In Japan, the trucks they use do not have to meet the damands an American truck has to deal with. As a result, the American trucks are built to haul heavier loads, and they get stronger suspensions, stronger transmissions, sturdier frames, and they take a no nonsense get the job done approach. The Toyotas are great trucks, don't get me wrong, but they are not as strong, and the smoother carlike ride is the result of the softer frame and softer suspension. Replacement parts for Rangers are a dime a dozen. Replacement parts for Toyotas can at times be very expensive.

 

I can't say anything about the Taco, but my cousin's boyfriend had a 90's toyota truck that he beat the crud out of.. it was the most uncomfortable small peiceash&t that I had ever been in.. it's hard to ride in a truck with your knees in your face.. the seat was as hard as plywood, the interior looked and felt horribly cheap, and man was it gutless..my 2.9L on it's sickest day could still run circles around that 3.0L V6..I couldn't even drive the stupid thing because my legs were too long to fit under the dash to operate the pedals.

 

I've owned 2 Rangers in my short driving experience.

The first one was an 1988 bare bones model that I bought for $350. It was a dirty nasty P.O.S.! But, the previous owners had neglected it beyond comprehension. After a little bit of work it turned out to be very reliable. It had the little carbed 2.0, 5spd, no power brakes or steering. It didn't even have a factory cigerette lighter! But I loaded that thing down all the time and it always went were I pointed it too. All while running on a minimum of oil (it had excessive blowby and wouldn't hold hardly any oil). The second time I took it on the interstate it lost a chunk from the front piston. I had to keep the pedal to the floor the entire time to keep any reasonable speed. Bad idea it turns out. I scrapped it soon after. It had well over 200,000 miles on it I'm sure...

My second ranger was a 97 2.3 2wd 5spd, and I LOVE IT! I consistently get great gas mileage. Just the other day I had the bed full of wood, and a popup camper turned utility trailer full of wood being pulled at the same time. I had to be easy on the clutch but it didn't complain one bit! No problem on the interstate as well.

Now, it doesn't have any low rpm grunt, but once you get them rpms high enough it takes off like a bat out of h3ll... Especially if you open up the air intake a bit...

I plan on driving it as long as it will let me....

By the way, I also have a 78 f250 4x4 ranger, me and my dad both have put that thing through h3ll, and it's never once broke down on us!

Get the Ranger, you'll thank us later...

 

i dont know how familiar you are with offroad desert racing, but if you were too look down the list of entrants about 90% of them are behind the wheels of rangers and f-150. the other 10% consisting of chevy, nissan, and yotas. i will say out of all those, toyota is the only one that can even compete with the rangers. it is too expensive to build up a nissan and chevy. yotas are also pretty expensive to build up, cause they are not as beefy as a ranger. ford builds there trucks with offroading in mind. hence why they are the only manufactorer that carrys a real contingency program for running the ford logo. so i think if i was in your delema i would tell myself do i want a more commuter type vehicle (yota) or do i want something that can handle a little dirt now and then (ranger). i would also rather tow with a ranger any day then a yota.