Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives 2002 Ranger as commuter?

Hi all. A friends father has a 2002 Ranger Edge, 5spd, V6, 2wd, with 104k miles on it for sale pretty cheap which has me thinking about picking it up as a commuter vehicle. I put about 65 miles on each day going to work and back and it would be nice to keep these off the F-150.

Wondering if there are any specific weak areas that I should be looking for on this unit? Thanks.

SS

real light in the ass end and makes it squirrely as hell in snow. buddy of mine loved his but wrecked it twice by spinning out in snow. mileage will most likely be in the 20mpg range. for that kind of driving, i'd get a suby or civic but that'll cost you more.

Put a couple hundred lb of sand bags in front of or over the axle. Sand will slide in an accident & the bags will blow apart. I saw a guy with a couple old engine blocks in his pickup for traction. I can imagine what they'd do in a wreck.

I have had a couple of 2wd Rangers, all automatics and generally around 20-21 mpg on the highway. They are light but some weight in the bed and dedicated snow tires completely fixed that issue.

I drive a 2000 ranger xlt 4x4 with the ohv 4.0v6, 4:10 gears and a 5speed. I commute approximately 80 miles a day to work and back and really like my ranger. 18-19mpg in the warm months and 15-16mpg with a liberal amount of idling/warm-up in the winter here in Minnesota. I just throw a few sandbags in the back and away I go. I had a front drive shaft problem last February, I pulled the drive shaft and drove it just fine for a few weeks in snow. Great trucks, my Uncle has a 2wd long box, 4cylinder 5 speed truck that he just loves. He has some sand in the back, high traction rear tires and carries a set of tire chains just in case.

I had a 2wd 4 banger Ranger. 24ish mpg.

Fine little truck for scooting around. Couldn't pull a greasy string outta a cats azz, but I couldn't kill it either.

Just read an article that Ford might be bringing back both the Ranger and Bronco. Of course any resemblance to the old Rangers and Broncos will likely be in name only.

I read awhile back that Ford was going to wait and see how Chevy/GMC was doing with the 're-introduced Colorado/Canyon sales and that would determine whether they brought back a Ranger for North America or not.

I've seen that rumor about the bronco for about 5-6 years. That won't happen. They'd see a bunch at first and sales would drop pretty quick after that I think.

I do like the Rangers. I've had 2. I had an 86 and a 92. Both were great. The 86 was 4x4 and was a lot better in the snow than it should have been, busting around in northern MN.

I'd buy another for just goofing off if I needed a commuter. My dad has one, a 2wd, that won't die.

The popularity of the Ranger died when the F150's started getting as good of mileage as the small ones. The Bronco died when they put 4 doors in the Explorer.

I used a 2wd 2001 V6 auto for a commuter for a while. 90miles round trip.

20 mpg

no problems other than weather related handling issues.

I've thought that the Explorer Sport Trac crewcab with the tiny bed would be pretty useful for hauling kids and small loads.