Guys, I am really trying to get into a smaller vehicle, you know, one with the "sixth sphere" on the front, lol... Sick of feeding the Taurus(fuel consumption is overly sensitive to temperature it seems), and the ranger is stopped by two inches of snow, unless I modify it pretty extensively...I seen a couple pretty sweet alternatives, but I don't have quite enough funds to do it... , with that, my two vehicles are both up for potential sale...

The for sale thread on the ranger...
Checking interest: 1995 Ranger XL- Central WV - The Ranger Station Forums

And the for sale thread on the Taurus... Same site...

http://therangerstation.com/forums/s...64#post1511364

 

Trying to sell your Ford's? Can't say as I blame you. Nah, jst picking on you part of the activities here at times. I've had (it seems some times) way too much automotive fun since, well about Y2K working on and owning things I should have known better to do. The closest I have been to a Taurus was a Lincoln Continental. the one based on a Ford Taurus or Mercury Sable (I think it was) a stretched body with a front wheel drive V6 and air suspension that rode like the Queen Mary in a force 5 hurricane and wouldn't run 2 months straight with out being towed to the dealer. Ford had been advertising their better idea and this was not one of them. It is one of the few cars I got RID of and the only one I ever did that had 60,000 miles on it and cost me 8 grand out of pocket to see to it I never saw it again. A friend had a Ford Focus a car that was actually well packaged for the most part and seemingly well designed. I took care of it for her after her husband died and learned it was a love/hate relationship with the car. The transmission shifted electronically and if a problem occurred (and it had one) with the battery cables (carefully laced into the main wiring harness) and it quit running there was no way to get the dang think out of park so it could be moved, and a replacement battery cable cost was on the wrong side of a $200.00 bill.
And you have no idea how many hours it took to change the dang thing. And because you could not move the car how awkward it was to deal with it.
So between that Focus and the Lincoln I had, my SC2 Saturn which I still own started looking like a really good alternative even if had become long in tooth.
O.K., I got wordy, forgive me! I'm old.

 

It's not that I hate either of my Fords, they have both been good to me, having reliably carried me for thousands of miles without hiccup. I just really miss having a small car. The Ranger, when/if it goes, will be an unfortunate casualty to my need for something smaller, it has been/still is a great truck, but when I look at paring the fleet to just one, its predictable inability to conquer snow makes me think twice about making it my sole vehicle. I could modify it, adding limited slip, traction bars, etc. in the search of traction, but that only goes so far when only the rear wheels are being driven. That also doesn't take into account its average fuel consumption of about 20mpg, which isn't bad for a 4.0L truck, isn't the greatest when driving 300 miles a week...

The Taurus is also a good car, but it's fuel consumption is perplexingly sensitive to the weather. The week the temps were near zero, it averaged 15.8mpg on the two tanks I ran out. Today, in more decent weather, I drove it perhaps 60 miles and seem to be averaging about 22mpg this tank, based on the trip meter/fuel gauge... On top of that, it isn't really my cup of tea... It's comfy and roomy and has all the electronic gizmos that make a nice ride, but it still feels big, ponderous, and slow... It also doesn't make sense to me to have a 6-passenger capable car when 95% of the time I'm not commuting to work, I travel alone, and only one co-worker rides with me. A small car would serve me fine I think, and would use far less fuel, and could potentially be more fun to drive...

 

And here I was hoping to see some really cute puppy pictures...

Bonestock, you'd be better off to throw about 400-500 lbs of some kind of weight in the back of the ranger for traction purposes. I completely understand how pickups are with that, we got creative in MN winters with our truck. One year we filled the bed with snow (it was free, ok??), another year we used hay bales, we've also used firewood, the list goes on. If the truck is paid for, I'd keep it if you like it, nothing replaces a truck when you need to haul stuff, and even though the Rangers are small, they can do a LOT.

What the heck is the 'sixth sphere'?

 

What we drive...a Saturn

 

Huh. I've never heard it called that!

Guess I'm getting old....

 

To be honest, I like the truck, but I didn't want the 4.0L at all... I wanted a 2.3/2.5 that would give mid 20s-mpg, not just 20. If it weren't so expensive to insure two vehicles, I would keep the ranger, and trade the Taurus for a Saturn(maybe an L series), and drive both...

 

Well, I can say from personal experience of my (RIP) red Ranger with the 2.3L that it was awesome and got 29 mpg. It was an '87, 5 spd manual tranny, just basic with no a/c. If you can find an old one of them + what you want for a car and get rid of what you have, you'll be set! Trick is to find one that isn't all ragged out and is still mechanically sound. I have a Ranger w/a 4.0L and although it runs out good, I'm just not in love with it like I was with my '87. Usually you can get liability/uninsured motorist insurance pretty cheap, and if there's no loan that's all you need.

 

I recommend an Ion. Cost a bit more, but worth every penny.
Don't think ive driven an L car, but I have driven a vue and numerous s-series, and the Ion is still my favorite.

 

Actually, I have some pre-emotive good news... The Taurus may be going... I'm gonna have to take a loss, but I will then have enough money for a decent looking 06 ION-2 I found...

Cars for Sale: 2006 Saturn ION Level 2 Sedan in Willowick, OH 44092: Sedan Details - 385693027 - AutoTrader.com

It has the L61 instead of the LE5, but that's okay...

Although, I don't know why all the deals on these are in Ohio...