Did you recently rush to buy a new vehicle before tariff-related price hikes? A reporter is looking to speak with shoppers who felt pressure to act quickly due to expected cost increases; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com for more details by 4/24.
Compact Pickup Comparison: Frontier, Ranger, Tacoma, S10, Dakota, B-Series, & Hombre
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
cncman, when is the SC going to be available in the Xterra?
it will be a 2002 Xterra, there will be a preview at an autoshow the first week of February, I would imagine it would be late summer to early fall.
Haven't been on in a while glad to see this topic's off the labor union stuff!
Vince,
sorry to hear about the Ranger going bye bye this summer. Oh well, maybe it's time to play with something different now
CT,
Looks like your topic(even if the title is different) was a hudge hit after all!!!
CNC,
I know you might have posted this earlier(it's just that I haven't been on in a while...there's too many posts)but when does Nissan plan to put their full size in production? And do you think or have you heard whether they plan to produce a 3/4 ton?
Hey to the rest of you guys from the summer of '00!
Yes, the Ranger will probably go bye bye this summer sometime. The wife wants a "more family friendly vehicle". So my days are numbered for 4x4 fun in the Cascades with my Ranger. Took my girl up in the snow and had some fun. Don't know what I will get next, probably a mini-SUV of sorts..
Wow! That would be my first choice among the powerplants for compact pickups. V8 power, V6 economy (hopefully), and the wonderfully balanced smoothness of an I6.
I don't know how true this is but rumors are the Ranger also will get a huge make-over in the 2003 time frame. I just hope they put an engine in that will rival the new I-6 from GM. I have read about an I-5 and even a diesel for the Ranger.
But, I think that Ford will be late to the party as usual.
That I5 does sound interesting, though. It would be a great engine for commuting, like the I4, but still able to do some light towing/hauling, like the Vulcan 3L. It sounds like it may be Ford's volume money-maker.
Ranger: 4.0L xlt x-cab 4x4: 5 sp-auto, air/ cruise/ limited-slip/ remote/ keyless/ 4drs/ pw/ pd/ passive anti-theft/ abs/ am-fm-cd. Negotiated price: 20,000 (after 1500 cash-back)
Tacoma: similar equip sr5-TRD ac etc. (no-4drs, no ABS)
Negotiated price: 22,500
Looks: Exterior, ranger wins. Hate the toyota grill. Interior, toyota wins. Much nicer location for everything.
Ride: Toyota was a little bit more smooth, but both were distinctly truck.
Power: Ranger wins hands down. Toyota had hard time getting up to speed by the time I hit the freeway (short up-hill onramp). In the ranger I had to coast back down to highway speed.
Perceived value: I think the toyota is probably a little better here, but I've always been very careful to follow all maint. suggestions, and never had any major problems with ANY vehicle, so I didn't add any points to the toyota here.
Doors: I like the ability to open the spare door and throw my crap in the back without having to adjust the seat again. Ranger wins here.
At this point, I was leaning toward buying the toyota for the interior appointments.
Final category: Safety
The ranger blew the toyota away. The only test where the toyota did better than ranger was the insurance institute offset test, and it BARELY did better there. Front impacts were similar, but the SIDE impact convinced me to NEVER purchase the toyota until it fixes its "Very Poor" rating. The lack of available ABS (talking stock & orders, not manufacturer) on the toyota cinched the decision.
I saved $2,500 over the toyota, and I got a safer vehicle, which performs similarly. Give and take for each, but I won't compromise my safety on a vehicle that receives a "Very poor" rating.
Take the 2,500 dollar savings and go on a nice vactaion!
Vinny & Mahi, check out freshalloy.com for the latest news on the FS truck and Vinny there is also pictures there of the new SC Xterra, especially look at the interior, it is fantastic! I started up with school again, so I may not be in here often, also in case you have not heard, Nissan is offering another first in the 2002 Frontier, an optional 6' bed! now it will have the longest bed of the compact CC's later!
The downshifts made themselves known at first, but have been getting more smooth. I guess this is a part of the "adaptive" transmission, and is normal.
My only complaint (which is minor) is that the fuel guage is not balanced. It drops to half a tank after only 100 miles, and then the next 100 miles only moves it from half to 1/4. (BTW, observed milage for me has been 14-16 city, and is ALWAYS 18 HWY)
I was originally sold on the Toyota Tacoma 4x4, until I found that living in the Rocky Mountains, these things just won't depreciate enough to buy a used one. (i.e., they cost about $3000 more then what I have found online in other areas of the country).
