Faults:

Windshield wipers come on occasionally without prompting.

Dome light switch broke.

Center console broke off the seat.

Driver seat settled on left side. Spring weakened.

General Comments:

My ranger has had outstanding reliability over 10.5 years of steady driving.

Minimum maintenance has been required. No unpredictable problems over the years. Simply replaced the battery, tires, fluids, air cleaner occasionally, etc.

With the 5 speed manual I have received excellent MPG over the years, 25-28 MPG.

It is underpowered and I have to peddle hard on hills or in passing traffic. Not a lot of zip.

Faults:

I've had to replace the brakes twice - which is expected I guess given the 150K I put on it; most recently had to spring $1800 to replace a part in the clutch. That within two years of rebuilding the clutch.

General Comments:

I've been very happy with this little truck. It's stood up well under the bad winter conditions we have. I'd buy another one excpet go 4x4 next time. The extended cab is a bonus. My kid wants to buy it from me, but I'm hanging on a while longer. I couldn't replace it for the 3K he wants to pay for it.

Faults:

The serpentine belt flew off a little under 100,000 miles (easy fix, bad belt). The transmission followed later at about 220,000 miles. There is a light clunking noise caused by a bad rubber boot coming from the suspension connection to the frame. The water pump went out at 329,000, and the truck did break down once when it had about 280,000 miles on it. My dad had it back running within an hour of it breaking down along the highway, and he is not that knowledgeable about cars. I do not know to this day what caused that. Nothing went wrong with the interior except for the bench seat has a dip in it on the drivers side, and a crack in the middle of it. Other things that have gone wrong are routine maintenance.

General Comments:

My ranger handles very well for the mileage it has. I would still consider this to be a good cruising truck. It drives as straight as an arrow if you let your hand off the steering wheel going 75.

The truck is very solid. Even with over 300,000 miles, my ranger handled like a charm when I had it up to 110mph in a race. No complaints with the way this truck was built.

I trust this truck to get me where I need to go, near or far, the only problem is my mom doesn't. The only reason I got a 1992 Mercury Grand Marquis to replace my 97 Ranger is so my mom will quit worrying if my truck will get me to my destinations. I will leave this truck sit for now, because if I sold it, I wouldn't get what it is really worth.

Faults:

At approximately 197,000 miles, I needed to have a power-steering hose replaced.

I replaced the exhaust and the rear shocks once.

The front brake pads needed replacement for the first and only time at about 120,000 miles, but 90% of my driving has been on the highway.

I also had trouble with the interior light staying on all the time. I replaced an $8 relay under the passenger side dashboard and this seemed to fix the problem... for about 3 weeks. I ended up unplugging the relay permanently and got used to living without the interior light. It still worked if I manually turned the light on and off.

I occasionally had a small leak in the clutch fluid reservoir, but if I checked the level at each oil change, it never turned into a big problem. I only needed to add about an ounce of DOT 3 brake fluid every few months.

General Comments:

So far, I haven't driven a more reliable vehicle than this. Even after 201,000 miles, I have so much faith in this truck that I wouldn't hesitate to drive this truck from coast to coast if I needed to. I wouldn't even worry if I left my Triple-A card and cell phone at home on such a long trip.

A great 2WD truck, averaging over 28 miles per gallon on the highway, that could only have used a few extra horses under the hood. It was a little under-powered, but I wasn't really disappointed since I knew what I was getting into with a 4 cylinder.