot 360 which is essentially drivers assist technology that helps you navigate through crowded roads and highways it also gives you bliss which is their blind spot information system traffic alert and it also covers the truck as well as the trailer which is really nice as well as lane-keeping pre-collision automatic emergency braking Auto high beams and rear-view camera which is pretty much standard on all new vehicles it's really nice and it comes standard on Ranger XLT as well as lariat and it's even optional on the XL model so you don't have to worry about which trim package you have to have all the safety features you might really want one really nice feature is that they've given you standard LED reverse and tail lights so basically your entire taillight system is gonna be LED and those come in really handy especially if you're driving in some adverse conditions or it's a heavy downpour or snowing and you need some really bright intense lights so other people can see you and just makes your drive a little safer they've baked a lot of on-road and off-road technology into the truck as well so you have the optional adaptive cruise control with forward collision warning gives you the ability to set the spacing between you and the vehicle in front of you so when you're on cruise control as you approach a slower moving vehicle in front of you it automatically adjusts the speed of your vehicle to match that vehicle at a preset distance that you choose so it gives you a lot of convenience when it comes to driving on long trips where you might be following a vehicle or you might have to worry about vehicles cutting in front of you or going slower than you so if you get this truck equipped in four-wheel drive you're gonna have a shift on the fly system and lets you switch between modes 4x4 high-low as well as two-wheel drive if you're gonna be on a dry paved surface and it's a good system especially when you couple it with the FX for off-road package now this package is gonna get you monotube shocks a more aggressive tire it's going to get you a front bash plate a heavy-duty skid plates or even going to put skid plates to cover the power assist steering system as well as the fuel tank and transfer case so those of you who have had an FX 4 equipped truck recently know you get a lot of information on the information screen in the dash such as the pitch the roll the steering angle all of that what Ford's added to this truck are part of the terrain management system in the trail control system which lets you control the crawl mode when you're going uphill downhill how fast you're going as well as what type of terrain you might be traversing whether it's going to be mud ruts sand those types of conditions and you can control it and make changes through the driver information screen on the dash now let's talk about the driving dynamics of this trunk now it's not a Corvette it's not an Audi it's not a BMW and I don't review those types of vehicles so I'm not going to give you any type of comparative analysis between what a midsize pickup truck is versus a sports car or something that's designed for handling in my opinion this truck handled very well in my opinion it's also on par with what you might expect from a canyon or a Colorado or even some of the half-ton offerings it felt very secure very safe I didn't get a lot of body roll it definitely gave me a good a smooth comfortable feel much like you might expect from a luxury SUV in terms of pairing that to the engine platform I never felt like I was lacking power to move the vehicle and when I was going in and out of these twists and throughout these curves on this way up to the Bradford Ranch it definitely gave me the overall impression of a vehicle that was well mannered easy to drive and something that I could drive every single day on the road without worrying about getting fatigued or not being able to control the vehicle under certain conditions the seats were very comfortable I didn't have any type of back aches we were in this vehicle for three hours driving it up to the ranch and overall it felt really good and comfortable I really enjoyed the interior I think they did a great job with the bolstering it's a truck you could spend a lot of time in and not really feel achy when you step out of now I know a lot of folks are gonna want to know how I feel about using this truck to tow a travel trailer or an RV and of course towing a travel trailer RV is a lot different than towing a boat or a flat utility trailer in terms of what I would consider to be the maximum weight of an RV I would keep it under five thousand pounds gross vehicle weight rating which means the dry weight of the unit's probably going to be in the 3,500 to 4,000 pound range max with about a thousand pounds or 1500 pounds worth of payload for your specific travel trailer in terms of overall length I would keep it under 24 feet I think this truck is really the perfect size truck to tow something like a small apex Nano or an AR pod or even a small Airstream it's gonna give you the numbers you need and the capacity and capabilities you need to tow those comfortably because remember confidence and comfort are a big part of towing so let's end this video talking a little bit about reliability because I know that's always a concern for people in buying a new vehicle this specific platform has been in place globally for about the last eight years I believe 2010 is when they launched the Ranger globally so the US model has a few unique characteristics to it one of the nice things is that it's equipped with all disc brakes it's actually the same braking system that's on the global Ranger Raptor so that's really nice they've also put the steel front bumper on it which is a different characteristic than you're gonna see overseas it's designed more around comfort because Ford understands that people in the US drive longer distances than folks in other countries so for it is only offering this truck in two cab configurations and to bed configurations and of course the bed configuration is directly going to coincide with the cab configuration if you get the extended cab it's gonna have a six foot bed and if you get the crew cab it's gonna have a five foot bed which I think again for this size of truck it's gonna be adequate for the type of person that's looking to buy a midsize truck so I'm not too worried about the two different choices it's not going to be offered in a regular cab but if you think about it regular cab trucks just like manual transmissions are kind of a dying breed I know there's one percent of the population that still wants them but when it comes to building these things when it comes to specking them out manufacturers have to consider how many of those vehicles they sell and how long they're gonna sit on the lot and I think for the most part they've made the right decision to move away from manual transmission and regular cab trucks so you can still buy a regular cab truck in terms of half-ton and I think most people who want a regular cab truck would be happy with getting it and a half-ton configuration so to wrap things up I really had a lot of fun driving the Ranger I really put it through its paces on the off-road course drove several of the trucks and these things were hammered all day long by journalists over that off-road course we had a lot of fun with it and I really felt that the truck had a quality overall feel to it it definitely handled the course very well and all the different obstacles I had the opportunity to move four it into a Toyota Tacoma and see the differences from an interior ergonomics perspective and I really liked the direction that Ford went with this truck I was equally as impressed with the canyon in Colorado so I believe that this truck is a legitimate contender against the Tacoma and it's going to be a very close competitor to the canyon in Colorado in terms of the interior and the ride quality and the handling and what you're going to use it for so it's definitely a truck you should take a look at if you're looking at buying a midsize truck guys I really appreciate you for watching my channel I hope you enjoyed this multi-part review and it gave you a lot of information I know ton of reviewers are out there talking about this truck and giving you their overall feel I think it's a good buy I'm pretty happy with where they set the price and the overall package and options I do wish they added a few things like the trailer brake controller as well as a slow opening tailgate rear air conditioning vents some things that I've talked about in other trunks you know the rear air conditioning vent would really only be applicable to the crew cab model since the super cab or the extended cab is not really a place you'd want to see it anybody but overall I like the truck guys if you haven't had a chance please take a moment subscribe to my channel give me a thumbs up and we'll talk to you again very soon [Music] [Music]

Channel: Big Truck Big RV

Views: 78,055

Keywords: RVing, New RV, RV Shopping, Lippert, Jayco, Forest River, Toy Hauler, Winnebago, Coachmen, Airstream, Dutchmen, Morryde, Offgrid, Solar, RV Solar, Trailer, Apex, Voltage, F450, F350, F250, Living Vehicle, Light Ship, Crossroads, Cruiser RV, DRV, Entegra, Heartland, Keystone RV, KZ RV, Redwood RV, Starcraft, Thor, Tiffin, Venture, Riverstone, Dynamax, Palomino, Prime Time, Shasta, Grand Design, Newmar, Powerstroke, Cummins, Duramax, Towing, 2023, 2024, RV, Travel Trailer, Fifth Wheel, Coach, Motorhome, Toyota, 3500, 2500

Id: skUCUT3AO7k

Length: 12min 43sec (763 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 19 2018