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How can a brand-new pickup truck like the Ford Ranger arrive with a fresh design, a new V-6 engine option, and more features and yet still be missing something? Well, it's precisely because the new 2024 Ford Ranger is better equipped than before that it no longer comes with one of the previous-generation model's best options: Steel wheels. We confirmed with Ford that, for now, the automaker's newest midsize pickup comes only with aluminum wheels—a set of 17-inchers is standard on the entry-level Ranger XL—instead of good old-fashioned, commercial-spec steelies.

Now, we get that this news bulletin might not make a lot of sense to a great many people. After all, most customers want aluminum wheels. They're often larger than basic steelies, and more stylish. We agree. But there are some folks out there (us included) think there's something cool and elemental about the humble stamped steel wheel, especially on something utilitarian and rugged like an entry-level small pickup truck. And the previous-generation Ranger's steelies were good, furnished in a light silver color with a ring of small holes providing function and little more.

So, why no steelies on the new Ranger? Especially given how the smaller, more affordable Maverick pickup wears them proudly on its basic XL trim, and the larger F-150 does the same? It comes down to the Ranger's launch schedule and the versions of the truck Ford is choosing to put on sale first. When the order books open next month, Ranger intenders can choose only the SuperCrew four-door crew cab configuration with the short bed. The extended-cab Ranger (SuperCab!) with the longer bed will arrive later.

Ford also is choosing to make last year's STX styling package (see the blue truck below) standard on even the most basic 2024 Ranger XL SuperCrew models. That means instead of steelies, it gets 17-inch aluminum jobs, along with more body-color trim, digital gauge cluster and larger 10-inch touchscreen, lane-keep assist, LED headlights, and other niceties.

Ford isn't saying for sure that the steelies will ever return to the Ranger, but we're confident it could happen. Here's why: Given how this equipment upgrade over last year's Ranger XL is touted as including the formerly optional STX package, we figure there's hope yet that, once production ramps up, Ford could once again make the STX gear optional. This would lop a few hundred bucks off the Ranger's price tag—and probably spell a return of the steel wheels, as those 17-inch aluminum rims would be chucked, along with the body color bits and some of the added features. The SuperCab's arrival, too, could usher steelies back into the Ranger lineup, as that variant is more likely to be aimed at commercial and fleet customers who don't need or want flashy aluminum wheels—or too much other equipment, so as to keep the price low.

Hey, we dig cheap. We also dig steelies. Perhaps in the future, the new Ranger will offer a mixture of both on a lower-priced, steel-wheeled offering. And now, purely because we miss the truck's steelies so much, here is a totally unnecessary preview of what the new U.S.-spec Ranger might look like in proper, basic XL trim, right down to those steel wheels and black-plastic bumpers—the steel-wheel Ranger you can't buy: