Faults:

I have replaced the brakes 2 times.

General maintenance and a few tune ups.

New tires.

Average care of vehicle - not hard on it.

Overall I was pretty happy with the truck, although the check engine light and ABS lights have been off and on since about 25,000 miles. Had that fixed and looked at a couple times.

Somewhere around the 70,000 mark, things started going wrong and it seems I am always in for something! Air conditioner, fuel gauge.... Now the transmission is slipping and I have to decide if I should replace it or not.

Cheaper than a new vehicle, but not if the headaches are going to continue, or I need another transmission after the warranty is up!

Not sure what to do, but after reading many comments, I think I should get rid of it! Ugh.

General Comments:

Not sure what to do. It feels like a money pit and I am a sucker! How long should a transmission last?

I thought my Mazda was a piece of crap, but in retrospect, I barely did a thing with that car, except beat the heck out of it and give it timely oil changes until it about died around 190,000. I knew not to fix it, and got my now Ford Ranger. Oops!

Faults:

DPFE sensor replaced at 140K.

Cab bushing replaced on passenger side.

Coolant reservoir replaced due to leak.

Exhaust system completely replaced at 146k.

Drivers seat started to tear. This is common with the cheap vinyl cover ford uses on their base model seats (I ended up swapping them with seats from an XLT Ranger last month. They are much more durable and a lot more comfortable!).

General Comments:

This is a great economy truck. It's pretty stripped down and doesn't have anything fancy like power windows/locks.

Mine was fortunate enough to have A/C, which I heard is quite rare for the standard base package Ranger.

Gas mileage is good. 17-18mpg in town. I had a Magnaflow exhaust put on and my MPG was much better.

Even though my truck is only a 2wd, it surprisingly handles really good in bad weather. We had a bad ice storm last year, but a few sand bags and some chains, and I never got stranded.

My truck is a standard cab short wheelbase model, so there is more weight balanced towards the rear for better traction. It won't win any races against that hot rod or rice rocket by any means. Nor will you be picking up chicks in it. However if you want a reliable cheap pick-up, then consider a Ranger. My dad is a mechanic and he once had a 1998 Ranger with 310k in for a tune-up. As long as you maintain it, then it'll go forever.

Faults:

A crack in the windshield just days after I got the truck.

General Comments:

My truck was given to me by my father 3 days before he died. I drove the truck from Iowa to Arizona, then back to Iowa 2 days later for the funeral, then back to Arizona, 5400 miles total in less than a week. The only problem I had was during a dust storm in Arizona, the 3.0 just didn't have the juice to keep up to speed staying in passing gear for a very long time. With that exception, 18 mpg seemed pretty good to me and it was very comfortable.

With all the chrome, side-bars, push-bars and with the ram hood-scoop, it is a tough looking truck too. All in all, I love that truck.

Faults:

The only thing that I have had to done with the truck is change the back brakes and the alternator when bad.

The air conditioner pump also went bad, but I'm not spending money on that.

General Comments:

It has amazing power. It will spin both easy. I beat a 1999 Ford Mustang with it. It also has amazing handling.