3.5L V6 or 4.0 V6 more reliable?

Had 2007 ranger, loved it. Never let me down. Replaced starter, 2 thermostat housings, AIC valve and throttle body. Was a little beast off-road, steel bumpers stock. Sold at 230k km, running like new.

Miss that truck dearly, wish I could’ve kept it. What a pig on gas it was though haha, especially after I installed steel pro comp rims and E rated duratracs. Was getting 17-18L per 100, whereas my overweight taco on 33s gets 12-14L per 100km.

 

Yeah, those were solid, made by Mazda I believe, easy to DIY something that's missing on today's vehicles for me

 

Nice Ranger. I see yours is the Mazda variant. I think Ford steadily improved the ranger over the years until they stopped production. They also had that partnership with Mazda. It was speculated that my 89 Ranger had a Mazda 5 spd transmission. I have a co-worker who has a Ranger of your Rangers vintage and has had little to no issues with his 2WD Ranger. Still has it.

Going from the 89 Ranger regular cab to the Toyota Extra-Cab 4X4 was amazing. The overall quality and fit & Finish at the time compared to the Ranger in my opinion was day and night. Also, The ability to recline the seat back to accommodate my long legs with the Toyota Extra-Cab was a game changer for me. Very comfortable to drive.

 

A guy that worked for me had a ford ranger, asked me to look at his truck since it was making a weird bubble noise.

He had almost no coolant in the engine, drove it like that for a week. Sold the car a year later but it kept running.

 

All gen rangers use a Mazda manual transmission. Throws on that thing… haha.

Yes, I had the B4000. It was built at the same Michigan Ford plant. Basically it was equivalent to ford ranger fx4, just looked a bit different.

 

My “mazda” was made at the Michigan ford plant, basically rebadged ranger. Just like ford escape=mazda trubute, ford fusion=mazda 6.

 

I believe that hah. These trucks were overbuilt, just look at the rear axle.

 

Yes that was my understanding that when Mazda stopped making the B series and exited the truck market they just put the Mazda badging on the Ford Ranger due to their partnership.

 

w/o question the 4.0 better yet the 2nd gen in general is far more reliable than the 3rd gen. The jury is in and the 3rd gen taco isnt reliable, from electronic failures, leakage uptop, trans issues and motors going out. Every week theres a new guy on here with less than 100k either the trans goes out or the motor.

 

From this. For 3 years


To this. For 14 Years.


To this for 15 years with the start of a family. Great Family Machine. Made in Japan. No issues.



To this for 2.5 Years so far. Not one problem.


No matter what you have, be prepared to cut your losses if it's a piece of shit. Keep those that are serving you well and not causing you grief. I like to keep my vehicles a long time if they aren't a burden. You cannot go wrong with either a 4.0L or a 3.5L. They are both Toyota's.

 

I actually don't have much bad so say about the Escape either, I've seen some as part of LEO fleets, tough little buggers. And that is the complaint, "little".

 

Hmm...Been thinking, if TOYOTA goes full turbo mode on me, go Mazda young man hehe!

 

Shit does happen to the 3.5 but no where near as often some of the bizarre posts are trying to portray. The failure rates are really low. My son had a 4.0 in a forerunner and he had issues. NOTHING compared to his Subaru though.

 

huh?

 

Wow, I hadn't thought of all the tech differences between the 4L and 3.5L GR series engines. Based on all I read, give me the 4L all day. Too much shit to go wrong on the 3.5, and based on what I've seen with direct injection engines, (take a look at "I Do Cars" channel on youtube), they eventually clog up the intakes. I'd always thought the 3.5 was just a de-stroked 4L with some timing and camshaft tweaks.

I can believe that, from what I see owners of each posting here. I'm happy with my 4L, hoping it will outlast me.

 

Direct injection done right shouldn't be a problem, and I believe TOYOTA, unlike Ford, Audi and others, did it right. By using regular injection, they clean the carbon off the intake & valves and solves the issues.
That said the 4l is IMO the best 6cy out there, as far as reliability goes, build tough

 

Reliability can only get you so far. I have a 2016 Chevy 2500hd LTZ crew cab with the 6.0L gas motor. Dead nuts reliable 200,000 kms /125,000 miles with regular maintenance and tires. Average gas mileage since new.....19.6L/100Kms or 12mpg. If the new Tacoma can average 12L/100Kms or 19mpg, I'll save around $3500.00 on gas per year. If the Tacoma turns out to be not as reliable(which I doubt), I'll have $3500 a year to repair with and break even. I know I'm talking apples and oranges here but I don't need the capability of the HD anymore, so I think I can't go wrong........

 

Had a 2006 dcsb sport 4.0/MT and now my 2016 dcsb off-road 3.5/AT. I like everything about the 16 better except the low speed power, but it's not apples to apples since my 06 MT was geared much lower. The 3.5 feels more peaky but it makes much better mid and high rpm power. It pulls hard to 7k, the 4.0 ran out of breath much sooner, but felt more torque, probably because of the lower gearing and manual trans. Neither one was the stump puller or the race car some make them out to be. I'd be happy with either, but I like the 3rd gen interior and exterior so much more. Time will tell about reliability. Both have had issues in and outside of expected use cases. If you plan to use it like a small truck, I would have zero concerns. If you are going to put 37's on and climb 40* hills with a 7k gvw, the outcome has little to do with "reliability," IMO.

 

aside from the other million on the road, but keep making shit up if it blows up your skirt