2024 Ford Ranger XLT Review: Middle Of The Pack Is The Pick Of Them All

Ford sells a lot of trucks. The F-150 has been one of the best selling vehicles in human history for a number of decades now, and there is absolutely no shortage of Blue Oval fans all over the planet. The F-150 and its big brother, the Super Duty. are the absolute bread and butter of Ford trucks. When it comes to pickups of a smaller stature, meanwhile, there's the Maverick, a little ute that proved to be one of my favorite vehicles I drove all year. Between the two extremes sits the Ford Ranger, a pickup which has struggled to grab its share of the spotlight in its current iteration.

After a week spent evaluating the 2024 Ford Ranger, I pretty quickly fell in love with it. I'll say right off the bat that it's not a truck you should sleep on, if you're in the market for a utility vehicle.

After a long hiatus, the newest generation of Ranger came back to life for the 2019 model year. Since then, it hasn't changed a lot apart from some quality of life and powertrain updates. The Ranger I was saddled with wasn't a Raptor model, or a base model XL like Ford expects a tradesman to be driving. Instead, the 2024 Ranger XLT sits right in the middle of the lineup: a work truck in that it has cloth seats and not the fanciest interior, but it's also a commuter and potential family car in that it's a four door, a body style Ford refers to as "SuperCrew."

Under the Ranger's "Velocity Blue Metallic" paint color is a body-on-frame pickup like the trucks of yore. What's not old fashioned is the powertrain. The Ranger is equipped with a 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-banger that you may be familiar with in the engine bay of the base model Mustang. Although, it's worth noting that the engine in the Ranger is detuned a bit, to 270 horsepower (as opposed to the Mustang's in excess of 300 ponies). 

A beefier 315 horsepower 2.7-liter EcoBoost engine is an available option. Either way, attached to the engine is a 10-speed automatic transmission that does a phenomenal job of being mostly imperceptible when it comes to gear changes. When I was driving, Ranger fuel economy sat right at 22 miles per gallon, which is actually pretty remarkable for a pickup that isn't a hybrid.

This Ranger was also equipped with a few extras, including 17-inch sportier wheels, and a rear locking differential if you ever decide that leaving the pavement was in your future.

Driving the Ranger gave me the experience of what I would want out of a commuter vehicle that could also haul a wardrobe if the need arose. Given that it's a tall truck, it isn't going to carve through canyon roads or win any races, but it wasn't a complete pushover. The turbocharger gives it enough grunt to get up and move if it needs to, and the rear-wheel drive setup means that you can get the back tires to chirp if you feel so inclined.

The steering is positively agricultural, but not any worse than a crossover SUV, and since it's a midsize pickup truck not a GT car, I'll let that slide. Overall, it's not a muscle truck, or particularly thrilling to drive, but it doesn't feel like navigating an aircraft carrier like some full-size pickups. The bed, presumably the reason (aside from looks), you would buy a pickup, measures at 59.6 inches on the inside and can carry a maximum payload of 1,711 pounds, or approximately 61 "BILLY" bookcases from IKEA. It's not a full-size bed, much to the chagrin of people who absolutely need to haul a bunk of plywood right this very second, but it's enough for a lot of jobs.

As for towing, Ford says it'll pull 7,500 pounds. That — as you might expect — puts it right between the Maverick and the F-150, though considerably in excess of the 5,000 pound tow rating of your average SUV like Ford's own Explorer.

Now there's the all-important question of affordability. In modern years, trucks have adopted the nasty habit of inflated price tags, to the point where it's entirely possible to go option happy with heavy duty trucks and find the final price tag eclipses six-figures. The Ranger doesn't quite follow that same path, but it isn't necessarily inexpensive like the Maverick (which starts just shy of $24k).

Alex Hevesy/SlashGear

The Ford Ranger XLT comes standard with most of what you would expect from a vehicle in the year of our Lord 2024. That's fog lamps, Apple CarPlay functionality, power and heated front drivers seat, a lane monitoring system, and LED headlamps. It's anything but a dinosaur. That will set you back $39,745, not entirely unreasonable for a midsize pickup.

The Ranger I drove had some extra goodies including a spray in bedliner, a trailering package complete with every camera angle you could ever ask for, the aforementioned locking rear differential, and a power sliding rear window. Throw in the destination and acquisition charges and you are left with a grand total of $46,300. That's a healthy chunk of change, but when you consider the fact that other midsize trucks like the Toyota Tacoma or Chevy Colorado have no issue at all matching that price, the Ranger's price tag makes a little more sense (I still don't have to like it, but I understand it).

Overall, the Ranger was a great truck to spend time with. The power was more than enough for most people, the bed and interior were the perfect sizex for what I would consider a normal use case scenario, and the fuel economy was fairly good. If I had any quibbles, I would say that the back seats were a little cramped, so I'd have a hard time imagining three adults being able to spend much time in the second row. And, as I said before, trucks are too expensive, and while the Ranger is by no means the most egregious offender, it's still a lot of money for something that's likely going to get a little beat up over the course of its work life. 

Those problems are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. The Ford Maverick is still my favorite truck from Ford, but the Ranger might come in at a close second place. It's worth looking at if a full-size F-150 isn't exactly your jam.