Hey everyone, I've grown quite tired of my old Civic but am not sure whether I should make a vehicle switch or not. It's an '08 LX sedan 5 speed with 140k on the clock (I've owned it since 91k for 3 years) and its been a dead reliable vehicle that I've only had to do very little repairs to, of which I do all of my own work. I've replaced the clutch master and slave with an EM1 setup (earlier SI) and have done regular maintenance otherwise. Also, my mpg has recently dropped for the last 6 months from a consistent 34 mpg to 29 mpg even after a good tune up and valve lash adjustment. (Just more facts to consider)

Recently, my father purchased a flood damaged '07 Ford Ranger 4cyl/5speed with 160k on the clock for cheap. The body looks great, interior is fair, electrical is completely dry of any water damage and works well, frame has minor surface pitting from being water logged and will need recoated, and the engine is hydrolocked. No water got into the diff but it will need some bearings and a pinion seal. The trans seems to be fine along with the clutch and slave. In all, we are figuring around $1400 to get it road worthy with a good used engine and basic tune up parts to include a water pump for the engine. I'm already yanking the motor but still have to wait to hear back from the state DMV as to whether we can title it or not. We have to contact the previous owner to apply for a title again.

To have a change of pace in driving a different vehicle, I'm thinking of purchasing the truck and selling my Civic while being able to pocket at least a couple thousand bucks in the process. I just don't want to regret getting rid of the Civic for the risk the Ranger might be more problematic since its not a Honda or Toyota. (Sorry, I'm a little bias coming from a family that owns all imports except for our old American iron)

I know, the Duratec 2.3 is a Mazda engine and seems to have a good reputation. I've driven my cousins Ranger that is almost a carbon copy and it wasn't bad, especially with the mpg's for a truck. I'm just concerned that over 150k might be the point at which alot of issues start to surface on a Ford? I can easily handle any problem that comes up, I just don't want to come across many. What do you all think?