Well, I'm about to pull the trigger on my first ranger, and I would like to make sure I'm choosing correctly.

I have two choices - both from the same dealer and only marginally different in price.

1) A 98 extended cab xlt 2.5L Lima w/ 95k miles or
2) an 03 mazda regular cab with the 2.3L duratec with 110k miles.

Now I was pretty set on the bigger cab Lima because I'm pretty tall. Also I've got a dog that always rides with me that I can imagine wanting to ride in the back of the cab. It'd give me room to put stuff in the cab that I don't wanna get stolen or wet, especially when I travel soon. I was so set on this vehicle, until I started reading about limas vs duratecs...

When I went into this ranger hunt, I was looking for something that got the BEST GAS MILEAGE PERIOD. Sitting in a reg cab I thought, ah, oh well, I'll sacrifice a mpg or two for extended cab. all the fuel stat sites report the duratec getting about 2 mpg better than the lima. But when I read through post after post in this and other forums, people seem to be reporting WAY better gas mileage with their duratecs. Most people with the limas seem to be saying 22mpg or less, while duratec people are saying upper 20s, like 26+. That's like 20% better - so it's got me rethinking this lima extended cab. Obviously I'd like to find an extended cab duratec but there hasn't been any around here for a couple months - so am I gonna be kicking myself for getting the lima or are duratecs gonna get similar mpg? Are there any reasons the lima might be preferrable? Duratecs seem to be reliable, more powerful, and more efficient...

Thanks so much

josh