2002 Ford Ranger Edge review from North America

A couple of pieces of trim have come loose or come off, no big deal.

The brake pads need to be replaced.

A mysterious squeak has manifested itself in the back end somewhere.

I was given this truck by my father who bought of all things a Scion.

Its hard for me to honestly critique this truck, since I haven't spent much money on it, but I'd have to say I wouldn't buy this truck new. It is seriously underpowered, and a 2.3 liter engine in a big heavy truck is borderline asinine. On hills you're lucky to make it above 50 miles an hour, and its painful to be passed by old women and kids on bicycles.

The automatic transmission is like every Ford automatic I've ever driven, it has a mind of its own, whether it is downshifting violently for no reason, or stuttering on acceleration, it doesn't exactly inspire too much confidence.

The biggest issue so far are the horrible brakes. I understand that it is a relatively heavy vehicle and isn't going to stop on a dime, but my 17 year old BMW that had sat in someone's backyard for 6 years had better brakes on it than this two-year old truck. Press the brake pedal a bit and the truck kinda sorta slows down, jam on it when the car in front of is in danger of being totaled and the truck violently comes to a halt with everyone in the cab being thrown around. I notice other Rangers doing the same thing, so I've surmised the brakes are simply underpowered like the rest of the truck. Ford should try sticking on some healthy calipers like Toyota does on its trucks.

The seats are comfortable, but the ride isn't, every bump and pit in the road can be felt in your spine, over rough roads its like handling a jackhammer.

On the plus side the truck looks great, with its canary yellow paint job and rides very high, and, being in a truck you don't get the sour looks that SUV jockeys get.