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Old 01-04-2011, 03:59 PM   #101 (permalink)
Clev
Wannabe greenie
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Yorba Linda, CA
Posts: 1,098

The Clunker (retired) - '90 Honda Accord EX sedan
Team Honda
90 day: 29.49 mpg (US)

Mountain Goat - '96 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4 SuperCab
90 day: 18 mpg (US)

Zippy - '10 Kymco Agility 125
90 day: 65.03 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf View Post
So people do buy the smaller truck. Couple that with the number of smaller '80s Toyotas still on the road, and I don't see how you can argue that there isn't a market for small trucks.
The manufacturers don't make it an easy choice, either. If you want a Ford Ranger, but you want the V-6 so you can actually tow more than 1,600 pounds, you have to get the XLT Supercab at a minimum. That pushes it to about $450 less than the F-150. (Of course, it doesn't help that you get the crappy 4 liter designed back in the Carter administration which gets worse mileage than the 3.7L V-6 in the F-150.)

There's no reason why the 2.3L shouldn't be able to tow 4,000 pounds and get 30 mpg unloaded, but they specifically put in a lighter duty manual transmission with the 4-banger, as well as going light on the suspension parts, because they want to keep pushing the big trucks.

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