Long-term reliability

[sweeks888]

Not sure if I would consider a RR for work fleet. XLT or another model...sure.

Good call on that one, I think they'd just get hot rodded to death. And you don't need twin turbo vehicles for fleet use.

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[crawford]

As an aside, when getting quotes from contractors for a project, does anyone else judge the vehicle they show up in? When a sales guy shows up in a $100k heavy duty truck with diesel engine and off-road suspension, all new, shiny, and immaculate just to walk around my house with a clipboard or iPad I can’t help but think they’re going to overcharge me to help offset the $60k they wasted on a vehicle.

Even though I love rangers and ranger raptors, if a contractor showed up in a raptor it would get my attention; just not for reasons they’d hope for.

i agree but for me the opposite also matters: if they show up in a rusty falling apart truck i worry that they are close to bankruptcy and closing down.

truck has to be pretty bad before i think that though but i do remember one contractor who came to my house like that. i had to remind him several times before he sent me the quote and it was drastically lower than any of the others. almost like he got the jobs confused and was quoting me for something else. i didn't go with him. so it wasn't only his truck but the truck along with the slowness and inaccurate quote made me not consider him and his company.

 

[jordantii]

At 8k I had a turbo replaced for excessive shaft play (calm down @Mystic ). The 3.0's are used in Police Explorers.Take that for what it's worth.

 

[Rollo]

If I was ordering a mid sized work fleet it would be a Ranger XLT with a 2.7L. That engine has been around over 10yrs now and has been the most reliable of the Ecoboost lineup.

 

[emjay24l]

Just like Honda had the exploding auto transmissions, Toyota the exploding Tundra engines. It's just the benefit is sometimes in hindsight.

Unfortunately, these days R&D extends to the first 1-2 years that an engine, transmission, etc. is sold. I try not to buy a vehicle with an all new component. The current engine line in the Ranger are all very well vetted motors. The 10R60 is also another well vetted item.

Another thing the Ranger has going for it is that it is a derivative of the fourth best selling pickup in the world and 10th over all vehicle types. The Ranger has outsold the Toyota HiLux in Australia for the 2023-2025 model years and will likely do the same in 2026. Globally, the HiLux is number one in pickup sales followed closely by the F-150. IMO, the Ranger is easily the best mid sized pickup sold in the USA since 2024.

 

[saf1]

As an aside, when getting quotes from contractors for a project, does anyone else judge the vehicle they show up in? When a sales guy shows up in a $100k heavy duty truck with diesel engine and off-road suspension, all new, shiny, and immaculate just to walk around my house with a clipboard or iPad I can’t help but think they’re going to overcharge me to help offset the $60k they wasted on a vehicle.

Yep - I try and be fair. Not judge the book by the cover but I'd say 9 out of 10 times intuition is right and went with someone else. There was only one time but the rig in question was dirty and signs of heavy off-road use. Turns out in this case they did work in remote areas and that made sense.

 

[Mystic]

At 8k I had a turbo replaced for excessive shaft play (calm down @Mystic ). The 3.0's are used in Police Explorers.Take that for what it's worth.

A little shaft play is normal. Eye contact during the inspection is not.

"Oh yeah, there's some serious play in this shaft for sure..."
"Quit fooling around and diagnose the turbo!!!"

 

[jordantii]

A little shaft play is normal. Eye contact during the inspection is not.

"Oh yeah, there's some serious play in this shaft for sure..."
"Quit fooling around and diagnose the turbo!!!"

Hahaha! Next time I'm out in CA we need to get some Taco's!

 

[superj]

As an aside, when getting quotes from contractors for a project, does anyone else judge the vehicle they show up in? When a sales guy shows up in a $100k heavy duty truck with diesel engine and off-road suspension, all new, shiny, and immaculate just to walk around my house with a clipboard or iPad I can’t help but think they’re going to overcharge me to help offset the $60k they wasted on a vehicle.

Even though I love rangers and ranger raptors, if a contractor showed up in a raptor it would get my attention; just not for reasons they’d hope for.