I am now looking at a 1998 Mazda B4000 extended cab 4x4 with 21,000 miles. It is pretty basic with just A/C, Alloy wheels, automatic transmission. The asking price is $13,700.(In contrast a similair Toyota Tacoma 1997 with 60,000 cost $16,000)
Does anyone have any experience with this vehicle? Have you found it to be reliable? How is it off-road? Does it accelerate OK with an automatic transmission? While all trucks out here cost more, does this sound like a reasonable price? With limited funds and a need for reliability, off-road transportation, and occasional towing, would you buy this truck?
Thanks.
I own a 1998 4.0 4x4 5spd RAnger XLT with about 37K on it now and it has been a great truck. I live in the NW and visit the Cascades of Oregon often. It has never let me down. I have however put on some better than factory all terrain tires which makes a world of difference.
Good luck...
The 4L 4x4 auto is not a good vehicle on gas. You'll be lucky to eek out 20mpg at 100% highway doing 65mph. The rest of the time you'll be getting 14-17mpg (or worse in the winter with oxygenated gas and warm-up periods).
I'd suggest a 3L 5-speed 4x4 Ranger/B-Series (same truck, different sheet metal). You should always do better than 20mpg, and the 3L is more than adequate with the 5-speed (it doesn't do too well with the auto-tranny due to its gear ratios). It should save you thousands too and be very capable of everything you mentioned.
As for the truck you're considering, the 4L engines made those couple of years are noisy and have had a "marbling" noise attributed to them. I haven't heard of any actual problems other than just being noisy. It is a good vehicle off-road and accelerates quite well with the 4L. The price doesn't sound too bad either.
BTW, I've got a 98 4L 4x4 auto Ranger. It's been a great truck.
As far as the V6 goes. I do consider the gas mileage a draw-back, however I forgot to mention I will be moving in a month, then in two years, then in two years after that. I want something I can use to haul a trailer. My finances are a little confusing as I will be living on Med School loans, but I think I can adjust my student loan rate to take care of such costs as gas-but car payments are a different category.
Thanks for your help, I am going to test-drive it tody.
David
If that's still not enough for you, get some dedicated snow tires. You can get a set complete on steel rims for about $400. Just switch to them when winter rolls around. Check out www.tires.com for some pretty decent deals.
As always, put 200-300lbs of sand in the bed directly over the rear axle.
I used to have a '95 3L Ranger (prolly about the same as your
If you're just wanted some all season tires, I've heard very good things about BFG and Michelin. Stay away from cheap tires. This is one area where you really get what you pay for.
Car and Driver did a test where they compared all-wheel drive/all-season to front wheel/winter tires and rear wheel/winter tires. Winter tires won hands down in all but acceleration runs on ice. If I had a 2 wheel drive truck that I had to drive in the snow I would absolutely buy winter tires for it. Just my .02
Does anyone know if the limited-slip axle is available with the 2001 4cyl? The fordvehicles.com site says that it is optional on all models, but carsdirect.com doesn't show it as an option.
Cthompson-What is this LSD you are referring to. I do not know much about truck parts. All I know is how to drive. Forgive me
It's the "pumpkin" looking thing underneath the rear of the truck that diverts power from the rotating driveshaft to the tires.
Currently, you have an open differential. It sends its power through the path of least resistance. If you have one tire sitting on ice and one tire sitting on pavement, the tire sitting on ice will spin (and the truck won't move at all).
When you have a limited slip differential, wheelspin is limited. When the diff senses that one wheel slipping on ice, it will divert some power to the wheel sitting on pavement. So, you get the truck moving.
Check out the tech forums at the www.fordranger.com website if you've got any more questions. There are pleanty of guys there that would be glad to give you any more info.
I'd personally get a limited slip differential before investing in winter tires. I'd save some cash and just get a really nice set of all season tires (like the BFG's) along with the LSD.
BTW, you'll also have the option of changing your gear ratio if you replace your open diff with a LSD. You might want to consider it if you want more off the line grunt. You'd notice a very big difference if you go from 3.08s (which I believe you have now) to 3.73s. However, you will have a slight mpg decrease as your engine will be running at a bit higher rpm at any given speed.
I'll probably be in the same boat as you in a couple of years. My reg cab truck feels pretty tight on those road trips up to Wis. But, I think I'll go with an ext-cab of a club cab before I'd go with an SUV. I need a place to haul stuff without being worried about it getting dirty, and a truck will cost me less.
Anyways, good luck with your new ride.
I thought about a club cab, crew cab, etc...but after owning pickups my whole life I found that I just don't use the bed as much as I used to. I can still strap my fishing rods to the roof of the Xterra (I got a Yakima ski rack that works perfectly for my rods) and pretty much get all my gear in the cargo area. And from what I;ve found so far, there are many more mods availible for the Xterra than the Frontier (cat backs, shocks, etc).
