2020 Ford Ranger: The globetrotter comes back home

Party in the Piedmont, Business in the Blue Ridge

My Ranger was the right ride to the Ford Performance GT500 Track Tour at Charlotte Motor Speedway and zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina (which you can read about after finishing this review). It certainly looked good next to the Lightning Blue Explorer ST, and the Sapphire Blue Kia K5 (driven by Jake Thiewes of Out Motorsports) in the CMS infield parking lot.

Alas, no Kona Blue, Velocity Blue, or Ford Performance Blue GT500s were in the cards for my blue Monday morning on the strip and road course. Yet, the GT500 was as nice a machine as the Ranger, compared to the rental Mustang EcoBoost (with waterspots and a busted door handle) I took to see the new Bronco this summer.

However, I was able to remain in the blue as far as fuel economy was concerned. Rated at 20 city/24 highway/22 combined mpg, I pulled off 27 mpg to and from CMS, and around 26 mpg combined during the Ranger\’s residency at the Roadhouse.

Speaking of water stains and the color blue, back in the Blue Ridge of Virginia, I put the Ranger to work on recovering a few items from my youth from my mom\’s storage locker. The blue trunk in question had seen better days, though, having spent 14 years in a locker without climate control. Thus, mold and rust appeared on the left side of the trunk.

While I couldn\’t do anything about the trunk or some of its contents, I did find a treasure trove of original Micro Machines, a pair of pinewood derby cars, and a CD case full of metal CDs. After grabbing those gems, I brought the trunk and the rest of its contents back. It\’s a light job for the Ranger, but also the right job (among many) for a midsize pickup; a full-size truck would\’ve been excessive for this specific task.