Looking for a used pickup as a daily-driver

As much as I like old Cruisers, I just don't see that happening. To be the MX-5 of the SUVs it needs to be more common, cheaper and easier to mod. I hate to say it but the Wrangler is what fits those criteria better than the Cruiser and the Ranger ticks all those boxes for trucks.
 
:motherofgod:

Good crap, that thing is built!
 
Another Vote for the ranger.
 
Blind_Io said:
As much as I like old Cruisers, I just don't see that happening. To be the MX-5 of the SUVs it needs to be more common, cheaper and easier to mod. I hate to say it but the Wrangler is what fits those criteria better than the Cruiser and the Ranger ticks all those boxes for trucks.
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Not to mention that Jeep owners have the same general mindset about their vehicles as Miata owners. They share the belief that no matter what their preferred vehicle is the complete package, something else might do some things better but not everything.
 
They aren't necessarily wrong, and with the new Pentastar V6 hitting the Wrangler soon and the promise of a diesel in the near future, the Wrangler will produce more power for less fuel.

Hell, if I had the option of the Pentastar or diesel when I was looking for my X, I might have easily ended up with a Wrangler Unlimited.
 
jasonof2000 said:
Not to mention that Jeep owners have the same general mindset about their vehicles as Miata owners. They share the belief that no matter what their preferred vehicle is the complete package, something else might do some things better but not everything.
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That and if there is someone driving a Land Rover they need to ride up its ass. By the way to all the Jeep Grand Cherokee owners in WA out there, steal backed bumpers attached to a one billion ton frame will win out against plastic bumpers on a unibody.
 
My dad's Ranger, though newer than what can be had in your price range, is a great little truck, as was his Toyota pickup from years ago.
 
I'd avoid the S10. Not just from my personal experience with a hacked up one, but from what some of my friends have gone through with them (mostly the ZR2 trucks). They'll do the job, but just about any other small truck will be better. A Ranger or a Tacoma would be your best bet. As others have said, the post-1994 Mazda B-Series are just rebadged Rangers. But the earlier B-Series (if you're willing to look at stuff that old) are fine trucks as well.
 
For the price range, you will be into the Rust Years for the Tacoma. Those trucks are a deathtrap. Toyota refused to admit there was a problem with frame rust until one truck's frame cross member holding the spare tire fell off while on the freeway. After that the NHTSA got involved and Toyota was all kinds of cooperative, they even had to buy back some trucks because the current owners couldn't sell or trade them.
 
The '95-'04 trucks? I figure that anything left on the road by now either had its frame replaced or at least properly sealed up. And if not it should be obvious. I'd have no problem going for one that had been recalled and fixed.
 
Mr. Nice said:
A Nissan Navara is an Australian model.
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It's called the Nissan Hardbody in the US of A. Same car.

I wasn't sure of what sort of things are in that price range, if it were here I'd buy a Triton or a Navara. That model Ranger was called the Courier here, I haven't heard any reliability horror stories but they're not the safest things I've heard, and apparently they have a habit of falling over.

The police here can only drive their Ranger paddy wagons when no other vehicles are available because of the number of cases where they have rolled over. But I'd put that down to the mobile prison cell on the back of them than the truck itself.
 
Remember that the Ranger has evolved a great deal over the years. The body is completely new and the suspension has been reworked to a certain extent. It is still a fairly narrow high center of gravity vehicle, but a modern Ranger won't feel anything like one from 20 years ago. The new bodies are much safer in a rollover and have roll cages and such to meet modern crash standards.
 
http://img268.imageshack.**/img268/8787/9497chevrolets10.jpg

I'm just sayin'
 
OK, so it looks like there are several votes for the Ranger in here, so what should I look for if I go that route? Is the I4 just as reliable as the V6? Good/bad years? It's already looking like a better option than the S10, because fewer of them on Craigslist have "slammed" or "bagged" in the description. :lol:

As for the Land Cruiser and Wrangler comments: I'm looking for something to haul crap in for the first couple years I'm there, not go four-wheelin' in. :p

EDIT: also, do extended-cab trucks ever have a second bench in the back, or is it always something like a jumpseat? I've been looking at regular cabs since that will mean a shorter-easier to park truck, but I'll consider an extended cab if it means I can bring a couple friends with me on road trips.
 
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My vote goes for the Ranger/B-series pickups as well, being sturdy little fuckers. Family had one when I was in the 3rd grade until we lent it to our uncle in 2004. We got it back a month later with a baseball-sized crack in the windshield (What happens when you live in Ghettosville, Tacoma, Washington), and severely needing a new clutch.
 
chaos386 said:
OK, so it looks like there are several votes for the Ranger in here, so what should I look for if I go that route? Is the I4 just as reliable as the V6? Good/bad years? It's already looking like a better option than the S10, because fewer of them on Craigslist have "slammed" or "bagged" in the description. :lol:

As for the Land Cruiser and Wrangler comments: I'm looking for something to haul crap in for the first couple years I'm there, not go four-wheelin' in. :p

EDIT: also, do extended-cab trucks ever have a second bench in the back, or is it always something like a jumpseat? I've been looking at regular cabs since that will mean a shorter-easier to park truck, but I'll consider an extended cab if it means I can bring a couple friends with me on road trips.
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Most extended cab compact pickup trucks have jumpseats in the rear. If you get a four door Chevy Colorado or Nissan Frontier, they will have full seats but smaller beds. A full-size pickup won't get horrendously worse mileage than a compact (somewhere around 10-15 as opposed to 15-20) and you could get one with a bench in the rear. There was also a not really a truck called the Ford Explorer Sport Trac which was a four door, had a full rear seat and was based on the Ford Explorer .

Edit:

Sport Trac:

2002_Ford_Explorer_Sport_Trac.jpg
 
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More views of that built Ranger:
F3302886.jpg

F3302977.jpg

chaos386, it's doubtful you'll get one like this at your price range :p.
 
If you go for the Ranger get the V6. For as bombproof at the V6 is, the I4 is anemic and has more problems. I don't know how they managed that, but it means that the V6 is the way to go.

Also, some of the newer Rangers (not sure the year range) are available with a suicide-door to get into the extended cab.
 
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