Hello all. I am in search of my first truck purchase. I need some suggestions on what to buy. I am thinking about buying a 4cylinder stick shift due to gas mileage. I am hoping to tow a trailer less than 2000 lbs on occasions. The truck year will probably be a 1996-2000. Everything i find has 100k miles should this concern me? Ok so my questions The classic ford or chevy? How much can it tow? Reliability? How much gas mileage does the 4 cylinder get verses the 6 cylinder? Please tell me pros and cons i need help, and suggestions! will the 4 cylinder be able to tow????thanks all
i should probably have added that i can only spend about $5000.00 so it would be used. what is the gas mileage you all are getting

I have owned 3 ford rangers. the first one was a 1999 automatic crew cab, with flare sides. my wonderful husband rolled it over right after we paid cash for it. then came our boxy 1992. it was a stick, and a complete beast. has a million issues, we paid 600 bucks and that thing was awesome. it always crawled home. the last one was a 1999 reg cab stick. the only issues we had were easy electrical problems that even the biggest idiot with a haynes manual could fix. i love those little trucks. we sold it and bought a 2009 tacoma the other day.

the ranger, i wouldnt recomend towing 2000lbs. theres a reason why they call some trucks "one ton". or "half ton" those are the references they give to the amount of weight you can tow. most rangers dont come with tow hitches or balls. they arent the type of vehicles that are meant for towing. same with the s10 and the small toyota trucks. they are meant for light duty, and a ton is pretty close to the weight of the vehicle alone. so pulling more than your trucks own weight isnt very good for it. you will kill the truck a lot sooner than you would think by pulling that.

you might want a truck a little bigger. like an older tundra, a ford F series (f150, f250, f350), a silverado. things like that. all those you can get later models of. you might be able to get a very cheap f150 before a cheap tundra or silverado. but it will most likely have a million miles. we just sold an 89 f150 about 3 years ago. and it was great for what you want it for. but they are generally 6cylinder. and therefor more gas. but you wont burn as much gas using the correct size engine to haul as you would over working a smaller one.

hope this helps. i am pretty good with my pick up trucks.

I would see about getting a ford sport trac, they can tow and they have a full back seat and rides like a car. really a nice truck! as for a 4 banger I don't think you will get much towing out of it maybe like a tent trailer but that's about it. I get around 23 MPG with a 4.0 liter v6

Get a ranger, but a v6 if you plan to tow. 4cyls are cool for everyday use, but lack a bit of power when it comes to towing heavy loads up a hill.

im not sure if this is a trolling post or not but this info couldnt be further from the truth. my ranger for example is rated to tow 5500 pounds and it came with a hitch from the factory. many rangers are equiped with a towing package stock. also, the rangers weigh alot more than 2000 pounds, mine is around 4600 pounds being an extended cab 4x4. before i got my half ton i regularly towed 3000-4000 pounds with my ranger with no problems at all and it pulled it great. dont come on here spreading false info. why the hell is an unregistered guest allowed to post here anyways?

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Why would a guest be allowed posting priviledges?? I own a 1990 Ranger 4X4 with 4.0 liter V6. I had the back springs beefed so I could haul more and I did! Some of the loads have been brutal but it has motored on. I also tow with it and sometimes have exceeded limits for short distances with no pronblems. I have 210,000 miles on an untouched engine and had the tranny rebuilt once due to my own stupidity. Synthetic fluids and grease throughout. It still passes our bi-yearly emissions test with flying colours....yes, co-u-lors. Canadian eh? What a truck. I now am waiting for my new one, a 2010 super cab with 4 cylinder and five speed manual which comes equipped with trailer hitch (Class 3) and wiring. Do we need a big truck...NOT!!!

Look at the date, it's 2008!

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'88 STX Super Cab 4x4
2.9 5spd 180,000 miles
Crappy Paint, Worn Parts,
Fix'em as they Break
when Nowhere is Now Here

Yup, look at the date... they were allowed to post in 2008 but not anymore.

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2006 Ford Ranger Sport 4.0 2WD on 32x11.50R15s
-3" Doetsch Spindle Lift


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o ha ha holy shit, didnt even notice the date. my bad. lol

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