Help the new guy out

[Ranger_Envy]

Hi, I'm looking at join the ranger club. I'm going to sell my Camaro and want to pick up about a 99+ 4x4 extended cab ranger. I know this is going to be a loaded question but what year should I shoot for? I've got about 10k to spend and want to find a nice lower mileage, 4x4 extended cab ranger, preferably with a manual transmission. I'm sure each years have their pro's and con's but is there any one I should stay away from or anyone I should shoot for? When I bought my Camaro along time ago I just so happened to buy the best year where it had all the pro's of the older ones and the newer ones combined. I'd hate to be looking at two similar trucks and one have some underlying benefit that I don't know about. I would assume 2002 is around the newest I can get because of my price limit but any help would be appreciated. I'm not really looking for anything to mod just something thats a reliable driver.

 

[B2 Addict]

Man, I don't know anything about any of the newer models , so I can't really give you any advice.

But I can say welcome to TRS!!

Just wanted to let you know you are not being ignored, good luck with your ranger purchase whatever year you get!

 

[g_ville_4life]

im in the same boat as b2 but what i can say is that good choice on getting rid of that chevy and getting a ford best choice of your lifr lol

 

[Ranger_Envy]

I appreciate the responses at least I know there are other people out there on the board. Yeah I do love the 4th gen Fbodys but I'm really a Ford man at heart. I'm tempted to buy an 03-04 mach 1 to go next to my 69 Mach 428cj car, but I think I want a truck. My friend has a ZR2 pickup and its pretty nice but with GM's current situation I just can't buy anything from them. Heck in 5-10 years people might not even know what the hell GM stood for. If there is a better place to put this question let me know. I was looking for more of a general tech section but didnt' see one. I did look at the history of the ranger on this site and its a good read but not really what I'm looking for. Thanks

 

[Chance]

If you don't plan on lifting it (for cheap and easily) I think 98+ rangers are a good rigs. If you want the most reliable, yet gutless engine ever (not to start a motor discussion) get the 3.0

If you want decent power get a 4.0... I can't really think of any problems to stay away from at the moment.

 

[Ranger_Envy]

If you don't plan on lifting it (for cheap and easily) I think 98+ rangers are a good rigs. If you want the most reliable, yet gutless engine ever (not to start a motor discussion) get the 3.0

If you want decent power get a 4.0... I can't really think of any problems to stay away from at the moment.

Thanks I appreciate that. I'd prefer the extra power of the 4.0 but I'm not going to do any mods maybe just some decent wheels and tires, nothing crazy. So I could probably get by with the 3.0. I guess its good to know its maybe more reliable. Why are the 98+ bad if you want to do that? just difficult and expensive? or are they just weaker?

 

[Toms01PSD]

Expensive because of the IFS. I have a 3.0 with 3.73's on 31's and it's pretty gutless, but i'm not trying to impress anyone. It gets me where I want/need to go.

 

[Chance]

Yeah, I'm sasing my rig because its cheaper than dropping nearly two grand on a IFS lift that will break once a week. Mine is a 3.0 with 4.10's and 31's and its not too bad... but it feels great in 4-lo

But the ifs is great on a daily driver/very mild weekend warrior/hunting and camping rig... it won't break in stock form and is great on the road.