hey, i should be getting a 'new' truck in the upcoming months, a truck i will go to college in. i like big trucks, it would be awesome to get a super duty, but it doesn't seem a super good idea to be driving one of those in the small, congested parking lots of college campuses. MPG is a concern too, i wouldn't be able to get a preferred diesel (too much), so i am starting to consider smaller trucks like the ranger. my friend has a 1997 ranger, and its pretty good. so how would a ranger (super cab) do in fairly small parking lots. i would expect them to be about the same as my current vehicle (durango).
what do you think would be the best ranger to expect to find (at dealerships), with 4wd and supercab for about $10k (possibly a little more) with around 100k miles? thanks

 

Maybe an odd question for here but why a truck for school? Don't get me wrong I like my trucks and would rather drive them than the wifes car. But......
If your on a budget and have to watch gas mileage, you'll get way better fuel mileage in a small car vs a 4wd ranger.

 

where do you live? why buy from a stealershp?

 

I'm with you guys. Try looking at a fiesta. 41MPG $13,900 brand new. with $10,000 down, the payments couldn't be more than $50 a month and it would hook your credit score up.

 

I bought a brand new corrola,auto,Ac,PW,PL delivered ->14K

 

Tozir - Welcome to the forums

As for the Ranger. I was contemplating the Ranger or F250. I ended up with the Ranger for 2 main reasons. $24K for a new loaded FX4 Ranger or $24K(ish) for a new base stripped down F250. and reason 2 = parallel parking. Not that I can't parallel part a F250 it's just easier to find Ranger spots and easier to parallel park it. I also went with the extended cab to be able to hold more people. One time with 2 adults and a 12 year old in a small truck regular cab 5speed was not fun.

And onto kolidge.
Personally I would be looking for a 30+ mpg car. (side note - I told this to a buddy and he got a 100K mile pathfinder. Was getting 14-16 mpg and about 1.5 years later he is in a Mazda5 at 18-23 mpg. He's getting better.)
After my experience I say go with a car and a 4 door sedan. Your gonna have buddies and you're all going to want to go out at the same time. 5-6 crammed into a car or 3-4 crammed into the Ranger? Gas prices are just going up and a 4cyl is what you are going to want. Ranger + College = 2.3L Reg Cab 5speed. If you can and have time to work on things I had a 93 Geo Prizm 5speed (a Toyota Corolla) with over 200K that I was getting 35-40Mpg with. The car was slow but did 70-80 on the highway easily (I tried to keep it under 70) and it never let me down, until some kid slid sideways into the front of it at about 40mph. The prizm body style I had went to like 97 and than went on until 2001 or 2002 when it was axed. They should be able to be had for a couple grand (they tend to be cheaper then the Corolla) and there are probably still a few around 100K miles if you look hard enough. That's a lot of extra "play" money for a college student. In kolidge I had a '72 F250 and a '86 thunderchicken (not at the same time). Both did fine for me. Parking the F250 was problematic and being in northern VT with 2wd was a whole different issue. The t-bird was fine as well but only really for 2 people as it was a 2 door. I would tend ride with others that had 4 door sedans or 4 door suv's.

For mpg reference I also own 2 Focuses. One (2001 ZX3 with mods) gets 25-32 MPG and the other (a 2002 wagon I got and now don't have to parallel park the Ranger) gets 29-32. The Fiesta is a nice car but you probably don't want any car payments while in college. I don't know your situation but if you live on campus your most likely a full time student with not much of a job if you even have a job. If your commuting it can still be hard. If your full time you still don't have much of a job and if your part time you probably have a better job still don't need a loan even if it's $50/month. This is all guessing you even have the $10K your looking to spend.

And if you do have $10K I would be looking into private sales as cars tend to be cheaper that way.

Good luck

 

I like having a truck in college. It makes carrying a lot of stuff between home and school a lot easier, and what I generally pay for gas is manageable. As for the parking lots, for the most part I have not had a problem having a super cab Ranger.