1996 Ford Ranger XL from North America - Comments

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.

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.

There are no better small trucks than the Ranger. That's why virtually every company on the planet that uses small trucks chooses Ranger. Going 300,000 miles on a Ranger with no problems is very typical. They are inexpensive to purchase, are very comfortable, get awesome gas mileage and require virtually zero maintenance. The 4's do require timing belts at around 120,000 miles (the manual says 60,000, but you can easily double that), but the all-iron 3.0 can go 300,000 miles with nothing but tires, batteries, oil changes and air filters. Since 1992 I've had both the 4 and the 3.0. Neither ever required a single repair ever.