With new glass and brakes, our Ranger spent a bit more time in Detroit and, fortunately, did not take on any additional hitchhikers in the form of stones. Our Detroit editor could not fret over its departure back to the home office in Santa Monica, Calif., as our long-term Honda Odyssey was getting ready to make its way to him. After all, he is a family guy; and hey, the Odyssey's a great minivan.

We elected to perform our vehicle swap by using a shipping company rather than drive ourselves. We negotiated a stellar deal, and found that it would be more cost effective to ship versus drive. Also, we've been saddled with some excess mileage charges on our leases in the past, and would like to avoid that if possible. So, as promised, a car carrier showed up in Detroit and the Odyssey/Ranger exchange was made.

In a little less than two weeks, our Ranger arrived in Los Angeles filthy from storms, but undamaged. We got it washed up, and admired the sheen of the red paint, which wore pretty well through a Detroit winter.

Our Ranger served as a hauler for a video team this month, proving more than adequate at accommodating two film guys and all their equipment. In addition, it served commuter duty for our Vice President of Corporate Development, Lev Stark. Lev found seating for two to be all that the Ranger could comfortably handle. He reserved the jumpseats for the use of his nephews and other children. For adults, the jumpseats are laughable at best. Our VP's mother found the Ranger quite easy to get into with the step rails, a pleasant surprise considering she had been having difficulty with some cars due to leg trouble.

"Trucky" is what Lev found our Ranger to be. Not necessarily a bad thing, but far from ideal in Southern California. Passing power was adequate for he and his wife, but the suspension and road noise got on his nerves after just a few minutes. Lev summed up his experience by noting, "This truck is great for hauling manure (not that he did), but is a bust for cruising Sunset Boulevard."

We did, unfortunately, find a couple areas of damage on our truck, the causes of which remain a mystery to our a staff. The first is a breakaway driver's side mirror that will no longer breakaway due to some damaged plastic on the housing, and a large white scuff appeared on the driver's side door, but we were able to buff it out using rubbing compound.

Current Odometer: 27,696
Best Fuel Economy: 18.4 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 13.7 mpg
Body Damage: $0
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: None.