I still have my A2 Jetta diesel... 315k on the odometer... still gets nearly 40MPG.
Posted on 03/14/2015 10:38:24 PM PDT by Leaning Right
I'm in the market for a compact pick-up truck. The old Ford Ranger would have been perfect, but Ford's motto in that regard is: Shut up and by the F-150.
Is there anything out there that approaches the Ranger? Thanks for any advice.
On my 2nd Ranger now, 2001 4.0 liter with 5 speed and 4wd. Love that little truck. 133K now and plan on taking it to 200K before I would even think of letting go of it. Shines up like new, even with the Montana pin striping.
Great on the ice and snow, and tows my single ATV trailer and single axle box trailer just fine.
Looking at Tacomas with envy, but don’t have the cash yet and hate payments.
Good luck in your search.
Try to find one at your Ford dealer that isn't tricked out like a gangsta-mobile and priced north of $35K. The entire auto industry seems to have decided that no one buys trucks for work any more.
The rental agency gave me a smaller Nissan pickup one time when I was out in the Permian Basin... I can’t recall the model but it was a nice smaller truck that did have a back seat. Not as small as a Ranger... but not a 7’ tall rig either.
Ditto Doc’s recommendation... the truck I was talking about in my above post was a Frontier... it was a really nice little truck... needed the 4WD to get out of the sand/dust... it was comfortable for me.
I still have my A2 Jetta diesel... 315k on the odometer... still gets nearly 40MPG.
I saw a truck I thought was a Ranger, but it was an Explorer. It was an amazingly hot-looking vehicle. My personal favorite, though, is the Dodge Dakota.
Small enough to fit in the garage, but it has true off road capability. And it looks ba'dass, let's face it.
Go with Matchbox or Hot wheels. Super compact.
Get yourself a Toyota Tacoma, they’re great little trucks and get really good gas mileage, on top of superior operating life as a whole.
That being said, I swore I'd never buy another mini-truck because of the narrow bed and all the grief it caused me trying to haul even the most basic things. If it's just needed for a commute vehicle and you just kinda like trucks, it would work out ok though.
And if I can throw in my unrequested 2 cents, if I wanted something small for commuting, I would buy another Escape. We had a V6 AWD Escape and it had all kinds of power, 28mpg and the AWD was one of the best functioning traction systems I've ever experienced. The thing was unstoppable, mud, snow or ice. We would have gotten another if it were large enough for our needs. I gave it to my parents and they are still driving it, it's fast approaching 300,000 miles on the ticker and no problems yet other than a couple bad coils last year.
Try a search on someplace like cars.com. The main brands have basic work models, sometimes with manual everything! Or they did until very recently.
In-stock ‘work models’ are usually handled by dealers that emphasize their trucks and commercial vehicles.
Not a whole lot of selection new anymore, unfortunately. Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Frontier, Chevy Colorado/GMC Sonoma.
They’ve all gotten larger, the Nissan seems to have been enlarged the least. The Chevy/GMC appear to be full size until parked next to a new full size.
Of the four in my opinion, I’d try to find a 4 cyl. regular cab Tacoma, their fours are very good. Unless, that is, you’re planning on towing or hauling.
Second choice would be Frontier. If you could find a very well-kept last model year Ranger, that might work.
Know someone who just bought a Colorado and love it. It was just redesigned.
I found the solution to that at my local Ford dealer and it was simple. I just marched in over at the fleet sales side of the dealership and told the nice gentleman that I wanted a truck, with my specifications.
He poked around on the computer a little bit, printed off a window sticker, grabbed it out of the printer and wrote the "real" price on it, and said "We have this truck and two others like it. You can buy one for this much."
I started hemming and hawing some and he said "I sold 720 trucks last year. Either way is fine with me."
The next day I went in a bought a truck for, uh, a few thousand less than the amount you mentioned and it has a V8 instead of a V6, automatic transmission, 4wd, anti-spin differential and even some convenience features I didn't expect to have.
Vinyl floor so that when I get it dirty inside it doesn't even matter. Nice radio/CD too, not quite premium sound but pretty good when some good music comes on. I don't carry CD's in the truck...
If I had wanted just a RWD, standard cab, V6 really basic work truck it would have cost even less. They really did me right.
I don’t work for Ford or the dealership, BTW. :)
You folks that are insisting on purchasing the Nissan Frontier Please do your research beforehand.
As I previously wrote Nissan has a lot of stupid/Poor engineering issues with their Frontier.One of which I own.
There are also issues with the cooling system being interconnected with the automatic transmission so coolant will destroy your transmission.
Please search for these issues on line.Before your sorry.I sure am that I did’nt .
I loved my Dakota but it gave up the ghost in January. I looked around and found that penny for penny the Nissan was the best buy. It even came with heated seats and a back up camera.
You're right! Please tell me more about the vehicles in your post. And I'm hoping they're not something from the 1970's.
Everybody needs an F-150.
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