Ford makes the Maverick hybrid based on the Escape, so very small but excellent mileage. I don’t believe the Ranger is offered as a hybrid. The F150 is offered with a Powerboost hybrid but that’s a lot of truck and a lot of money…
Yeah, I was poking around a dealer site yesterday looking at pickup configs, and lotta options-- 2 and 4 door crew cabs with 5.5 foot beds, regular single row (or what ever they’re called) cabs with 8 foot beds. Regular cabs, crew cabs, king cabs. I guess it comes down to whether you want more passenger room and less cargo, more cargo / less passenger, or the most of both, but be ready to spend $$$ and have something as long as a mid-sized RV.
I have an old (mid 90s) F-350, crew cab, and an 8 foot bed. I couldn’t find one in 4wd so it’s only 2wd. The older F-150 I used to have was 4wd and did incredibly well in snow. 33 inch tires helped with that.
Cargo capacity is great. That 8 foot bed can hold a lot of stuff.
Towing capacity is great. It’s something like 15,000 lbs. The heaviest load I have towed is a 9,000 lb. camper. I could barely feel the weight from it. I can also literally dump a ton of bricks in the back of it and haul them with no problem.
I got it used. A new one would cost a fortune.
Mileage sucks. Mid to high teens at best. This is NOT my daily driver.
It doesn’t fit in my garage.
People who lay out parking lots don’t think vehicles of this size exist. When I go to Walmart, it’s too long to fit into a single space, so I end up taking up two spaces.
I refuse to take it down to Baltimore when I visit relatives. It’s too big to park anywhere down there.
It’s a diesel, so I have to plug it in during the winter. If I forget I can still get it started by cycling the glow plugs a few times, but it will start up very rough and will take some time to warm up.
I also have an old (early 2000s) Jeep Wrangler.
The Jeep is 4x4 with 35 inch tires. I haven’t had it long enough to drive it in deep snow, but I suspect that it will do pretty well.
The cargo capacity of the Jeep is tiny. If I need to haul anything I use the truck.
The towing capacity of the Jeep is tiny compared to the truck. If I have to tow anything I used the truck.
The Jeep’s mileage is meh, but it’s a lot better than the truck. As they say about Jeeps, if they wanted it to go fast they wouldn’t have shaped it like a brick. The aerodynamics of a Jeep aren’t great.
Between the 4x4 raised suspension and the 35 inch tires, the Jeep is too tall to fit in my garage.
The Jeep easily fits into parking spaces, even in Baltimore.
The Jeep is much more maneuverable.
I can’t pack as many people into the Jeep.
Personally, I think the Jeep is more fun to drive. I also think that the truck is MUCH more capable when it comes to hauling or towing things.
My Jeep is smaller than the Jeeps that you are looking at, and my truck is much larger and has a much greater towing capacity than the trucks you are looking at (and my truck gets much worse mileage than the ones you are looking at). But, it’s some things to consider when you are comparing Jeep vs truck.
Maybe a truck is what you need. What about diesel? Do they get better mileage? I would guess that they do, but that’s just a guess. And the Duramax diesels last a good long time.
Thanks e_c_g, great info! I’m wondering if I maybe get a truck with a single-row cab and a longer bed, something like this one, so I have the cargo capacity without the truck being a mile long. Now that my kids are grown and have their own vehicles, 99% of the time it’s only me, me and my wife, or maybe me and a friend heading up north. I might not need a backseat area.
So many options-- I’m getting choice fatigue… 
Yep, when I was able to find a long bed Ford at a dealership, it was invariably white and the XL trim. The expectation is that these will be work trucks.
Some lockable storage in a truck is nice, so I suggest the king cab (aka extended cab) with a 6-1/2 foot bed. If you can wait, configure the truck you want (for me that would be an XLT in green) and then order and wait for it. But if the white XL works, go for it.
On the other hand, a topper shell on the back creates a large amount of lockable storage, and bed sliders make access easy.
Ha, yeah, that explains the slim pickings of boring colors and the utility cop car-style rims on the XLs, like the truck in my link. Thanks for the rec on upgrading to XLT with extended cab and a 6.5’ bed— it looks less odd, or at least more balanced, in side view compared to the single row cab and 8’ bed. Probably helps the resale value too.
I doubt it, said the Carpenter
And shed a bitter tear.