Ford Ranger, Dodge Dakota, Chevrolet S10/GMC Sonoma, Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon, or Toyota Tacoma, your choice
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I have a 2000 Dodge Dakota (V-6) with 288,000 miles on it. The interior has held up very nicely, which proves that a little bit of Armor-All goes a long way. It still cruises as smoothly at 80 MPH as it ever has, though it does idle a bit rougher than before. My family mechanic said earlier this year that cylinder #6 has lost a little bit of compression, but the other five cylinders are fine, so I think I'm going to get a valve job done on the engine at 300,000 miles. I also plan to replace the exhaust system eventually, because I want dual outlets instead of a single outlet. Because my truck has withstood my severe driving style for as long as it has, you know exactly where my vote is going.
I fully understand your love for the Dakota.
I bought my R/T new in 2002, and it has been a great work, as well as pleasure pickup.
Just under 60,000 original miles, and it looks and runs every bit as good as it did the night I bought it.
In all the years I have had it, only had to replace the starter, and battery.
Changed tires , not because they were worn, but because of their age.
I would never sell it, unless I am on my death bed.
Don't drive it as much now, because the Vette is now the daily driver.
This picture was taken recently.
Toyota trucks are legendary, they will be IMO by far the most reliable and offer the longest life. But they hold their value, read very expensive on the used lot and I don't buy new. That's why I have owned 2 used 4 x 4 Rangers and I've been very happy with my decisions. But the other poster was correct, 17 MPG was the norm for both.
I prefer the Ford Ranger. For the most part, I'm a Ford guy when it comes to pickup trucks. The Ford Rangers get very good gas mileage. We had a 1990s Dodge Dakota and I still miss that truck but I still prefer the Ford Ranger though. My dad had a 1980s Ranger once which had the 5-speed transmission. Which compact truck do you prefer?
I had the early 1990s Ford Ranger when I was in college. It was perfect for the broke college student - great gas mileage, easy to park on campus, and (get this) very reliable on extremely rugged dirt roads of the mountains and deserts of Arizona. As a reckless guy in his early 20s (at the time), I drove that Ranger up some really bad trails far off the pavement. It always held. I must have bottomed out on boulder and uneven terrain many times, and it wouldn't mechanically fail. The bottom of that little Ranger was just tough.
Fast forward to 2016, and I bought a Ford F-150 (regular cab). I tried to drive it on what I considered to be a tame dirt roat - not very rugged compared to what the Ranger had conquered in the 90s. The bottom of the Ford F-150 has a strange, composite part that looks almost like a paper box. It's very weak and fragile. The part was damaged quickly on that mild dirt road. I was very disappointed.
So, I am looking at getting a Chevrolet Colorado. They have good deals going on. I think I am going to trade in that Ford F-150. The modern Ford F-150 XL is just a city truck (streets only) with a strange composite cover underneath that is useless on a mid-level rugged dirt road. The parts dealers told me most of the modern Ford F-150s are built with that very weak composite. As a mechanical engineer, I thought the faliure analysis was very weak. They couldn't use Solid Works CAD software to simulate a rural, rugged dirt road with dynamic stress impacting that composite? Or they couldn't do a test drive on a mountainous dirt road with uneven terrain and big rocks? They obviously had done that with the Ranger back in the early 1990s. I guess the early 1990s Ford engineers were just better than the modern team that designed the 2016 Ford F-150.
It just makes me miss that 1990s Ranger even more. Maybe Ford will start selling the Raptor in the US. I saw it gets good off-road ratings outside of the USA. But for now, I guess I'll just have to move on from Ford. There was a time when they were great for on-road/off-road trucks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDLi...LiVwpv89s&t=17
Last edited by grad_student200; 04-29-2018 at 10:54 AM..
Ford Ranger...but only 82-92 models, nothing newer.
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