Car dealers make most of their money in their service departments, not selling cars. You don't design a vehicle to make it easy for a shade tree mechanic to take money from the pocket of your dealer network.

I've owned a couple of the Ford Ranger/Mazda Bxxxx ones. Wish I could find a clean used one but New England winter road salt eventually kills them no matter how careful you are with garaging and washing.

Dealerships are not immune from unprofessional conduct or poor workmanship, like not changing the filter because it is so difficult, or if they do, breaking or leaving parts off, or forgetting to torque the lug nuts on the wheel(s) they had to remove. The lube tech is the lowest paid guy (probably on flat rate, at 0.2 or 0.3 hours per job), and is under time pressure, with the truck fresh off a 20-mile drive off the interstate in the summer, therefore hot. They will also get the occasional client who says "I need an oil change, but I'm in a hurry because I've got a doctor's appointment in 30 minutes." Aaaand of course the service writer will go ahead and take it in. I've seen a thing or two.

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I've owned a couple of the Ford Ranger/Mazda Bxxxx ones. Wish I could find a clean used one but New England winter road salt eventually kills them no matter how careful you are with garaging and washing.

Agreed there. This isn't a truck you want to dump a ton of rocks into, but with more moderate usage, they are a "can't kill it" (except for rust, which I even get down here) truck. The one exception is the 4.0 SOHC V6, which will cost about $2500 for the "cassette" timing chains, more of Ford's "better idea." And yes, these chains go bad. Shun that engine like the plague.

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Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
Tire rotation is a part of maintenance so pulling it should not even be a problem.

Tires and oil really do not have anything to do with each other.

I have unlimited rotate / balance from Discount Tires, so I tell the guy who does my oil changes to leave the tires alone, do not rotate them.

This thread brings back fond memories of my 1978 Mercedes 240D.

The oil filter was mounted high on the firewall, with plenty of space around it. A 10mm socket removed the two bolts that held the top of the canister, there was room to hold a small drip pan under the assembly while lifting out the filter element.

You could change the oil filter in minutes while wearing a white dress shirt and not spill a drop.

I miss that car, even though its 62 hp was pitiful.

Funny, just yesterday I was pricing these out just for fun as the local dealer has one on the lot and it looks good.
Sadly too small for me.

But anyway this would not be a deterent for me.
I rotate the tires at oil changes anyway. I would also have some serious skid plates on the thing so oil would likely be extracted through the dipstick tube anywhoo or have a fumoto valve based upon the design.

So removing the wheel would be the easiest way since they all the wheels were coming off anyway.

The only things I change my own oil on are lawn mowers and farm tractors.

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Originally posted by smithnsig:
I let someone else change my oil.

"Someone else" often has a hard enough time with just a drain plug, such as cross-threading it or rounding off the hex with an incorrect wrench. Imagine what they could do with all these other obstacles!

My Tacoma came with free oil changes for life but even if Ford offered it for their Ranger the shitty design and inability to be like Toyota and make maintenance easy would drive me away.

If Ford can fuck up such a simple design such as making oil changes easy what else did they screw up? Nah I don’t think I’d want to go down that rabbit hole, I’d just buy another Tacoma.

Shame we don’t get the Hilux, that would be an even better reason to avoid the Ranger. The Hilux trucks I saw in Australia at dealerships with factory roll bars, snorkels, brush guards and lifts were absolutely PERFECT.

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Originally posted by rtquig:
Changing the oil filter on our Acadia is a pain in the butt. I usually drain the pan and have my wife reach in to do the filter. The filter is in the front close to the radiator and I can not fit my arm in there to twist it on or off.

We have a Buick Enclave. The filter must be in the same area as your Acadia. I agree a real pain. What a stupid place to put the filter.

That's the trade off for having a small bodied vehicle. Safety regs have bloated the these cars and trucks forever so to keep them small they have to really squeeze everything in. I don't think it's an indictment of the design of the vehicle, personally.

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Originally posted by rat2306:
Sounds akin to changing one of the spark plugs on my sister's 1975 Chevy Monza with the V-8 back when. I'd consider a Ranger, but want to see what bugs/quirks it has first.

I had the Pontiac version awesome little cars especially when something besides the 305 was swapped in. You had to pull the drivers side motor mount to get to the rear plugs. Headers made it easier but the steering box was right there.

Not sure I buy this truck. I'd want to see some sort of track record first. New designs often have too many growing pains that I'd rather not deal with.

Is it even a new design? How different is it from the Ranger that has been on the market for years in Europe and Australia?

If you can't afford the service charges, you can't afford the vehicle.

Service costs are part of the price of ownership. Anyone who buys a BMW or Mercedes and doesn't expect high maintenance costs is deluded.

Regardless if you own a Lamborghini Aventador or a Honda Civic, if you don't factor in maintenance costs, you're living in a fantasy world. It's just the amount that differs.

Yes, I own a Mercedes, and have been a Mercedes owner for over 25 years. I don't do my own service although my first job was working on an auto racing team, where we did everything! I have neither the time, the tools, the knowledge or the desire to perform my own shade tree mechanics on today's automobiles.

Do you think such a design is smart? While it may not impact me directly it does impact my decision on purchasing a vehicle. Why would I buy something from a company that complicates things needlessly?

I am not sure it is complicated needlessly. A lot of car and truck engineering is done because of federal dictates. Lots of "down-stream" impacts on what they can actually do with the weight, space and such available for any given application.

I am still running a 2002 Tundra. In a year or two, I may go to another Tundra because it has been great - even with the frame issues. If it is not a Tundra I will look at the Ranger and the Tacoma at that time.

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Originally posted by sigarms229:
I'm struggling to figure out why it's such a big deal. I do my oil changes every 5K miles and guess what else I do at the same time? I rotate the tires and inspect the brakes.

So like I said, what's the big deal?

I buy my tires from Costco and they rotate and balance for free. Can I rotate my tires myself. of course. I already maintain our 5 vehicles and adding something time consuming like pulling a tire and the wheel well skirt is something I would like to stay away from. My daughters 2015 Sonata, I have to pull 16 bolts from a bottom cover to change the oil, a real pain in the ass. I'm thinking about cutting access panels to get at the oil pan and filter. My son's 2013 Sonata had those panels from the factory.

Ford probably calculated that the majority won’t be changing their own oil and having to remove the wheel might be part of their oil change and “inspection process” anyway. It gives the dealerships another way to make money. “Hey I know you just wanted an oil change but we noticed your brake pads are getting low”. In that regard it makes sense.

When you see how impossibly easy it is to change oil on a 4.0L Tacoma or 4Runner you do get to be somewhat annoyed with designs such as Ford’s new Ranger.

Personally, I would not buy the new Ranger or any other Ford product either, PERIOD! Every stinken Ford that I had over the decades had problems and the dealership would not help.....SCREW FORD!

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Originally posted by Valpo Fz:

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Originally posted by rat2306:
Sounds akin to changing one of the spark plugs on my sister's 1975 Chevy Monza with the V-8 back when. I'd consider a Ranger, but want to see what bugs/quirks it has first.

I had the Pontiac version awesome little cars especially when something besides the 305 was swapped in. You had to pull the drivers side motor mount to get to the rear plugs. Headers made it easier but the steering box was right there.

She had the 262 (4.3L) in today's lingo. Over time I had three Monzas (one I held onto for 11 years), all with the 4 cylinder. She may have gotten 12 years from it before traded for a truck.