Lariat seems to have lost it's way

[Bigsack]

There was a time when the Lariat trim was actually something worth while. Faux wood trim in the interior (if that's your thing), leather seats that actually were at least partial leather. I see no difference between these vinyl seats in the Ranger Lariat then in a vinyl seat in a base model. There is no hint of leather. I sprung for the Lariat for the better adjustable seats and the heated option, but it seems the Lariat is more for electronic options than nice finishing touches these days.

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[bgn]

The 2026 Lariat has a disgusting amount of decontenting, even by Ford's standards of constantly playing with packages and options.

 

[Bigsack]

Yea, my last Lariat was a 2011 Superduty. I was very pleased with the interior of the truck. In 2021 I stepped away from Ford and since then, have tried, Toyota, Chevy and Dodge. Currently have a Ram 2500. Always liked Ford but the last several years their quality control has tanked and I stayed away. Wanted another mid-size truck so decided to give them a try again with this Ranger. One of the models I haven't tried yet. Wanted to keep it simple with the XLT but wasn't impressed with the seat adjustability and some other things. Hence the Lariat now. Hopefully it doesn't spend all its time in the shop for recall after recall.

 

[NASSTY]

You should have waited for the new Dakota.

 

[pablo94sc]

There was a time when the Lariat trim was actually something worth while. Faux wood trim in the interior (if that's your thing), leather seats that actually were at least partial leather. I see no difference between these vinyl seats in the Ranger Lariat then in a vinyl seat in a base model. There is no hint of leather. I sprung for the Lariat for the better adjustable seats and the heated option, but it seems the Lariat is more for electronic options than nice finishing touches these days.

You may want to take off your rose colored glasses there. My 96 F-150 EB was an up-contented Lariat. With that I got a premium casette deck with 4 speakers, two tone paint with fancy running boards, and those leather seats that melted your thighs to the bench. You could move the bench forward and back only, but you got an armrest!

Y'all got spoiled the past decade or so when Lariat got you closer to King Ranch standards than its XLT + cow skin and a ford badged sony $80 HU roots.

 

[Bigsack]

You may want to take off your rose colored glasses there. My 96 F-150 EB was an up-contented Lariat. With that I got a premium casette deck with 4 speakers, two tone paint with fancy running boards, and those leather seats that melted your thighs to the bench. You could move the bench forward and back only, but you got an armrest!

Y'all got spoiled the past decade or so when Lariat got you closer to King Ranch standards than its XLT + cow skin and a ford badged sony $80 HU roots.

Awesome. Good for you.

 

[SLJ]

Saw the same thing with the Bronco Sport and the Maverick. First model year or two lots of nice little perks included over the lower trims with fewer every year after that. Now the upper trims aren't that much different than the base models unless you add the pay for options. Even then there's less than the first year or two.

 

[purdyd]

Yea, my last Lariat was a 2011 Superduty. I was very pleased with the interior of the truck. In 2021 I stepped away from Ford and since then, have tried, Toyota, Chevy and Dodge. Currently have a Ram 2500. Always liked Ford but the last several years their quality control has tanked and I stayed away. Wanted another mid-size truck so decided to give them a try again with this Ranger. One of the models I haven't tried yet. Wanted to keep it simple with the XLT but wasn't impressed with the seat adjustability and some other things. Hence the Lariat now. Hopefully it doesn't spend all its time in the shop for recall after recall.

I thought the xlt could be optioned with the same 10 way electrical adjustable driver and 8 way adjustable passenger seat?

Personally I thought the lariat should have full time 4x4, paddle shifters and some of the fancier raptor display options to jusrify the price premium.

I don’t think I would have bought the 2026 lariat with the loss of the fancy headlights.

 

[superj]

My son got a 26 lariat and didn't realize how much stuff was missing till a few days later

He was bummed out

 

[Rollo]

Yea I wasn't impressed with the differences between the Lariat and XLT when I purchased my 2025 Ranger. I do like the keyless start button and drivers instrument display but that was it. The so called leather seats suck. Definitely not worth the $8K difference in price.

 

[superj]

It's funny you says that, @Rollo because that is how I feel about the difference between the XL and xlt. One has a sliding rear window and sensors in the bumper and one didn't.

 

[RonEee]

In my opinion mid-sized truck makers aren't concerned with quality, clearly. Their focus is on cranking out as many of these trucks, or as I like to call them, computers on wheels, as they can and making their sales numbers.

My biggest concern is what's going to happen in 3 years when my warranty runs out and all that really cool technology starts to break. The repair costs are going to be astronomical.

 

[superj]

If they are made as well as my son's old 2014 focus at, which had all kinds of computer stuff too, we are going to be good. I have no worries.

We upgraded his sync3 from that little 4 inch screen to the biggest that you could on the those focus st, all the interior stuff swap across the gens and even the front end between the gen1 and gen2, but tons of computers in it so you have to find specific modules so they talk to each other.

But we will be good on that stuff. Maybe not so much on those sensors in the bumpers and stuff but the inside stuff I have zero worries about

 

[some_guy]

it seems the Lariat is more for electronic options than nice finishing touches these days.

Unfortunately that is how all vehicles are trending nowadays. This phenomenon started happening in the late 2000s. I'm with you, I don't want more tech baubles, there are already too many. I just want quality materials and a quality build.

 

[Sparky62]

When I read about the take a ways on the '26's, I'm glad I purchased a '25 model. No, it doesn't have the self parking feature like the '24, but it's a rare day that I have to parallel park it, so no big deal for me at least.

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