I used to drive a Red 2000 2.4 liter Nissan Frontier King Cab XE. I loved that truck. It did what I needed it to. It was a truck and it got me where I needed to go. I basically learned how to drive stick on that truck and anybody I knew who asked me if I could teach them how to drive stick got hands on experience with that truck. As I used to say, "Just drive it, and don't worry anything you do I have already done."
When I started looking for a new vehicle I had already decided, although I would like a car to autocross, I needed a truck to get me around first. At first I looked into newer Nissan with a similar package to the one I had. I decided against this because of a number of minor things that were starting wrong, and of course the transmission, on my 2000. I decided I wanted more power so if I needed to tow something I could. This ruled out anything with a 4 cylinder. So my initial considerations were the Ranger, Dodge Dakota, Toyota Tacoma, and Chevy Colorado. I ruled out the Colorado because many of the people I know who had S-10s and then Colorados were unsatisfied. The trucks just seemed to have minor problems that became a thorn in the side.
I also wanted a truck with not too much mileage on it that I was going to have to worry immediately about not the drivetrain but other body problems. This made me rule out the Tacoma because I was unable to find any in my price range with less than 100-120 thousand miles. The engines and transmission in them were still good but they made me worry about other things going wrong.
Next I was able to rule out the Dakota because even the Rams little brother/lighter duty Dakota had no engine smaller than a V8. This was a question to me because although not a large truck the gas mileage would be no better than a full size.
This left me search pretty much for a Ranger that I liked. However I was done searching yet. It still took me sometime to find EVERYTHING I wanted in the truck with low enough mileage. I had decided that no matter what truck I would get it had to have a least a 6 cylinder engine, extended cab, manual transmission, 4 wheel drive, and have less than 60 thousand miles.
I was eventually able to find that in my present truck 2 hours away from my house in Altoona. And boy did it all look good when it went together. The truck I found and now call my own is a 2004 Sonic Blue Ford Ranger XLT extended cab with a lift kit and offroad tires.
There are a few upgrades I want to do to my truck. First, I would like to put a K/N cone filter in my truck to replace the standard air filter. These filters are less restrictive allowing more air into your engine to combust better and get better fuel mileage at low throttle and more horsepower at high throttle. I am also thinking about putting a tow package on it. Obviously, my Ranger did not come with a factory towing setup. I found out from a neighbor that the hitch that attaches to the frame for a tow package can be purchased at Advance Auto along with a few other places for a very reasonable $125. The one built for the Ranger actually requires no cutting and only a few bolts to attach the hitch to the frame. All of this can be done in the comfort of your own garage. The only real problem with the two package is if you are trying to haul a really large trailer that needs electric to work the brakes and lights. It can be done but I may need some help with this because I am not very good at wiring. Once I've seen it I could probably pull it off but right now I don't know exactly how it would go together.
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