Decision time, should I keep old reliable ('04 Ranger), or trade her in for the “EgoStroke2000” (lol, '07.5 Ram 2500), I got the money, I’m single, relatively young, and about to just go for it, what the heck!
Take a cold shower and save your money.
The ego stroke will wear off in a week. The payments will last for years.
Then there is gasoline at $3.00 per gallon and climbing.
You may have the money now, but you won’t have it for long.
What’s a young single guy doing with a big diesel truck. If you have a part time business hauling things, go for it. You can make some money and write off the expensses aginst the business. If not, forget the idea.
For what it’s worth, girls are not he slightest bit impressed by big trucks.
As advised, take a cold shower, keep your Ranger and maintain it well, and then later, when the Ranger starts costing you money, get a Ford Fiesta or Mazda 2, both very popular with uyoung singles and easy on the pocketbook.
Best bet keep the Ranger. If you have to satisfy the “bug” keep shopping.
An '07 Ram 2500 Diesel is asking for a lot more repair bills and down time than you’ve had with the Ranger. If you need to pull a mega trailer perhaps the diesel, but otherwise stay away.
If you really have the bug, pull the trigger on a brand new truck. There are lots of deals out there right now!
My rationale for the Cummins is I know they can be pretty good/durable rigs. I live up in the Sierra’s so a 4wd that is not affected by altitude would be preferable. I will be paying cash for the vehicle, and that Ranger isn’t going to last forever. I am afraid of having large repair bills and vehicle downtime, and yes more maintenance (ironically, I always heard diesels didn’t need as much).
Since I (might be) buying the vehicle from out of state, I still trying to find out the deal with CA emissions, and btw, the newer truck has less than 10k miles.
-Should’ve been taking cold showers, forgot about that, lol.
Since you have a specific truck in mind, a lot depends on the cost. If it’s reasonably priced, it might be worth it. Note that either diesel/transmission combo will cost you an extra $5000 over the base engine/transmission combo. Is it worth it to you? If you find a well cared for Ram with the base V8, it will last a long time with the good care you will provide. If you want more poser, you might consider the Ford F250 with the V10. That adds less than $1000 to the cost of a 2007.
If I had a Ranger, I’d get the new car bug too. They are a tiring vehicle and after driving one for a while, most anything looks better. I’d look at a Tacoma or Nissan Frontier if a truck is in your sights. Dump it. You’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty keeping it for 6 years. And yes, 6 years is old for a Ranger IMO.
The 2011 Ranger is suppose to be an improvement, but I wouldn’t buy a first year anything. Worth a look too though.
What’s a young single guy doing with a “medium-sized” diesel truck? What ever the heck he wants too! lol, yeah, need to meet a nice Subaru-drivin’ gal! Thought this was where they hang out…
I’d take a Focus, but the Ranger is a little on the small side IMHO. Wish they still made F150’s with a manual 
I’ve been looking around,the Ram seems like a good deal as far as I can see…
I prefer manual transmissions and transfer cases, but I’m ready to step up to power windows, hard to find vehicles with that combination. Looked at a F250 with 5.4L V8, estimated it at 12-15mpg, which is a bit less than what the Cummins would get (I’m hoping). Lots of deals on the V10 (and Powerstrokes), which I’m staying far away from.
If you are considering trading the Ranger for a used truck, here is a way to save money and determine whether or not the truck for which you are thinking of making the trade is any good. See how long the truck sits on the lot. If it is sold right away, it was probably a good truck. If it sits on the lot for a long time, there is probably some reason why nobody wants it and you wouldn’t want it either. If you use my method, you will determine whether or not the truck is a “winner” and save money at the same time. This is why I still have a car I bought in 1978.
2011 Ranger? haven’t heard anything about any changes at this point… anyway, I’m tired of the small size (TWSS!), but that is also what I like about it ( I must need meds…) anyway, looked at Yota’s, cant’ get the access cab with a bench seat in the front, and the 4wd, v6, crew cab’s (including Frontiers) cost about as much and don’t really get all that much better mileage than the full sizes.
Anyone wanna drop a 4bt and a solid axle in the Ranger? I might keep it then…
Ranger was a great truck, hope this one will be better.
yeah, I looked at that too, that is why I’m a bit hesitant… I’m hoping it’s just the economy and the manual trans. that’s keeping evryone else away. CPO, and it’s got a warranty, figure what do I have to lose.
what’s your '78?
My 1978 is an Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon with the 4-4-2 package. I got the car practically for cost since it has the small 260 V-8, an automatic transmssion and a single exhaust. The dealer couldn’t sell the car to hotrodders, because it didn’t have the large engine with a 4 speed manual and dual exhausts. The geezers didn’t want the car because it had the big 4-4-2 numbers on the door. The car has served me well, but the floorboad has rusted through and I haven’t driven it lately.
What ever problems you had that caused you to exclude the Tacoma and Frontier, you can bet the 2011 Ranger will have the same. The biggest selling mid truck…the Tacoma is probably being copied. The v6 and four will offer much better economy than the Ram…anther option is the Dakota.
Or…keep the truck and add a compact car to your stable ?
442! yeah, even if it ain’t the real deal still sounds sweet. heck havin’ the small engine probably helped it last this long! but too bad, seems like they all get the cancer
Do people ever post pics on this forum? I had Tyco slot-car when I was a kid that was a little 442 replica, I believe it was Gold with blue numerals…
But thanks everyone, gonna call tomorrow and see it if it’s still on the lot, and go check it out again, I’d just kick myself if I passed this rig up.
“I’d just kick myself if I passed this rig up”.
My late dad always said “There will always be cars”. If you miss out on this one, there is always another one right around the corner. I remember a great deal I got on a 1965 Rambler back in the spring of 1965. The Rambler was a Classic 550 had had 7000 miles on it. I bought the car for $1750 and figured I would never find a better deal. Shortly thereafter, my parents bought another house. The owner of the house was moving to Florida and offered to sell me his 1963 Ford Fairlane with 10,000 miles for $1000. I would have had just as good a vehicle and been ahead $750.
yeah, that was kind of a dumb statement on my part, and my dad’s been saying the same thing to me for the last week. Also been readin’ all about issues with these newer Dodge diesels (Cummins), too. hmm, maybe for the 5k trade-in on the Ranger, I could just keep it for now. This is like falling in love with the hot crazy chick, all the while 'ol plain jane will give ya all the love you could want, but you pass her up 'cuz you want to impress everybody. Think it’s time for another one of those cold showers, lol.
The ex-CEO of Shell Oil said today at a news briefing that motor fuel would be over $5/gallon sometime in 2012…The demand for petroleum is expanding exponentially in China and India, what U.S. consumers do is no longer that important…The U.S. demand for motor fuel is becoming a minor issue in the overall global demand picture…
Keep the Ranger…It will be worth more than the Dodge stinkwagon…
Stay away from a 2500 with diesel. Maintenance is too expensive. Brake parts and maintenance could cost way more. Stick with half ton pickups.
Just trying to forestall severe financial pain when we get back to $4 gasoline and even more expensive diesel. A good truck will last 20 years, and the average price of fuel consumed by it will defintely be around $3-$4 per gallon.