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Almost exactly 30 months ago, I drove off the lot at Heritage Ford in a brand-new 2009 Ranger, equipped just about as close to what I wanted as Ford would build.
The day after I brought it home
Extended cab XLT, four-wheel drive, SOHC 4.0L V6, 5-speed manual, bucket seats and a rear slider. It's got a bunch of other features, too, but those were the top of my personal "want" list, though not quite in that order.
Late Monday morning, somewhere in western New York state, I saw this:
In that time, I've taken it to fourteen states and two Canadian provinces, and can still count on one hand the number of people I've let behind the wheel.
It's a good truck, and I like it for all the reasons I bought it for, but I can't say I've fallen in love with it, and at this point I rather doubt I ever will. It's better equipped, far more powerful, almost infinitely better in the snow, and of course much younger than my '97 was even when I first got it, but it also rides worse, sucks more gas, has worse seats and a generally crappier interior.
Aside from a few nuisance quirks it's had pretty much right along and I expect will have 'til it goes to that great highway in the sky, and with the exception of the piss-poor electric window operation, it's been dead reliable. That's primarily a dealer issue, as there was a TSB issued on this concern before I even picked the thing up. Took five visits to get them to perform the TSB, and less than six months for the problem to recur. I've given up, and will eventually repair it myself.
Anyway...I've kept detailed records of fuel consumption over the life of the truck. Because I could, I guess.
Overall mileage: 19.9 mpg
Best tank mileage: 23.1
Worst tank mileage: 15.8
Total gas used: 2519.4 gallons
Here's a chart showing mpg at each fill-up, plotted against odometer reading:
(I have one with date on the x-axis, too, to see seasonal fluctuations...)
Here's the "lifetime" mileage, calculated as a sum of gas purchased over total miles driven at each fillup:
(Again, I also have the same data plotted with dates on the x-axis.)
The day after I brought it home
Extended cab XLT, four-wheel drive, SOHC 4.0L V6, 5-speed manual, bucket seats and a rear slider. It's got a bunch of other features, too, but those were the top of my personal "want" list, though not quite in that order.
Late Monday morning, somewhere in western New York state, I saw this:
In that time, I've taken it to fourteen states and two Canadian provinces, and can still count on one hand the number of people I've let behind the wheel.
It's a good truck, and I like it for all the reasons I bought it for, but I can't say I've fallen in love with it, and at this point I rather doubt I ever will. It's better equipped, far more powerful, almost infinitely better in the snow, and of course much younger than my '97 was even when I first got it, but it also rides worse, sucks more gas, has worse seats and a generally crappier interior.
Aside from a few nuisance quirks it's had pretty much right along and I expect will have 'til it goes to that great highway in the sky, and with the exception of the piss-poor electric window operation, it's been dead reliable. That's primarily a dealer issue, as there was a TSB issued on this concern before I even picked the thing up. Took five visits to get them to perform the TSB, and less than six months for the problem to recur. I've given up, and will eventually repair it myself.
Anyway...I've kept detailed records of fuel consumption over the life of the truck. Because I could, I guess.
Overall mileage: 19.9 mpg
Best tank mileage: 23.1
Worst tank mileage: 15.8
Total gas used: 2519.4 gallons
Here's a chart showing mpg at each fill-up, plotted against odometer reading:
(I have one with date on the x-axis, too, to see seasonal fluctuations...)
Here's the "lifetime" mileage, calculated as a sum of gas purchased over total miles driven at each fillup:
(Again, I also have the same data plotted with dates on the x-axis.)
