3.0L with Manual? Good Combo?

[Jspafford]

I am looking at an older model 3.0L truck with a manual transmission.

Is the motor in a 1995 the same as a 1999?

I've driven a 1999 with the Auto and it is somewhat quick off the line, but loses it not long after. I was thinking with a stick it would be a little better in the performance area.

What do you all think?

 

[mhughes165]

personally...u couldnt pay me to drive a 3.0 auto every day, since the 3.0 likes to be revved higher the 5spd really takes good advantage of that, it should be decently quick in acceleration, and get pretty damn decent gas mileage

 

[fixizin]

As far as performance and "butt dyno", I'm sure the 1995 and '99 3.0's are equal, and yep, the stick is the way to both better zip and better MPGs.

As for maintenance/repairs though, IIRC in 1996 they changed the brain box from the EEC-IV and its now obsolete OBD-I codes, to the EEC-V and the still-current OBD-II outputs, so you would be getting the older electronics... a minor consideration if all the "hard" parts of the truck are good to go.

You can still get OBD-I scanners, they just cost more.

 

[Ranger44]

3.0 & 5spd = Good Combo (both for power and mileage)

 

[mountaineergreen]

I really like my 3.0, 5 speed. I've gotten as good as 25 MPG, average 21-22. It does OK, not a whole lot of passing power- keeps me out of trouble.

EDIT: I'd never, never buy a 3.0 Auto- the transmissions are crappy IMO.

 

[Jspafford]

Too bad I already own a 1999 with the 4R44E automatic. That is what the Fiancee' drives.

Mileage is shit, around 15 on a good day.

 

[Ranger44]

Ouch....I've heard the biggest problem is that it shifts to early lugging the engine, and to get it to move and get the rpms built you have to stomp the gas.....not good for mileage. Maybe get a programmer for that thing, and change the shift points. It'll probably increase your MPG.

 

[Jspafford]

I dunno, Heather is always telling me there is something or other wrong with it. But it always drives fine when I drive it.

She told me one day it had no power, then the next she says she had to pull out fast and squealed her tires... The thing has a L/S. So she musta spun both tires. Makes me wonder if that has to do with the lower mileage numbers... lol

 

[mhughes165]

probably, i know every tiem ive ever ridden with a chick EVER, there always harder on the skinny pedal then they pretend to be

 

[fixizin]

This ties in with most chicks not having good butt-dyno, or good seat-of-the-pants G-force "feel" meters, lol.

e.g. one hottie I dated, to her credit, could and did drive a stick. It was a VW Super Beetle (old school, air-cooled, rear-engine)... it had been pimped-up in various ways, including, IIRC, Karman-Ghia exhaust system... anyway, Ye Olde Bug SOUNDED like it had some balls, but it was just an old V-dub, so there was just NOTHING pushing you back in your seat... no blurred fenceposts... just a slow noisy climb to 60MPH...

... and DAY-um, she would pull out into "holes" in traffic like it was a Porsche 914-6 or something! That 'Peterbilt' grill would be getting REAL BIG in the rear window, and I'd be bracing for impact as she wound it up through the gears, and as my "AAAAAAaaahhh..." trailed off she'd say "What? My car is FAST!"... and I had to tell her the bad news, "No smoochums, it just SOUNDS fast"... LOL.