This is exactly me. My step-dad owned his own plumbing company since I was in third grade, when he got out of the marine corps, so I grew up hands on seeing what trucks were work trucks and what actual working business owners drove. My dad originally had the 80s and early 90s toyotas, before they were Tacomas. Then we had rangers, for many years and hundreds of thousands of miles, we had rangers. When i worked at the company, I put over 300k miles in a 98 mazda b2300 (really, a ranger). After dad couldn't get rangers anymore, he got Chevy, but they were called something else, not a colorado. They only issues they had were exhaust manifolds always cracked.

All our trucks were always work truck models, the roller windows, manual locks, and 5 speed transmissions. They were made to work and last, and they all did.

So if someone comes to give an estimate for work and they are in a 100k 4x4 king ranch f350, some super duper dodge or Chevy, and gold expensive glasses and silk shirt, I already cut them from the list of who is going to get the job.

I look for people who actually are doing the work and look like small business owners. I am not paying someone to drive a truck that costs more than a house

 

[Lion77]

I get that a Raptor is not really what you would typically consider a “work truck.” That said, my boss and I are pretty passionate about trucks, cars, and anything offroad. We live in these trucks 50-60 hours a week. Would any of you turn down a free Ranger Raptor if your employer offered?

So that issue aside, has anyone put real miles on these things? I know the 2.3 and 2.7 ecoboost have a pretty solid reputation, how about the 3.0? The GM 2.7 turbomax is probably one of the most reliable and durable truck engines on the market right now. GM’s biggest issues are electronic and the stupid little stuff. Wanted to know how the Ford stacks up. Thanks!
Current rig next to the ‘19 with 340k:

Which Pickup Trucks Will Last Over 250k Miles? Updated Study! | Work Truck Online

Not quite that much data on "mid-sized" trucks, but something to note is that most of them appear about the same per a category.

Aka, all the 150 / 1500 series are similar, who gives a crap about a 1~2% difference, that's down to maintenance differences in demographics and use cases of how people actually use them. For example, I see most Ram 1500's use more as SUV's than for towing, while I frequently see F-150's and Silverado 1500's towing stuff. So if the bigger majority of RAM's aren't towing....they will last longer.

If you extrapolate, the Colorado / Canyon / Frontier were at the bottom of the list, the Taco's did unusually good, hence the reputation for "legendary Toyota reliability", but that is most likely because their anemic underpowered powertrain produces low mechanical stress.

Performance has a cost, regardless of who makes it. The more power you push, the more you eat into durability envelope (assuming similar use cases). Now you could take a Ford Performance tuned Ranger Raptor that sees mostly highway cruising with periodic WOT use, good maintenance that will outlast a bone stock 4 cylinder Taco that gets beat to a pulp daily and isn't maintained...right?

Sounds to me like your use cases is a lot of highway miles. The 3.0L and 10R60 are quite durable and well designed, pending you don't get an assembly / mfg. defect (aka lemon) like any auto maker can do (they have all have lemons).

So if you really want the Raptor, I see zero reason why in your use cases it wouldn't hold up just as long. The 2.7L Ecoboost V6 has proven to be very reliable in F-150 applications, there are a ton of fleet F-150 XL's with 220k to 300k for sale on Auto Trader, original engine and transmission, in my area alone.

The 3.0L in the Raptor is a beefed up bored and stroked 2.7L with bigger turbos and higher flowing induction system that are similar in size to the 3.5L Ecoboost in the F-150, which is Ford's flagship V6 turbo engine. 39mm compressors in the 3.0L ecoboost.

The most durable trucks period are going to be heavy duty trucks, 250 / 350 and 2500 / 3500 for any of the big 3. That's because they are heavy duty work trucks, period. Seems like once you go down the ladder, they follow a similar trend, they are all about the same.

Let's not split hairs here, maintenance and use matter more than brand. Every mfg. has recalls, they all have mfg. defects, software glitches. GM lost 1 billion dollars on their V8 crank machining fiasco that's killing 6.2L V8's, Fords lost a billion on bad EV investments and recalls, Toyota had V8 failures from machining debris that weren't cleaned out of engine blocks, transmission issues and some other defects in early 2024 Taco's etc.

