After owning four of them:
I'll agree with the cabin noise. The wind noise isn't that bad unless you are breaking the speed limit. It's the road noise.
That rattle in the passenger side door is probably the door latch. I've replaced three of them over the years and it resolved the rattle all three times.
I'm always hearing weird noises. I think most of it is due to not having any sound insulation.
Regarding engines:
Earlier models didn't have much power because that was what you got back then. The 4.0L V6 was fair. The 2.3L Duratec is excellent for what it is.
Fuel economy mostly sucks. Depending on your location, climate, and driving habits, fuel economy on the freeway is mostly 18-23 mpg, and that is for all engines except the Duratec. If you are going to step in and tell me your 2.3/2.5L Lima is netting you 28 mph, I'm going to reply with you need to learn how to calculate fuel economy. The only advantage the Lima had over the V6 was that it got 18-20 mpg around town.
What was the point of keeping the 3.0L around after the Duratec came along? When I was shopping for the Ranger I had now I had trouble finding one with a 4cyl. There were plenty of 3.0s around, but they really weren't any better with power output and the fuel economy was poor.
Regarding the Duratec: It's a great engine and overall, probably one of the easier ones to work on. The exception is the location of the PCV valve and the EGR valve. Access to the PCV is difficult, and the EGR can't be accessed without tilting the transmission down. There's also a coolant bypass hose that required the transmission to be tilted back (or removed).
Other than that, all the engine options are fairly reliable.
Transmission:
This is my opinion, and I've come across other posts where people share my opinion, so here it is: The M5OD is a pain in the ass. The input shaft bearing wears causing play that damages the pilot bearing, which then causes difficulty getting into gear. I had to have mine rebuilt and it cost a fortune because sometime around 2001 Toyo decided to change the $35 single piece 2nd gear synchro to a
$535 two-piece synchro. Then I had a scraping noise appear that appears to have something to do with the shift rail assembly (the noise changes when you move the shifter). The transmission shop couldn't figure it out, so they swapped another rebuilt and now I have the same problem again. Do a search for M5OD scraping noise and you will see this issue come up with every vehicle that has used this transmisson going back to the Bronco II, and nobody knows what is causing it. In contrast, I've own a 73 Capri, a 1975 Capri II with Borg Warner 4 speeds, and a B2200 with an M5M. All of them exceeded 160,000 miles without any transmission issues (other than replacing the clutch). The Capri had over 240,000 miles on that transmission. I started having problems at 90,000 miles on the Ranger. I'm also on my 4th clutch master cylinder (I think it the heat here is contributing to this problem), which wouldn't be so bad except bleeding these things takes more patience than I have.
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