Best four cylinder stick shift pickup

[Zak]

Hello everyone,

I am going to be living in a truck with a homemade "shell" in the future. It's going to built on the back of a small pickup, basic as you can go--four cylinder, manual transmission. My understanding is that the best is probably the Toyota Tacoma, but they are quite expensive (my budget is $10k but I'd prefer to go no higher than $8k).  
Do any of you have experience with the other trucks, the Nissan Frontier, Ranger, Colorado, S-10 etc.?
Any recommendations/advice/info are much appreciated.
Thank you, Zak

 

[highdesertranger]

well you already shot my recommendation down, so...…………………………..

highdesertranger

 

[Zak]

well you already shot my recommendation down,  so...…………………………..

highdesertranger

The Tacoma? Yeah, it is definitely my first choice. Probably would be worth the extra $

 

[[email protected]]

Zak, my grandson had 2 Ford Rangers with the v6 engine, 1 automatic and 1 five speed standard. Those trucks were very tough and he drive them hard. I think his gas mileage was in the mid 20s. Best of luck.Jeff

 

[sephson]

I had a Nissan Frontier pickup with the four-cylinder engine and manual transmission for seventeen years. It had 187,000 miles on it and was still running strong when a lifted full size pickup took it out in an accident. It was a great truck and I miss it. I think a Frontier would be an excellent choice for what you have in mind.

 

[maki2]

I used to have an S-10 king cab, I loved that little truck, mid 90's. The only issue I had with it was when the factory installed the wiring harness they pinched a few of the wires. But that got fixed under warranty and I don't know if it was a commonly found issue, it might have been one of those bad days in the factory events.. Never had another repair on it during the 15 years I owned it other than normal stuff like replacing the battery. Most comfortable seats in any vehicle I have ever owned. Unfortunately it got totaled. I have a bad back but I could do 11 hour drive days in that truck without pain. 

I had a Nissan 4 cylinder king cab in the early '80s, very reliable vehicle. I bought it as a very low miles vehicle without doing a lot of research but afterwards I discovered that for all the vehicles in the car reports book for that year it was the only one of any vehicle in the whole book that had a 4 star rating. Indeed it did turn out to be 4 star reliable. But that is of course a lot older vehicle that you would want to take on.

 

[hugemoth]

I bought a new 5 speed Toyota pickup in 1993. Currently living in a small pop up camper on the truck in AZ. 27 years old, over 300,000 miles and running great. Best vehicle I've ever owned, by far. I would gladly pay extra for a Toyota.

 

[tx2sturgis]

I only owned one (1989) Toyota pickup....it was a 5 speed if memory serves....I did not like it and got rid of the thing.

The headroom, and seating position are limiting to poor, especially if you are a larger person like myself.

The air conditioning relay control unit was mounted under the interior A/C condenser and within the condensor housing, and constantly rusted. I kid you not. That would cause the A/C to stop working on the hottest, most humid, days of the year. And it was a pain to get to change it. What WERE they thinking when they designed that?

Mine was a 4WD (bought brand new) and it had the stupid torsion bar independent front suspension. That was an under-engineered piece of junk. 

The V6 engine was decent, but had to be revved up into the 4000-5000 rpm range to make any serious power, and in a 4WD pickup you want low RPM torque, which that engine had none of. 

I remember later on when Toyota had unintended accelerator operation issues, and airbag issues...both can be dangerous.

I would not buy anything from Toyota again.

So...the take away is, even a brand with a good reputation can make a few lemons.

The old GMC S-15 4 speed, 2.5 liter pickup I traded in for the Toyota was a nice, reliable, simple, easy to work on, old school, small pickup. I should have kept it.

 

[highest_vision]

I had a Nissan Hardbody for several years, until I wrecked it last month. I bought it instead of a Toyota for the reason you listed. In my opinion, the hardbody is just as good as the Toyota pickup of that era unless you get into big lifts, rock crawls, needing heavy aftermarket support, etc. I lived out of it for years, had it at sea level to over 12k feet, only weird thing that happened was a bent clutch fork in a three hour traffic jamb west of New orleans on I10. I still drove it back to NM.

Toyota people will tell you that those are your best, and only option. It's true, if you want big lifts and lots of aftermarket goodies. If you will be stock, you can fourwheel the crap out of it and then drive it several hours on the interstate back home. The Hardbodies are just as overbuilt as the toyotas. Ya, there are some bummer bits. Same for anything else.

 

[DLTooley]

300k miles on my 20 year old Ranger, a 3 liter 6.

I have the four x four torsion bar suspension on a 2 wheel drive.

 

[user 423]

OP: You will get various answers and only from a small sample on this forum.

You'd be better off referring to results from Consumer Reports that track reliability ratings over many years.

 

[B and C]

I think you are thinking of the Ford Courier.

 

[user 423]

I think you are thinking of the Ford Courier.

LOL...I edited out the comment in post #11 about Rangers actually being Mazdas.  And yes, I guess it was the old Couriers.

 

[nature lover]

Seems to me that the advantage of a small pick up over a van is mileage. I like to travel and the more mpg the better. So my fantasy rig is a small pickup with a extreme light weight trailer to sleep and weather in. Something like the tab only a bucket rather than plumbing etc.

 

[highdesertranger]

once you hook up a trailer there goes your mileage out the window. highdesertranger

 

[wagoneer]

my 97 Nissan hardbody rocks

 

[B and C]

I used to be a certified canoe instructor. I had a 4.3L V6 engine with a 5 speed manual in a S-10 pickup. Pulling a open frame trailer with 6 canoes on it, I had to use 4th gear at highway speeds and my gas mileage sucked. YMMV as you are talking about a 4 banger and an enclosed trailer.

 

[highest_vision]

My experience towing with a 4 cylinder pickup is that it is better, if at all possible, to put the load IN the pickup, rather than pull a trailer. The empty trailer alone caused my to not be able to use 5th gear. I did get 13mpg using 3rd and 4th gears at 55, though. I thought that was pretty good.

 

[Pleasant Travels]

I've had many brands of small trucks over the years and have driven them all at one time or another when I used to drive for a construction company. Mechanically, they are all solid. Where they tend to differentiate greatly is in the quality of all the other little things, like gauges and switches and sensors and computers. This is why Toyota it tops;...they just have greater quality control across the entire manufacturing and procurement process. The gauges and switches are likely to last as long as anything else on those trucks. Unlike Chevys and Fords. Their drive trains are alright. But the whole interior controls set seems to begin failing one by one just a year old.

And as a fat guy, I can also say I appreciate some interiors over other designs. In that regard, I like the GM Colorado/Canyon. For me, it was the one I felt less wedged into than the others. I also liked the inline 5cyl motor as a good alternative between the usual 4 or 6 cylinder choices. Avoid the 2004 and 2005 models, because like any new design they had some teething issues that took working out. (Specifically, timing chain failures on that new 5cyl.) But from 2006 to 2012, these trucks were ok.

 

[SLB_SA]

My first "car" was a 1960s Datsun pickup that my dad handed down to me. It was a wonderful vehicle. I wish I could find an equivalent truck now. Ford is reported to be coming out with a "cheap" new truck, the Ford Bronco(?). Does anyone know anything about it?