Japanese vehicles (Toyota, Honda, Mazda etc.) are still the overall most durable overall, but they tend to have less power / capability as they are more conservatively designed, add in the six-sigma manufacturing to the extreme with the Jap brands, makes sense why they are still top tier quality. But they don't really make many trucks for the US market, and usually are smaller more limited capability.

Buy, drive it, maintain it, work through any issues and enjoy your Ranger Raptors. You'll start to hate driving your GMC / Colorado's after you drive a raptor from a vehicle dynamics standpoint. Trust me, the Raptor is just that good of a performance truck.

Keep in mind too that "durability" has different meanings too, are we talking hard use durability or high mileage? Chevy's 1500 Silverado couldn't finish the factory class race at Finke, the Ranger Raptor Race Truck beat the 1500 Silverado ZR2 because it broke down. Then the Colorado ZR2 bent in half at the mint 400!

The Raptor is tough, durability should be comparable at higher mileages, but it has the "beat on it" bonus because you can push the RR to limits the GM vehicles can't go to. That is a fact. I have no issue with GM cars, they have some good vehicles and some not so good ones like any other company, same with Ford and Dodge, but the RR is a gem in its class.

You know the Colorado can't do this: Ford Ranger Raptor Sends It! #offroad #jump #sendit #fail #shorts

But that Colorado might last 250k highway miles and typical use cases with good maintenance, which is what it was designed to do. Again, context.

Ford Ranger Raptor claims third consecutive Production 4WD win at 2025 Finke Desert Race, sets new record

This is a factory truck, with safety gear. Stock powertrain (engine, transmission, frame, suspension). That same truck also ran Baja twice and finished both times. So far, they broke 1 rear shock and one front diff, both repaired in the field and continued the race (note this truck is on 35's and weighs considerably more than a factory truck due to safety gear, spare parts, 35 gallons of fuel, full cage etc.).

Bottom line is, people get carried away in thinking "if I buy this brand, it's going to be more durable than these other brands", only to find out that maintenance, use cases and a little bit of luck of the draw (mfg. variances) matter far more than weather it's a Chevy, Ford, Dodge or Toyota.

I've seen Kia's / Hyundai's go 250k + with good maintenance, but Toyota's break down at 175k due to severe neglect. Then I also see Toyota's with 300k...get my drift? Hopefully that helps your decision making, all brands have their pros and cons, overall the 3.0L is a mature engine (been out since 2016), the block is CGI, which is turbo diesel technology, its far more rigid than sleeved aluminum blocks, that helps with dimensional stability under load / hard use, good thermal conductivity etc. Turbos are garrett's, used by many mfg.'s. Yah it'll last if you take care of it.

 

[NOT_RAPTOR]

This is part of our fleet. My guess is they use them like I use mine in the company, sales rig.

Are those roof rails functional?

 

[Lion77]

This is exactly me. My step-dad owned his own plumbing company since I was in third grade, when he got out of the marine corps, so I grew up hands on seeing what trucks were work trucks and what actual working business owners drove. My dad originally had the 80s and early 90s toyotas, before they were Tacomas. Then we had rangers, for many years and hundreds of thousands of miles, we had rangers. When i worked at the company, I put over 300k miles in a 98 mazda b2300 (really, a ranger). After dad couldn't get rangers anymore, he got Chevy, but they were called something else, not a colorado. They only issues they had were exhaust manifolds always cracked.

All our trucks were always work truck models, the roller windows, manual locks, and 5 speed transmissions. They were made to work and last, and they all did.

So if someone comes to give an estimate for work and they are in a 100k 4x4 king ranch f350, some super duper dodge or Chevy, and gold expensive glasses and silk shirt, I already cut them from the list of who is going to get the job.

I look for people who actually are doing the work and look like small business owners. I am not paying someone to drive a truck that costs more than a house

S10. your welcome.

