Faults:

When I received the truck, it had the left front wheel bearing worn out. I replaced this with my father for little money.

The seat handles were broken off. I don't care about reclining my seat, so I left this alone.

Two gauge illumination bulbs were out in the dash. Again I did not care, so I left it.

The water pump went at 70,000 miles, and I consider this routine maintenance, since it happens to every vehicle.

The back-up light switch died recently, and I replaced it for 8 dollars in 5 minutes.

I did the spark plugs, and the middle cylinder on the passenger side is a pain. The steering shaft runs directly across the top of the plug, so a ratchet cannot be used to remove the plug (4.3 liter). It is solved by using a spark plug socket and a 3/4 inch wrench on the back of the socket (took me 1 hour to get the plug out this way).

Recently replaced the idler arm, but let a shop do the pitman arm, since it requires moving the steering box to get to the bolt that holds the pitman arm on output shaft (shop charged 140 dollar for replacing the pitman arm and an alignment).

Had the lower intake manifold leak (leaking outside, not into the engine), but it went away on its own.

Oil seeping around remote oil filter (the lines possibly), but not enough to create a problem before the next oil change at 3000 miles.

Steering fluid appears to be seeping out near the steering box, but the fluid doesn't seem to be getting any lower, so I have been ignoring the leak, and checking all of my fluids every now and then.

General Comments:

Overall, the truck is a great truck. It handles wonderful for a truck, and is very powerful for a 6 cylinder. With the new set of plugs, I can easily chirp it into 3rd gear.

I have been taking it off-road over the last winter with my friend's lifted Jeep. My truck had performed poorly on Yokohama tires (car tires it seemed), but now I have Toyo all-terrains, and it will take most anything it seems. Even with this added abuse, the truck is running great and nothing has broken on the truck.

People complain about the automatic transfer case not always positively engaging, and I have not had this problem once. Over the entire winter I was using the 4x4 (4x4 high on-road and 4x4 low off-road) a lot, and I never had it not shift.

It gets around 18 mpg with the way I drive, which is a bit lead-footed. This is great considering the size of the engine.

The truck will not fit bigger than a 235/75/15 without being dangerously close to rubbing. The 235/75/15's I have on it now are only about an inch away from the bottom of the front fenders right now.

Lift kits are very expensive for this truck, so don't plan on using it off-road unless you want to spend the cash (it also will never accept very large tires without fender modification).

It is great for on-road and as a work truck, but off-road it is too long and low, as most modern compact pick-ups are.

That is why I am selling my truck and getting a Wrangler, which has a spotty reliability record. I am a kid though, and don't mind doing the maintenance on it, as long as it gives me a fun time off-road.

Faults:

Parking brake did not work when I bought the car. $100 repair at the dealer.

Front brakes replaced when I bought the car. $250 repair at the dealer.

Braking power is subpar. The brake pedal has gone to the floor on occasions where I had to make a hard stop.

Instrument cluster failed at around 55k miles. But, I left the windows down during a thunderstorm and the interior was soaked. That was a $400 repair that took 4 days.

Windshield wipers started to act up recently--they won't turn off for two or three minutes after I turn the switch off or they'll sometimes stop in mid pass on the window.

Exhaust Gas Recirculating Valve (EGR) went out at around 56k and it simply died out in the parking lot at school. That was another $400 fix.

Driver's seat lumbar adjustment handle broke off at 65k miles.

General Comments:

I bought the vehicle lightly used. Other than the problems mentioned the truck has been very reliable.

I am disappointed that a tachometer is not available standard equipment in a manual transmission vehicle. What were they thinking?

Otherwise, the interior lines and styling are pretty clean and uncluttered.

Full instrumentation--a good thing. I like to know what all the vehicle's systems are doing. Not a bunch of idiot lights.

The air conditioner is still blowing nice and cold and the heat nice and hot.

Braking power could really be improved.

I use it strictly as a light utility and commuter vehicle and it does the job quite well.

The truck is pretty competent over the freeway. I made a trip from central Delaware to central Virginia, most of it over the interstate and it kept up with the crowd.

The truck is easy on gas at the expense of not having a lot of get up and go. I get 300 miles on a tank no problem.

I actually like the smaller, standard cab. It fills up with stuff so quickly, it forces me to clean it out every other day. I also have an excuse for not giving anyone a ride.

Since this is the first newer car I've had, I'll probably run this into the ground...