Thanks guys... today I just picked up the 06 Ranger. I hope it treats me kindly. Is there any maintenance at 80,000 miles I should look into?
Congrats on the Ranger.
Do you know anything about the maintenance history of the truck? If not, i'd be changing the oil/filter, fuel filter, and giving it a once over in general, checking brakes, ball joints, tie rods, etc., just to give yourself piece of mind. If it has followed recommended maintenance intervals, all that has been taken care of, & the fuel filter would have been changed @ 75K, so you're good to go.
I've owned both Toyota trucks and this Ranger I have now. It's a 2003 ext. cab 4x4, 4.0 SOHC w/ the 5 speed manual. I purchased it new.
I had a 91 Toyota pickup. It was trashed when i got it. Put a different engine in it (22RE, the one in it was toast), patched the body up, painted it, etc. I drive it for awhile and the head gasket went, so I fixed that. That's all I ever had to do to it. I sold it to my mom when I got a Tacoma in 2003, and she still has it, and hasn't put a penny in it yet except for 2 tires. The odometer read 238,000 miles or so when I handed the keys to her.
I bought a used 2003 Tacoma regular cab, 4 cylinder, 5-speed, 4x4 w/ the SR5 package. I drove a ways to get it and bought it when it was raining out. When I got home, it had little dents all over it, and it drove me nuts. I didn't keep it too long. Traded it on on the Ranger. I see it around town to this day. I seriously doubt the owner has had any trouble w/ it.
Bought the '03 Ranger. Wanted a new truck, and these are good looking ones. I would have probably rather had a Toyota, but the Ranger was a LOT less expensive. As posted above, it's an extended cab XLT 4x4, 4.0 SOHC w/ the 5 speed manual. Everything was peachy until the waranty ran out. 800 miles out of warranty (36,800 miles), the MAF sensor took a dirt nap. $200 and some odd dollars. i made it to the dealer in it, but it was a tough drive. Wouldn't take fuel much above idle. At 38,000 miles (2000 miles out of warranty, on Christmas eve), the slave cylinder throws in the towel, so I was w/o a vehicle for the whole holiday weekend. as ya'll probably know, the slave is in the bellhousing, and it leaks, and ruins the clutch, pressure plate, and the whole works. $800 bucks or so and 4 or 5 days later, i'm back on the road. Some time later, can't remember the exact date, 40,XXX thousand miles, I get a check engine light. It's the fuel pressure regulator. That was another $300 and some odd dollars. Other than that, nothing too serious. Front brakes. I didn't pay for the $300+ to do it. I did it myself. They squeal like a pig. I'm either going to get oem Ford pads, or wagner Thermoquiets. The slave is on it's way out again im 99+% sure. It's not leaking, but I can just tell.
Would I buy another one? I'm not sure. I looked at a new FX4, and it's nice, but I don't know if I want another Ranger. I'd probably buy a Nissan Frontier Nismo (now PRO-4X) w/ the 6-speed manual. I wouldn't mind a full size truck, but I love manual trannies, and they aren't available in any 1/2 ton 4x4's. Dodge was the last hold out, and that choice is gone for '09. The new Tacomas are so ugly it hurts. Basically, there's nothing out there that blows my hair back enough for me to want to buy it. I briefly considered a new Ranger, but I really don't want a $300+ payment for a newer version of the exact truck I have now.
So overall, i'm not estatic about the reliability of my Ranger, but there's something about a Ford the "feels" right, so I would probably buy one of their products again. The Ranger is a solid truck, it just has a few nagging issues that they've failed to resolve, even though the platform hasn't changed for a very long time.
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