So I've gotten to thinking after reading the Lemon Laws for New Mexico. (see post here: https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...ad.php?t=25331 ) Right now I'm at repair attempt #3 on my rear tranny. The dealership also hasn't called me since I dropped it off except for today when a sale rep saw my truck was in the shop and called to see if I'd be interested in trading in. So that's what got me to thinking.

Here's trade-in value of my truck from KBB (I gave it a good condition): $14,890.

NADA's quote: average trade-in $17,275 with an average retail of $20,400

Now for the thinknig I keep mentioning. Should I have to reseal the tranny a 4th time within the next month, if not sooner, I feel that I'll most likely get rid of the truck. In my above post I said in a reply that I'd be talking with a lawyer today, but unfortunately wasn't able to do so due to a personal matter.

So where I'm at is what do I want to do? Above are the poll ideas I have for now.

 

I dont see a poll!

 

first time posting a poll, I was editing it

 

I'm not voting, because I would recommend something different. If you want a new truck, go for the 05+ Nissan Frontier. The 4.0 DOHC turns almost 270hp at the tranny. They are absolutley amazing vehicles. You can get a 4dr (suicide doors) with a 6-ft bed, and the beds are 5-ft wide, I think they're goin for a full 4-ft between wheel wells, which would be so sweet for many obvious reasons. Plus, it's a Nissan, so you know it will last forever. I figured since you were already considering the TRD Tacoma, the new Frontiers are really worth looking into. Just my 2 cents, good luck.

 

New Taco!!!!

 

No way. Ram 2500 with Cummins ftw!

 

I completely forgot about the frontier with NISMO. You get a dana 44 in the rear and a selectible electronic locker. Not to mention a few other goodies.

Base MSRP† $24,100
Exterior Color
Avalanche

Interior Color
Charcoal

Transmission
6-Speed Manual Transmission

Drivetrain
4x4

Accessories††
Carpeted Floor Mats $90
Tow Receiver Hitch $410
Short Bed Rail Caps/Under-rail Bedliner $430

Subtotal $25,030
Destination and Handling $605
Total Configured MSRP† $25,635

A Ranger set up in a similar fashion would run me $26,290 (-$1k) = $25,290. fordvehicles.com is then giving me a total invoice of $24,914. A dealer in Albuquerque (3hrs north) has FX4 L2 '07s ranging from $24,755 to $25,245, but they are all automatics. Hmmmm not much of a price difference between the Ranger and the Frontier and the frontier offers a tad more for almost the same price. Question is, king or quad. I'm more partial to king cab, but the quad would offer a little more functionality. Dunno. hmmmmm

 

I'm tellin you man, the Frontiers are great. My buddy has one of the new ones, he loves it. As far as cabs go, I'm partial to suicide doors (king cab) because when you open both doors, you get a full opening to load cargo into your cab. Not so with the crew cab, you have to deal with the bar running between your two doors. With the crew cab, you only get a 5 ft bed. Go for the king with suicide doors.
Or you could just buy a beater truck for a few years and wait until nissan releases their cleaner-diesel powered Titan in 2009. I can't wait for that.
Seriously though, go for the new Frontier, you can't go wrong.

 

i think your on crack

but i like the nissian too, my parents recently bought a nissian, and i was at the dealer, checking them all out, but the titan really has my vote

Nissian Dealers are freaking awesome, compared to a Ford dealer, especially are around here

 

Thanks Ian and Zach. I'm not sure about the Titan. When I was searching for my replacement vehicle after my 93 ranger was totalled I was originally looking at the 97-01 F150s and/or a newer ranger. I was able to locate an F-150 here, 01 50K miles ext cab short bed 5.4 v8 4x4, but the ONLY reason I didn't snag it was that it had automatic trans. The dealer wanted 12,900 for it. I seriously thought about it since the 5.4 v8 gets the same mileage as a 4x4 ranger. I then located my ranger and the rest is history. The other reason I didn't go with the 150 though is because of the size. The ranger is narrower and shorter, which equates to a smaller wheelbase. If I do go 150 it'll be one of those years, or even up to early 04. The new body, though it looks nice, is WAY too huge! The more I think about it though, that 6-sp manual trans seems pretty appealing to me, even the new toyotas went with it, I just don't know how reliable and heavy duty the system is.

Here's my situation, and not regarding the truck:

I currently see $14.XX/hr doing 80 hour pay periods. As of July 3rd I went full-time at work. City wide we're set to see a 3% pay raise, I believe effective in Dec. My current bills (rent, electric, gas & trash [on same City bill), cable TV/Net, credit card, and ranger payment can be paid with 1 full-time paycheck, which leaves me with a full pay check left at the end of each month (2 payperionds in a month). My 9k loan, at 5.4%, on my truck has seen 15 payments. My monthly is only $173.22....X 15 = $2,598.30 - $9k = $6401.70. If I can nurse her along, i.e., not see anymore issues for a while (prob. end of year), if I can sell off some of my reptiles (will allow me to put more money towards loan), and/or if I can afford to do double or triple payments just from my pay check on my loan I'm highly leaning towards other options.

Hmmm, must think some more. My mom is the co-signer on my truck loan, so only time will tell. Right now the ranger still has benefit of the doubt.

 

they have a lot of confidence in what they're selling. if i was selling nissans, i would be the same way. don't get me wrong, i love my ranger, and i have big plans for it, but there's something about the way that nissan sends vehicles from the factory, they don't require a lot of modding to build a really nice vehicle. thats just my opinion

 

Sounds like you're doin alright for yourself, you can probably go for just about any of the options you talked about. You know my opinion for a new truck, but if it was me, I would try to keep the Ranger. See if you can get the whole tranny swapped out, other than that you've already got a really nice truck. Whatever you do, good luck, let us know how it turns out.

 

Don't get me wrong. I love my ranger, I'm just getting annoyed at the "growing pains" I'm having with it. Financially I'm set to the point that as soon as my 36K warranty is dead the mods begin. I was going to do sooner, but I figured I'd buy my time given my current issues with the truck. I loved my 93 ranger and I loved my mom's '92 4x4 explorer. Back then the 2 were almost the same. It's the whole reason why I went with another ranger in the first place. I'm impressed with the current ranger, just like I was with my older model, but unfortunately I've had issues with this newer one that I wasn't even expecting to see until well into the 100k mile range. Hell, I NEVER saw any issues with my front suspension (my '04 had to have the u-joints replaced already) on my '93 and I drove that thing pretty hard. The issues I had with the 93 were things that given the age and mileage of the vehicle were about time to start going anyhow.

FWIW the dealership just called and my truck's ready. I have to be to work in 30 minutes, but I'll post an update to the issue in the thread link within my initial post for this thread.

On a different note. I put the TACO options up just for pure laughs. There are entirely TOO MANY tacos with TRD around this town. Most of which aren't even modded and are driven by soccer moms (4-dr version) or individuals whom could afford one. I looked at a 01 and 00 with manual trans back before I found my '04 ranger and asking prices were 21k and 23k, each truck having over 50k miles.

 

^^Good choice, I hope it works out^^

At least it's happening while it's still under warranty.

 

Hey man - go with the 07 Taco! I just got one (well the 06) TRD Sport and absolutely love it! the ride, looks and overall quality finish of the truck is truly impressive. i was considering the NISMO Nissan but the dealership had some ****** working there and i think they look a little low when stock, the taco sits a little higher.