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They haven't made a 4cyl 4x4 ranger since the 80's.

Mine with the 3.0 and a 5 speed would get 16 on a GOOD day. My 2300 fox mustang couldn't even get the numbers you claim. A 20mpg 4x4 ranger is a pipe dream

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It's just over 100 miles round trip.  Not horrible.

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Damn, that's a LONG commute to even consider anything but a high MPG car.

500 miles per week, 48 weeks per year is 24,000 miles.  4 years and you hit 100,000 miles.  

At 15 MPG, that's 1,600 gallons at $2.50/gallon for a total cost of $4,000.
At 20 MPG, that's 1,200 gallons at $2.50/gallon for a total cost of $3,000.
At 35 MPG, that's 685 gallons at $2.50/gallon for a total cost of $1,712.

Getting a 35 MPG commuter car would save you $190/month in operating costs vs. a V8 truck that gets 15 MPG.  Fuelly is showing that Ram 1500 V8's are getting 16-17 on average, while the V6 is getting about 20 MPG.  

Is $200 per month worth the convenience of not having to make a separate trip back to town with a cheap work truck?  That doesn't even factor in the cost difference between the new truck and the commuter car+beater truck.

BTW, my 2011 Tacoma gets 14 MPG in mixed driving.  That's AWFUL for a V6!  33" E-range tires don't help, but even before those tires were put on, I never broke 16 MPG except on long freeway stretches at 60 MPH.  The only saving grace for me is that in the 6.5 years I've owned it, it only has 42,000 miles on it.....

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I have a rebel, couple thoughts on getting better mileage:
1) you can actually calibrate the throttle response
2) If you're doing 15mpg on the regular, it means the MDS isn't kicking on (It isn't switching from 8 to 4 cylinders when highway cruising lazily).
3) Are you in aero mode or did you disable it, be honest brother
Are your tires at proper PSI? I know when I got KO2s, they were a little bit sensitive to that. They had a shit ton of traction, and my non-expert theory on that is as you air those badboys down, the traction comes up but so does the rolling resistance and how hard the engine has to work to turn them.
4) Lastly, I shit you not, let off the gas for a brief moment after getting up to speed.
When you get a moment on a highway that's pretty empty, and if you can do so safely of course - Flip over to the screen where it shows you your fuel efficiency.
As you're going up a bit of a hill on the highway you'll probably be getting 15mpg at 70ish
Once you're at the hills top, and you're at speed, let off the gas a moment
When you do that, you signal to the MDS that it's okay to flip to 4 cylinders.
It should spring to about 20-22mpg when it does this, depending on a few things.
If you're doing 85, and passing people constantly, man, I mean

Once it goes from 15ish to that low 20s bracket, you've got it down pat.
Note: and it will do this on 40mpg roads that are nice lazy straightaways, free of stopsigns. If anything I do see higher than 20s.
Jackrabbit starts? The Hemi is thirsty

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Last year my fuel cost was $6,181.87.  I track data for most things I do.

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Is that for on-road vehicles only or does that include farm implements, well pumps, fuel oil for heating, etc?

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2.7 ecoboost and thank me later.

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They haven't made a 4cyl 4x4 ranger since the 80's.

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I looked at the Colorado yesterday.  It would do everything I need but it was just a little too small.   For example, a sheet of plywood won't fit between the wheel wells.

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You find a second gen 4cyl 4wd ranger.

While they technically did make a few I'd say production was easily less that 5% of 2nd gen 4x4 rangers sold.

None of which changes the fact it will be a <20mpg roadgoing turd.

I've owned enough rangers and 2300 powered fords. I know the score your bullshit nostalgia about how awesome these little crap cans were has no affect on me