I had an '01 5 speed. Drop dead reliable, 8 spark plugs in a four banger? NC may be different, but in NY rust is the enemy. The spare tire hanging under the bed left my wife at 60 mph, hit the ground running and took out the rear leaf strut. A few years later the frame folded from rust, but the engine was still good. Only issues ever was the power steering pump had plastic vanes on the impeller, cold mornings it was groggy and didn't want to move things around. Also, every time I jumped another car, the alternator died within three days, luckily still under warantee, but a PITA.
Dan
I've had an '86 Ranger, a '97 Ranger, 2 1st gen S-10s and one 1st Gen Colorado. The Colorado was clearly the best, but I think I liked the Rangers the most. Sorta like how I like Kill 'Em All the most even though Master of Puppets is better.
Don't overlook the Mazda pickup equivalent, it's the same thing except for trim. They both came off the same assembly line at the old Ford St. Paul assembly plant.
914Driver said:
I had an '01 5 speed. Drop dead reliable, 8 spark plugs in a four banger? NC may be different, but in NY rust is the enemy. The spare tire hanging under the bed left my wife at 60 mph, hit the ground running and took out the rear leaf strut. A few years later the frame folded from rust, but the engine was still good. Only issues ever was the power steering pump had plastic vanes on the impeller, cold mornings it was groggy and didn't want to move things around. Also, every time I jumped another car, the alternator died within three days, luckily still under warantee, but a PITA.
Dan
The dual spark plug engines were the older, iron block/head, SOHC Lima 4 cylinders. They're tried and true, but they were phased out in mid-01 and don't have the power or fuel efficiency of the all aluminum, DOHC, Duratec 2.3L that the OP was considering. The Duratec is closely related to Mazda's MZR (NC Miata engine), DISI (MazdaSpeed 3/6), and is the basis for most of Ford's current 4 cylinder Ecoboost engines.
