The new ranger

[press 1 for english]

I can see where some (not Ford obviously) might have called the Ranger and S-10 "midsize" when they first came out. They were quite a bit bigger than the Hilux, Courier and LUV. After awhile the other guys upsized or died out and the term compact stuck with with them because frankly they were all comparable trucks sizewise. Then the Dakota marched to its own drum long enough to make the term "midsize" stick for the forseeable future and eventually everyone else either joined them or died out.

I know for my lifetime (born in '84, didn't really keep track of cars much until early to mid 90's) the Ranger has always been called a compact for as long as I can remember but it is very plausable in the very beginning they were bigger enough from everybody else to have been called a midsize.

I chimed in because I thought we were discussing late model compact and mid size trucks. I remember the Courier and the Chevy Luv with their single wall bed sides. You couldn't find one of them without exterior bedside damage.
The Nissans/Datsuns in the 1980s were really cheap and you could cave a body in by just LIGHTLY leaning on it. Even the 1980s Toyota pickups were a joke too and boy did they rust.
The Rangers owned the small truck market back then by default because all the small trucks were terrible the exception being the S-10.