[rlackey]

Hi Guys,

My not so trusty '59 VW Beetle that has been my daily driver for a long time now has finally driven it's last highway miles. It can't take the abuse anymore so I'm going to sell it and put a deposit down on a small used truck.

I'm looking at getting a 2WD 2 Litre 2000 Ford Ranger (diesel if I can find one), anyone have any opinions on this truck, good, bad, problems to be aware of?

Rich

[tbirdscott]

Avoid the pathetically underpowered 2.3L and you should be okay.

[66Caprice]

I had a 99 and it was a pretty good truck. It did not have the extended cab and was kinda small, but fun to drive anyways.

[OG GP Girlie]

I'm pretty certain there wasn't a diesel built, but it's a great truck if you take care of it. I had a '94 XLT Ext cab with the 4.0L - 6 in it. (5-speed) I don't care what anyone says about Ford... it's a great truck. Lowered it 7" in front & 6" in back, (kept the 1" natural rake), got into Mini Truckin' & took trophies as big as me... I miss my truck....

[rlackey]

OG GP Girlie,

Here in South Africa you can get a diesel in a number of engine sizes, I wonder why they never made one in the U.S.?

Anyway, what happened to your truck?

Rich

[OG GP Girlie]

Ya know... got married, had a baby, bought a Bonneville, got rid of him.... now I need a new project for me & my daughter to tear around in. '67 GTO is next on list of lifetime achievements... I don't care if it takes forever.

[Ford SVT]

If in the Toronto area I can sell you any Ford product. Hands down Ford makes the best truks Period!!! Like I said I work at Markville Ford Call me at 905-474-1350 and ask for George

[Nightfire]

Originally Posted by Ford SVT

If in the Toronto area I can sell you any Ford product. Hands down Ford makes the best truks Period!!! Like I said I work at Markville Ford Call me at 905-474-1350 and ask for George

That is something !!! We got Autofarts number, quick someone call him up



Mike

[OG GP Girlie]

Mike, you know you're gonna call him...

[tbirdscott]

There were deisel 4 banger rangers sold here (canada) in the early 80's at least, a friend got an '82 with super low mielage for screaming deal. Its the only one i've ever seen though.

[Malibucdl]

I used to have a '96 Ranger a few years ago. Awesome little truck. Had the 2.3L 4 banger with a 5 spd tranny. Yeah, it was underpowered, but that probablly kept me out of a lot of trouble. That truck would take nearly any abuse I could thrown at it (with-in reason of course). Unfortunatly I ran into a tree with it. And it still ran for another 2 months. If you can find one in good shape, I say go for it.



Chris

[WakBordr7387]

I used to know a guy back in highschool who bought a ford ranger taht was in real nice condition until he started driving it around. He trashed that thing! There was no telling how many things he hit, the front end was caved in, the bed was so trashed that he just took it off and duct taped his tailightes to the frame! I don't think there was a single light on the outside of that thing that hadnt been busted at least twice. But it still ran good as new,somehow, but it sure didn't look as good as it once did.

Brad

[speede5]

I just finished swapping a 1991 Ranger 4.0 5Spd into an 89 Bronco. It had a 2.8 Auto. Nice enough truck but I would stay away from the automatics like the plague. The Bronco tranny (A4LD) was shot and impossible to find used as this appears to be the leakest link. Everywhere we went the ford auto's were not well thought of. If I ever bought one of these trucks it would be a 5 spd, which I must say seems to work really nice in my brother in laws Bronco. Unfortunately the Ranger was a write off cause it is quite a nice little truck. Also get the 4.0 it has way better power than any of the other engines offered.

[adtkart]

I have a Ranger, 1995, 2.3 5 speed. It has about 104000 miles on it, and runs great. The only problem with it is that it has no power. I previously had a 86 Ranger with a 2.9 V6. My neighbor once borrowed it to tow his race car, parts and tools to the track when his full size Chevy wouldn't run. My next one will have a V6, as I don't really think there is a measureable difference in mileage considering the power difference. I don't think I have ever seen a diesel model.

[PrimeMover]

I bought a brand new '94 4.0 liter five speed extra-cab XLT in 1995. I'm still driving and liking it. It's not real big on power but it's adequate for what I do with it. It's pulled my boat back and forth to the beach countless times, hauled lots of trailer loads of camping equipment thousands of miles to out of the way hunting and camping places and all I've ever really done to it is, replaced the MAF sensor, water pump, serpentine belt, and brakes. I'm going on the second set of brakes still... the First set of pads went 85,000 miles.
I've thought about going to a bigger rig but the way the gas situation is going, I think I'll stick with a small truck for my daily driver.

The big thing that pushed me over the edge to buy a Ranger in 94 was: Consumer Report had them rated the #1 small truck, over the Toyota. They weren't wrong.