I had a job as a field service engineer for a little while, where they gave me a brand new 2011 Ranger to haul around tools and machine tool parts. It was an automatic 2.3L RWD regular cab short box. I also used to have a '92 2.3 5speed years ago.
I initially lamented the fact that the 2011 was a two pedal 4 banger, but I actually grew to love it. The power was on par with what I get from my current 3.9 Dakota, but it also got nearly 20 in the city and around 24 on the highway. Very impressive considering the truck had a heavy storage cap and was loaded with enough crap to give it clearly visible ass sag. It was also extremely comfortable when I routinely drove it on 1-5hr. long service calls. My only complaint was the lack of space with the RC. An extended cab would've been a lot nicer.
No word on reliability since I only got it to around 30k when I left the position, but the company had been giving those trucks to the service guys for years, usually getting to around 150-200k. They were durable enough to where the guys would buy them from the company and use them even longer as personal vehicles. The service guys were responsible for repairing and maintaining the trucks, and I don't remember any of them complaining about issues with the Rangers. Some of them did however complain about wanting the company to issue F150's instead, since it was the last year of the Ranger. Pretty sure they go with Colorado's now, unfortunately.
My '92 Ranger was BULLETPROOF, but that's obviously a different animal that what you are looking at.
