Just took delivery this past weekend and am really impressed so far. I am coming from a Jeep Gladiator and there is no comparrioson in ride quality. Up next will be a tonneau cover and bed rack for my kayaks.
I doesn't appear that you needed to remove the original rivets that you did. It doesn't look like the bracket interferes with that section. It looks like the only modification would be cutting that corners piece out. Can you confirm?
Fast Lane Truck YouTube channel is in the middle of a mid-size truck comparison and the 2.3 Ranger won the drag race competition, even against the 2.7L Colorado, which will have similar specs to Fords 2.7L. The offroad competition has not been released yet to my knowledge, but I eagerly await...
I agonized with the same delima, ultimately I went with the Lariat primarily because of the push button start. The pricing was pretty similar to the fully load XLT vs. Lariat, but I really enjoy the convinience of not having the manual key.
I do like the XLT wheels better though.
I ordered a similar Lariat with the 2.3 turbo 4. While I would like the addition power, the 2.3L is a good engin with enough power for me, also I'm coming from a Jeep Gladiator and would like the additional fuel economy.
I propbable would have gone with a fully optioned XLT if it had push...