Buying your first towing vehicle can be nerve-wracking. There are so many add-ons and options where you're not sure are must-haves or nice-to-haves. After a lot of research, here were our must-haves for traveling between states, and being able to safely camp in BLM desert in the southwest.

  • 4 wheel drive
  • Able to tow camper
  • Underside protection (skid and bash plates) so the car doesn’t get torn up off-road
  • Has indoor storage
  • Reasonably priced — we didn’t want a 90k truck
  • Has decent ride on long highway drives (ex. jeeps are amazing off-road but don’t make compromises for highway or daily drives)

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Top contenders:

  • Ford Bronco — Our first choice because we liked the retro style. But this was basically unavailable to purchase in 2022 because of lack of supply.
  • Tacoma TRD — none were available, and buying used was the only option but these were expensive as new. Plus these were just more expensive vehicles and we were less comfortable with the price
  • Tacoma 4 Runner — getting off-road package plus additional dealer fees made the price uncomfortable fo rus

All of these were priced new at around 55k or more with the moderate off-roading packages we wanted. We didn’t want used off-road trucks because of hearing some stories of people buying 1-year old used off-road vehicles and realizing how much the vehicles had been throttled.

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Winner: 2022 Ford Ranger XLT Tremor

We ultimately went with the Ford Ranger Tremor, which looked like the cheapest off-road truck and had solid reviews (watch youtube review). It came in at about $40k, and with the average car in United States going at about $36k, we felt we got a reasonable deal with all the additional packages we added and how the truck met our needs.

Why the Ford Ranger Tremor:

  • Availability. We were actually able to order the car and expect to have it delivered sometime this year. Still tbd on exact month — our fingers are crossed.
  • We could apply Ford family discounts (perk of living in Michigan where there is usually someone in the family who works at ford) which was essential for getting around the price gauging and extra fees that are being added on 2022 because of high demand and low supply. We got the z plan thanks to my dad being retired from ford.
  • Off-road package was reasonably priced and reviewed. For 4K we got upgraded springs, struts, alternating tires, locking rear differential, crawl mode for 4 wheel drive, terrain shifting between snow, sand, gravel

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Options and add-ons

Family members who worked at Ford gave us tips for speeding up production on our car — namely, removing any options that were dependent on unavailable parts:

  • Removed bedliner option
  • Removed auto parking features
  • Removed adaptive cruise control

After we get the truck, here are the additional upgrades we are planning to do:

We also ordered the truck in the elusive cactus gray (see #cactusgray on tiktok), a last minute decision that I’m glad we made, since it fits with the new southwest vibe we’re hoping to enjoy.

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Summary

This truck is the first car I’ll have ever bought in my name. A couple of years ago, if you had told me I would be driving a truck, I would not have believed you. But I feel super cool when I’m driving it and I’m obsessed with the color.


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