2008 Ford Ranger

Paraphrasing the love poem I ask, "How can I help you? Let me count the ways!" Let me begin by saying I am the pastor of a small congregation. Then I will add -- This is my second Ford Ranger and it is the most important way I have ever been able to help people! If you want to help people in real, direct simple ways, buy a light duty truck. If you want reliability, a solid feel, great drive and low maintenance buy a Ford. Why the Ranger? I'm 5'3", middle aged and am not about to lift more than 50 pounds on my own -- so small is beautiful! Mine is 4 cylinder, 2 wheel drive so the gas mileage is great and the maintenance on both this truck and the one I had before has been nearly zip.

The story behind the first purchase -- and now the second one? A member of the church I pastor died, and his widow was wondering how to sell his Ranger. A surprising little light went on in my head: I want that truck! So I bought it for a really decent price without really knowing why. But I was working part time at a homeless shelter and soon found myself delivering used furniture as people got homes, taking stuff to the dump for the shelter, or picking up materials we needed for projects at the hardware store. For the church, I found myself doing everything from picking up people's over-sized purchases for them, helping elderly people dispose of yard waste, bringing in goods for parish yard sales -- you get the picture. And I serve on the board of a group that collects goods for outreach to Native American reservations -- boxes of clothing, cases of food, cribs, beds, household items, car seats, furnishings -- do you know how easy it is to pop it all in the truck?

But why a new truck if I truly believe in the low maintenance-high reliability of my Ranger? Out of the blue, I received a $19,000 inheritance. I figure a new Ranger will last me a dozen years, and I won't do any major maintenance for the first third of that. I got a great deal and had cash left for some charitable donations and some other presents to myself. How is it going?

First of all, to make it even adequate in snow and ice conditions I had to add weight in back. I built a frame with some 2" x 4"s to hold sand bags in place and added five 70 pund bags over the rear axels -- no problems after that. But next year I'll add snow tires and switch off seasonally. If your situation demands a lot of winter driving, go with a 4 x 4 -- but then the Ranger is only available with 6 cylinders with a higher mpg as a result. In addition, if I had to travel more in bad conditions, I would have added fog lights and mud guards.

Secondly, why ruin the truck box in the first year? I had a sprayed in lining done the first week I owned the truck -- it's Rhino Lining and I love it! Don't waste cash dropping in a liner -- you'll get rust under it for sure. and don't try applying a liner yourself -- there's a lot to doing it right.

Next, I went with an extended cab but stayed with 2 doors. I keep tools and a mini office in the extra space -- and a trash bin! No more garbage floating around the cab. The downside -- it's hard to get larger items in and out of the area between the seats. four doors would have given better access.

I also went simple -- no electric power package, for example. Even though I've got to roll the window down manually to pay a toll, I love having fewer things to go wrong. Try getting into a vehicle at 11:00 at night after a concert lets out when the power door locks or alarm system has blown a 50 cent fuse.

Did I consider other light duty trucks? Definitely. Toyotas have even better service records, but I didn't like some of its frills and it's more tinny, less solid -- at least to me -- feel. The current stresses in the auto industry made me leary of some other makes, and some looked okay on line but weren't very available in my area. In the end, I was happy with the Ranger I owned and was very comfortable with choosing a new one.