It's weird making the transition from a pickup to something with back seats, I'm so used to having the back window right behind my head. Anway, I'll still probably keep up with this board eve though I'm now one of those poseur SUV guys now :-)
think that the Japanese have shown that they'll buy goods they feel are better and cheaper than they can
get there. My opinion mind you, but if the average UAW worker wasn't as overpaid as he is, and if the
Unions didn't put so many restrictions on a company's manufacturing abilities thus bring up cost and
bringing quality down, then maybe American cars would be too much of a margin for them to pass up.
More and more American production is moving out of this country as the Unions make building cars here
continually more unprofitable. Someday the only cars and trucks manufactured in the US will be from
Japanese companies but you guys don't seem to care because I guess you've got your big payoff hub? I
know people that lost their jobs when the Unions drove most of the steel industry out of this country
while also blaming everything on the Japanese. Hopefully auto workers will wake up before they do the
same to their industry. That's my opinion, and may I note that even as a Manager I probably don't make
close to as much as you guys but somehow I'm still able to live more than comfortably even living in
California, one of the most expensive states to live in. I wonder how that's possible?
Later!
Personally, I think the B3000 is far too underpowered and have lived with inadequate acceleration and miserable fuel economy for the entire 140,000 miles I've owned my truck. It won't maintain a level speed on hills or gradually rising gradients, and it's a real "dog" off the line. I wish I had purchased the same truck I have in a B4000 version instead of a B3000 version because it would have delivered far better economy in REAL use conditions. The B4000's offer excellent acceleration, superior performance and superior economy in REAL LIFE circumstances. Overall, however, I have been very happy with the durability and quality of my Mazda B series EXCEPT for the poor acceleration and miserable fuel economy from an under-powered 3 liter engine. I will be trading my '94 model within the next month and custom ordering a new '01 B4000 secure in the knowledge that, regardless of what the EPA fuel economy estimates are, I'll do far better in REAL life with the 4 liter engine. I also won't feel like the thing needs a kick in the rear end to get off the line or make it up every minor hill on the interstate commute to work.
Ford on the other hand seems to be on a downward spiral they just can't get out of. First the Firestone/Explorer fiasco, next the Escape flop, now the Escape crash test flop, Focus recalls, delay of new Explorer due to design flaws.. list just goes on and on. I don't even think GM has had it this bad. I have to admit, even I'm starting to wonder about Ford. My Ranger runs great at 40K miles.. but all this bad news makes me think twice about maybe looking at other models..
And I also agree on waiting after the initial first production year on buying all cars. You get to enjoy the refinements, bug fixes, and perhaps updated styling too!
A Spec-V SE-R Sentra with a LSD, 6-speed, and 180hp.
The new Altima with 240hp and a manual tranny and a standard 4cyl with 180hp.
The new Max with reports of 260+ hp.
Wow!
Keep on trucking with school and don't work too hard.
Later,
-C
BTW, your mpg and power were probably down because your truck was geared too tall.
My '95 3L auto 2wd would get 24-25mpg highway and 18-19mpg mixed.
I wouldn't consider it "underpowered" but the tranny would always have to downshift to 3rd go get up hills when cruising at 75mph (very annoying trait).
I traded it for a '98 4L auto 4wd because I needed better towing/snow abilities. It's definately a worthwhile upgrade.
Plus, you'll be getting the Cammer engine with 205hp and 240lb-ft as opposed to the 160hp and 225lb-ft OHV 4L.
Glad to hear from you again,
I see CT already corrected the HP figures for the maxima/altima, yea things are really looking way up for us, also don't forget about the long bed crew cab coming this summer, also the new interior for the frontier/xterra for 02, SC Xterra, (you can also get a kicking rockford -fosgate audio system!) Also in the near future the Full size truck, real full size, not 7/8ths like the tundra and a new full size SUV, plu we are still waiting to see what Nissan will do for a minivan as the Quest dies after this year. I agree about the Fords lately, my opinion is that they rested on the laurels for too long and got sucker punched by some new models out there and tried to hurry and catch up. ALso I don't agree that a new vehicle is necessarily buggy, look at the crew cabs, the Xterra, the Sequoia, the tacoma double cab, just to name a few, it just takes research, developement and hundreds of thousands of miles in testing and developement. Well, I thought I was graduating this spring, but it turns out I am 6 hours short! I am going this summer to complete it. Hoping to find a normal wekkday job after that, but I also want to be around for the Zcar and the other new stuff so I am torn. Actually thinking of getting the dealership to sponsor a Sentra V spec for racing when it comes out, 180 hp, 6 speed, 4wheel IS, drool! SHould spank all of those supped up civics right from the box. Take care, see you soon.
Check out this link:
http://www.angelfire.com/nc2/mycoffeecan/page1.html
so very very true