Ford Ranger is North American Truck of the YearFord Ranger is North American Truck of the Year
The jury says it is the best mid-size truck, but is a mid-size truck really the best choice for pickup drivers?

At a Glance
- The Ranger is equipped with a turbocharged 2.3-liter EcoBoost I-4 engine rated at 270 horsepower and 310 lb.-ft. of torque.
- Rear-seat storage and passenger space sets it apart from rival mid-size trucks.
- The mid-level XLT's bottom line is $45,709.
Ford’s redesigned mid-size Ranger pickup is a perennial best-seller and the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury has named it 2024 North American Truck of the Year. The other finalists were the Toyota Tacoma mid-size pickup and the Ram 1500 full-size truck.
The voting guidelines for the jury (I’m a member) are to consider a candidate’s qualities only against those of other vehicles in its class, so this wasn’t a comparison of two mid-size trucks to a full-size truck, it is a comparison of them against each other and the others in their class, while the Ram was considered against its existing rivals like the Ford F-150.
The jury decided the Ranger is best this year, and one clear advantage in my test truck compared to the Tacoma reviewed a few months ago is the utility of the truck’s back seat. The Ranger’s back seat is snug, as is typical among mid-size trucks, but it is at least useable.
The Tacoma’s back seat has a uselessly small amount of legroom when the front seats are in a comfortable position for fully grown adults. The Ranger’s handy storage space beneath the rear seat bottom cushion.
Design News covered the new Ranger’s specifications when it was introduced, but as a reminder, power comes from a turbocharged 2.3-liter EcoBoost I-4 engine rated at 270 horsepower and 310 lb.-ft. It drives through a 10-speed automatic transmission whose shifter is a console-mounted lever rather than the previous rotary dial.

Cloth upholstery is comfortable, but the all-black scheme makes the Ranger's cabin drearily dark. FORD MOTOR CO.
It is a traditional PRNDL shifter that slides through discrete positions for each gear, which is preferable to the spring-loaded return-to-center joystick-style shifter that can leave the driver unsure of which gear is selected. Those also involve the motion of pushing the shift lever forward to select Reverse rather than pulling it back, which introduces a needless risk of drivers accidentally going the opposite direction they intend.
The tested mid-level Ranger XLT is one level above the base XL and shows its relative position with its fabric seats and lack of amenities like heated seats and steering wheel. I like fabric seats, so I don’t consider that a shortcoming in any way, but I didn’t care for the drab all-black interior appointments. But available seat and steering wheel heat as a reasonably priced standalone option would be appreciated.
The standalone options that were installed were the well-worth-it $95 exterior keypad for unlocking the doors and the $495 spray-in bedliner, which is also a good value. The locking differential, which costs $420, is a great insurance policy for not getting stuck in the sand or snow.

A step cut into the side of the Ranger's bed makes the cargo carried inside more accessible. FORD MOTOR CO.
But the value of the $2,305 tow package plus tech package is more debatable, along with that of the $945 equipment group. The Ranger’s numbers, and the Tacoma’s too, just don’t make a lot of sense. The truck’s bottom line is $45,709 as a fabric-seat almost-base truck, which seems like a lot for a less-than-full-size truck.
The EPA rates the four-wheel-drive Ranger at 20 mpg in city driving and 24 mpg on the highway, but unsurprisingly, my test truck was in the upper teens in around-town driving whose work included picking up a load of mulch from the dump, which is about six miles away. So the fuel economy numbers, like the price tag, are pretty similar to those of a full-size vehicle.

The Ranger's in-bed AC power outlet provides convenient electricity for campsites or power tools. FORD MOTOR CO.
The Ranger’s 128.7-inch wheelbase is longer than that of a short-bed F-150. In combination with the new Ranger’s additional 2.5 inches of width, any hoped-for benefit in terms of the ability to park it as a daily driver is nonexistent.
So, there are surely specific situations where the Ranger’s price and specifications make it preferable to an F-150, but for the majority of truck buyers, it seems like the benefits in terms of having real, useable cab space make the move up to the full-size truck worthwhile. While the jury may not have compared the Ranger to full-size pickups, customers should definitely do so.
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