Thinking about a 4X4 pickup...

CAPT_Howdy

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I just got word from my job that my office will be closing, and I will be moving back home to be with my family in New Hampshire. Living in New England means that I will be needing a winter beater so as not to subject my car (I'll probably be getting a Panther platform car - Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, or Town Car - but if you can think of a better large car bargain let me know.) to the salted roads. Plus a truck can come in handy when doing stuff like runs to the dump.

I want an extended cab short bed truck. Candidates include the Ford F series, GMT800 trucks (1999-2006), Ford Ranger, Chevy S10/GMC Sonoma, Mazda B series, and Nissan Frontier or maybe even the Titan, if I can find a nice one for under $10K. Dodge is not on the list because I don't feel they're reliable enough. But I'll admit that info is based on the 1994-2001 Ram trucks. If the 2002 and up trucks are better, they'll go on the list.

You'll notice I haven't put Toyota on the list. The reason for that is most of the Toyotas I see here are $2-3K more expensive than the competition, and they all seem to have 175K+ miles on them. I know the Hilux is basically unkillable, but I'm not sure I want to spend $10K on a truck that's 5 years older and has twice the mileage of, say, an F-150.

And another question - this one is directed at my friends who live in New England. Would I be better off buying a truck in California and spending 2 grand to have it shipped, or should I save my money and start looking for a truck once I get to Concord? The reason I ask is because I see a lot of rusty trucks on CL.
 
Remember that CA emissions cripples trucks from that market, and that because of said idiot regulations the emissions and even fuel and ignition controls can be different and therefore more expensive and hard to get replacement parts for in other states. I would suggest buying from another state; rust free trucks are plentiful in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and several other southern or western states.

Also, the GMT800 truck engines are made of fail. Avoid.
 
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In any pickup from GM I would only trust the 5.7L or the 4.3L to be reliable engines. The 4.3L trucks have terrible auto transmissions.

Unfortunately they killed off the 350 starting in late 1999 when they changed the name from C/K pickup to Silverado.
 
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And the Hilux was replaced by the inferior Tacoma in 1995, I think. And the Tacoma is definitely killable. If you did go for an old Hilux, I would stick with the 4 banger with a manual trans.

For newer trucks, I would go for the Nissan Frontier. It's a solid truck in the compact segment with some good V6 options. They even came with long bed (or at least the normal size bed found on regular/extra cab trucks) crew cab bodystyles, which is awesome.
 
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If you get a ranger, make sure it's the 4.0 V6. I hear from a lot of people that thats a solid engine. I don't have one personally, so I can't say from experience.

What I can say is, 92-96 f150's are plentiful and so are the small parts that are needed for the age of the truck. They came in I6, V8 5.0, and V8 5.8. With manual or automatic.

Don't get a 97-2003 f150. They crumple like a soda can in a crash and weren't built well.
 
Nissan Frontier, Ford Ranger or a Ford F150.
 
Not to hijack this thread, but im considering a truck in the future as well. Is there anything:

1. Modern (in the post-90's auto sense)

2. Sturdy (light and watery off roading)

3. Manual Transmission


What fits this bill?
 
Not to hijack this thread, but im considering a truck in the future as well. Is there anything:

1. Modern (in the post-90's auto sense)

2. Sturdy (light and watery off roading)

3. Manual Transmission


What fits this bill?

Same things we've been discussing here.
 
If you get a ranger, make sure it's the 4.0 V6. I hear from a lot of people that thats a solid engine. I don't have one personally, so I can't say from experience.

If you're going for the 4.0L you might as well get the 2001+ updated engine. It has more power and less issues (the big one being cracked heads)
 
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