Maybe we will get lucky and truck makers will take notes. I'm not a fan of the HUGE lettering that has become a trend on the grill of pickups.  The tailgates often have it also but for whatever reason that isn't as bad IMO. 

Aside from the driving enthusiast, the manual doesn't offer any benefit. They no longer shift quicker, get better efficiency, offer better performance, or any of the other advantages they used to be able to claim. I would imagine just from a manufacturing cost standpoint, it will start to make little sense for any company to keep it as an option. 

21 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Ford at least has a switch to turn that dastardly feature off, but you have to bemember to do it every time you start your vehicle.

I've been dealing with the start stop for a few days on a new F-150. That is some annoying s#1*. To have the engine shut off for less than a second only to restart itself seems like a lot of excessive wear and tare on the starter and engine. Not to mention the constant needless shifts on the transmission. And I'd be willing to bet all the extra wear on so many components isn't saving fuel in many cases. 

28 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I'm not getting what you're referencing here with the Sierra tho... 

All the boasting about superior steel, and now this.  Or how about the attack on the Ford tailgate step, and now this.  The marketing for GM is awful IMO.  The awful marketing is often followed by copping what they made fun of.  

4 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Why so glum, bud?   I mean, I was scared at first but I'm OK now.

I wonder if Honda and Ford will attack the same way GM's marketing did. Does anyone else remember the old Suburban commercial that that backfired when it tried to down the Expedition?  If GM was physically capable of putting foot in mouth, that foot would be there quite often. 

Congrats GM. Ok, not really.  

H2= Bummer. 

I've never cared for the Bimmer. 

"called EcoBlue.  "

Give me a flipping break. 

On 2/1/2018 at 4:13 AM, frogger said:

would probably sell better than the Ridgeline

I saw another report saying the automakers knew what was going on and how the money was being spent. Not good. Have to wait and see if the news is going to spread. If it does this will be a bigger black eye than cheat software IMO. 

This could do more financial damage than cheat software.  Not because of fines, but because of public image. I saw the story on the news this morning. All they said was VW was testing diesel emissions on monkeys, then moved on. If the population only hears that and not the part about VW didn't promote or condone those tests, and took action against it, opinion could plummet doing real damage. I could talk to a room full of people and be surprised if anyone knew about the cheat software. However, in today's society, everyone is more than happy to jump on the latest cause.  And animal cruelty is the kind of thing that spreads like wild fire on social media. If this goes viral it would be hard to find someone that didn't hear about it.  That could be a bigger problem than government fines. 

On 1/14/2018 at 10:50 AM, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Well, this Ranger is a midsize, though, which are usually V6...definitely not as small as the old Ranger. This is Colorado/Canyon sized. 

Perhaps I misspoke, wasn't clear, misused punctuation, or in some way failed to get the point across here,,

Quote

 The "mini" truck market killed itself when they all got so darn porky the line between full size and small became blurred.

Although I did think this covered the point,

Quote

 isn't the real question, is the Ranger going to offer economy in both efficiency and value for those that don't want/need a full size?

Quote

 

  On 1/14/2018 at 10:07 AM, dfelt said:

Yet many DO NOT need a Full size or Mid Size truck. This is a great looking truck with plenty of great options, but like @Drew Dowdell no V6 is a NO GO for me.

I think Ford missed the Boat, they could have cleaned up with a modern Mini Pickup that offered all these configs. I do believe that many people especially in the City want a mini pickup for their various projects.

 

I'll debate what is in bold if you would like. 

Quote

If it still has the get up and go it needs and can do light towing, I am more than fine with that....

And the above quoted sums up what a "small truck"  job is. 

Quote

 

I think saying no V6 is a deal killer is a bit extreme.   Isn't the point of small trucks for people that don't want/need a full size, and economy. The "mini" truck market killed itself when they all got so darn porky the line between full size and small became blurred. It became a comparison between near economy and size of the big brother for about the same price. I'd say at best the small trucks are midsize to large compared to what the popular small trucks used to be.

So isn't the real question, is the Ranger going to offer economy in both efficiency and value for those that don't want/need a full size?

On that note, I'd also love to see speachal edition performance options like days gone by. But that's not the bread and butter of this particular market. 

3 minutes ago, regfootball said:

but does a lighter truck have a more difficult time providing traction for safe towing?

Naa, they just need to use some of that magic spring dust like in past years. 

I'll say it again,.  Ford needs to price this (at least a couple decently equipped models) in the Frontier range. The Frontier has been mostly unchanged since forever. But people still buy because of the price of entry. If they offer a couple decently equipped models at a low entry people will line up. They can do a King Ranch Ranger (or whatever a top of the line Ranger is) for the others that want a 50K small truck. 

I wonder if a wind tunnel had a lot of say in the new design. I personally think the 94 to 2002 were the best looking trucks they made. I didn't like the softer design that started in 03.  However it wasn't a complete departure from the big rig look, and though I didn't like it as much I did get used to it. Dodge was put back on the map in 94 because so many people loved the style. Unfortunately the new style is pretty much a complete departure from what so many loved. 

21 minutes ago, lengnert said:

And, Scout, I am not enamored with the name EcoSport either, but at least Ford didn't resurrect the name Probe! 

It's not the Eco sport I have a problem with. It's the greenie we're speachal and good to the earth image the companies want the general population to associate with it. It's stupid!  To be fair I have the same problem with Mazdas sky BS, the eco Leaf BS from Nissan, and or any greenie we are saving the world BS from all manufacture's. It became popular several years ago, and hasn't gone away. Though some makes have lightened up. Unfortunately in Ford's case, the eco boost is so prevalent that they seem to be stuck. Also, in Ford's case, as so many others have already pointed out, you can have eco or boost but not both. Making it that much more stupid. 

23 minutes ago, lengnert said:

EcoSport...?

What a ridiculous name. Ware is the barfing smiley. 

7 minutes ago, dfelt said:

1980's Toyota Custom Cab Pickup were 3rd party built trucks with a sleep cab,

I didn't realize those were aftermarket.  Well, I guess that being the case you could always have a MEGA X 2 truck if you have the money and desire.

http://www.megax2.com/

1 minute ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

I've seen a few of those...even saw one in the Phoenix area still going about 5 years ago. 

Speaking of custom Toyota trucks, I always wondered if this Hot Wheels Toyota from 1980 or so is from Mattel's imagination or if something real was built like this, maybe a one off custom...

 

That makes me think mini Dolphin. 

11 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

As was brought up in Chris J's post, GM is now calling their extended cabs double cabs.  Which is odd, since Double Cab was always synonymous with Crew Cab in my understanding.  Problem is everyone uses a different term for an extended cab---Super Cab, Quad Cab, etc.

To name a few. Over the years they have had many more. 

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/2/4673/4041/24182020002_large.jpg

If I remember correctly that is a custom cab. 

We have also had supper cabs, King cabs, x-tra cabs and so on.  

20 minutes ago, Chris Jenish said:

Your forgetting about the Double cab. 

No, I'm aware of the different configurations. The article says they will be building more crew cabs. I was  surprised the "crew cab" was only 60 percent of sales. I really would have expected it to be more. 

I don't know what they are thinking.  Maybe Audi hasn't given up on F-ing up the names of the lineup. Like the ridiculous name based on displacement thing.