Changing your 2019 Ford Ranger's oil? You better take off that front left wheel, then.

Changing your own oil is one of the simplest and most approachable bits of maintenance that you can do for your vehicle -- unless of course, the manufacturer for some reason decides to make the process a pain in the ass.

Unfortunately, according to a report published Thursday by The Truth About Cars, Ford made the new Ranger's oil filter nearly impossible to get at without removing one of the car's wheels. If this seems like kind of a dumb thing to do, keep in mind that the 2.3 liter EcoBoost found in the Ranger is slightly different from the one found in other applications.

In particular, the Ranger's enlarged oil cooler means that there isn't room for the filter to live down by the oil pan anymore, and instead, it was relocated up and into the side of the engine block, protruding at a right angle. Getting it off involves removing the left front wheel and unfastening nine push clips to remove an access panel in the wheel well.

But things don't stop there. To get to the oil drain plug, there is another panel in the vehicle's underbody tray that has four fasteners that need to be removed. Granted, having to access a drain plug through an access panel in an underbody tray isn't all that weird on a modern vehicle, but when added to the rest of the rigamarole, it's just annoying.

Clearly, this kind of inconvenience isn't the end of the world but in a segment that's already getting pretty crowded very quickly, will it be enough of an annoyance on the off-road forums to push someone away from the Ranger and toward the Chevy Colorado or Toyota Tacoma?