 

[Lion77]

https://www.ford-trucks.com/how-tos...-motor-more-5-0l-v8-availability-more-1009538

I don't have much to add but looks like the Ranger Raptors engine will be the new replacement for the 2.7 eco boost, if that tells you anything about how Ford feels about it.

Not quite. The 3.0L variant of the Nano replacing the 2.7L is going to be set up differently than the 3.0L HO used in the Raptor, Explorer ST, Lincoln etc., smaller turbo's and more geared toward low end torque / fuel economy than high rpm HP. The 3.0L in the Raptor will remain the performance variant, on a common block.

I suspect eliminating the 2.7L and harmonizing on the 3.0L block has multiple reasons:

1. Slight bore and stroke increase off-sets any emissions shenanigans that "detune" existing 2.7L. Aka, to meet the same power / torque targets with any new emissions requirements, they moved to a "de-tuned 3.0L" instead of the 3.0L HO in the raptor.

2. One common block now mfg. in mass vs. two. Differences are going to be in tuning, turbo sizes, intake manifolds etc. that define weather its optimized for HP or torque / fuel economy in work truck uses. It's still a great engine and honestly just got better in my opinion.

3. It is likely the 3.0L XL / XLT / F-150 variant will also have less beefy pistons, just like the 2.7L had less beefy pistons than the 3.0L since it wasn't designed for high HP in extreme environments.

So don't assume all 3.0L's will be the same now. It will just be more confusing . 3.0L standard vs. 3.0L HO.

Look at the 3.0L block, it's a beast!

3.0L HO pistons vs. 2.7L NANO pistons:

Note the significant differences in skirt thickness and the oil cooling galleys in the 3.0L pistons, same as 6.7L Powerstroke pistons. Both feature cast-in-steel ring liners (top photo), much more knock resistant.

These engines were built from the ground up for turbo applications. Period.

 

[Lion77]

F-150 vs. Silverado 1500 (general query to Copilot AI):

Now the mid-sized:

But you'll get people swear that Ford's are massively better than Chevy's, or visa versa...I call B.S. Pick what you want based on balancing features, cost, use cases, aesthetics and builds.

All four options are good. Toyota probably is not really #1 anymore if you buying a Gen 4 with the turbo engine. The older Taco's were massively UNDERPOWERED = very low stress engines. That and mfg. quality were the key to their durability. Now that they are making a lot more torque, your seeing more comparable issues, like we've seen taco's snap front diffs, break suspension parts and have transmission issues in the Gen 4's where the older Gen 3's kinda just putted along.

I love my Raptor, and expecially with the Ford Performance Pro Cal, but I also maintain it well and drive it hard, but smartly.

1. Always wait until both oil and transmission fluid is up to full operating temp before WOT or heavy throttle use.

2. Early oil changes with periodic UOA's.

3. Factory air filters (no K&N's etc.) due to optimal particle filtration.

4. Stick with OE or at least Ford spec oils for wet belt compatibility (belt driven oil pump). Belt driven pumps are better for high HP cars as chains can oscillate and shatter gears in demanding performance applications. They also have proven to last as long as the rest of the engine (as mentioned, many 2.7L's with 200k to 300k, original oil pump belts).

5. Use Top Tier fuels in ANY TGDI engine for longevity so you get consistent clean burns. Even if it doesn't clean the intake valves, it reduces carbon fouling period, including on the injectors. Cleaner burns will reduce carbon buildup everywhere in the upper cylinder group.

Those are basic things I do to any engine that work well for long term durability. Based on the evidence and my own experiences, Turbo engines are just as reliable as NA engines but are MORE maintenance sensitive. Meaning if you keep up with maintenance, they hold up, but they fail faster if you neglect maintenance since they are higher stress engines, particularly on oil.

 

[emjay24l]

Not quite. The 3.0L variant of the Nano replacing the 2.7L is going to be set up differently than the 3.0L HO used in the Raptor, Explorer ST, Lincoln etc., smaller turbo's and more geared toward low end torque / fuel economy than high rpm HP.

I think that if the 3.0L ends up in the Ranger it will be an exact copy of what is in the F-150 just like the 2.7L has been.

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