I've had my little Ranger for 3 years and driven it around 40k miles of the 140k miles it has on it so I feel I can leave an honest review of it. It has 2.3l with a 5 speed Manual transmission. My wife refers to it as my old man truck since I recently turned 62. So that should give you an idea of it take off ability. Getting on expressways at rush hour isn't fun as it's a slow buildup of speed to get on. Once you get merged on its not hard to get up and maintain your speed. But the payback that I'm getting from this little truck is great, I get approximately 26 MPG in the city and 30 on the highway. I did recently have to put a little money into it for front Struts and a muffler but those are normal Maintenace items on a 21-year-old 140k mile truck. Other than changing the oil I've been able to drive 40k miles on $1,600 worth of repairs. Everything else on the truck is great, solid body with no rust.

My third Ranger a 2004 Xlt 5 speed Manual tranny 6cyl that I bought in 2007 with 52k. I now have 230,000 miles only issue when a ford dealer Mechanic didn’t know how to drive a manual, when I finally stopped doing all oil and all filter changes myself last year, I requested an experienced manual driver for my truck. I only use Motorcraft products and rarely change my gas only use Conoco I get 20+mpg have no fluid leaks or useage. I pulled a 18ft camper and several uhaul trlrs. Never had any issues. Have great speed pickup in traffic. This truck will be my forever vehicle to pass on to my great grandchild. LOVE MY RANGER

Had a 2004 4x4 manual ranger as a business vehicle for years I could recommend them if they aren't rotted out. Ours lasted 260,000 miles before the frame got really bad and it's now a farm truck. The engine is relatively reliable easy to replace and parts are cheap. The interior is sparse and cheap like an old pickup truck it's fine for what it is The exterior gets the job done and the 4x4 worked great in the winter. The manual shifter felt like a truck you knew it was in a gear. And it drove fine on the highway just don't expect it to be a race car I could overall recommend this truck to anyone as long as the frame isn't completely rotted out