4cyl vs 6? prerunner vs "normal"?

I'm 16 so I won't be doing much towing, at most a john boat or atv, but that would probably be in the bed. If I ever tow anything, we own an Expedition EL so that has all the towing we'll ever need. As for the non prerunner, i'd put about a 3" lift on it b/c i hate low sitting trucks. I don't know if I'll be able to test drive these, but I will hopefully be going around on saturday, I have a list of trucks to look at. I will mostly be driving to and from school which is like 2.5 miles at about 50mph, so 4cyl will prolly be better. My sister has a 6cyl nissan xterra and i thought about it and she gets horrible mileage, about the same as our expedition, and I'm payin for gas, so the 6cyl frontier would prolly get the same. I'm the kind of guy that really looks around for whats best and what I want and I'm willing to walk away knowing I can get more of what I want. Hopefully, like I said, I'll be able to test drive some to find out what I really want. Thanks for the help so far and for what will come.

 

the only way to get a 5 spd manual on a tacoma with the 4wd suspension is only on 4x4 applications, pre-runnners only come in auto. up to me i wouldn't even consider the 2wd non-prerunner or the 4wd tacos.....thats just me

 

do not buy a ranger lol
my friend has an 03 3.0l v6 ext cab ranger and its crap

it sounds like a hybrid car and its slow as hell
he has had so many problems with the car and it only has 60k miles on it

mine has 150k miles and i havent had any major problems yet

 

4 cyl is plenty of power. do the deckplate mod if its not and youll get a little more.

get the manual though, and if you want to do off roading i would strongly reecomend just a 4x4. no prerunners. theyre fine but i just would rather have a 4x4.
and get a manual.

 

Why the heck are they called a PRErunner anyways??? Never got that Toyota thing.... Does it run or drive before it drives? LOL.

 

It's not a Toyota thing....it's a type of off-road racing vehicle class. It was a smart move by Toyota to honor that vehicle class and offer up a two-wheeler with 4x4 suspension and off-road capability.
If you're into off-roading you're either a runner or a crawler.
Search Baja 1000 and you'll see runners...search Rubicon and you'll see crawlers in action.

 

Learned something new tonight. Thanks for the info.

 

And i believe its called a prerunner because they are the trucks that are either driven before the race to inspect the course, or they race before the 4x4 trucks do in the actual one.

 

Yep, course recon in the pure sense of the word.
It has sort of morphed into a culural icon.

 

No matter what they are called, they are all Taco's and all awesome....

 

T-Ray, I am 40 yrs old-so looking cool for me is not the priority like it once was. I dont mind driving my Taco 2wd 4 banger with 14" stock tires and black steelie rims. According to my wife the minivan with TV/DVD is cool!
I guess my point is this, if you would add a 3" lift to stock 2wd once bought, I'd seriously be looking into a 4x4 Taco with the 4cyl, standard tranny. Should get good MPG, lottsa miles with proper PM's. It will be very capable on and offroad in stock form and will serve you well from high school to end of college if taken care of. Plus you live in Texas, so if nothing else it can be sold as a hunting truck for a few grand ragged out,beat up and 20 yrs old.

 

Well on thursday, my dad and I went to a dealership to look at a Frontier. We found out that they had sold it that morning, and ended up leaving with a 97 F150 lariat with only 65k miles. Its loaded!

 

sorry for your loss. when it breaks go buy a tacoma

 

Thats a pretty rude statement towards a 16yr old kid that didn't even pay for the truck. I'm not at all worried about it breaking considering all of the f150's of the same generation with 3 and 4 times the mileage of mine still running strong that I see everyday. And its American made...

 

No disrespect intended, you're just singin' with the wrong choir.
Try this :
http://www.f150forum.com/

 

I agree that sometimes fords do last a long time. Most of them don't. Almost all toyota's will get at least 300,000 miles if taken care of. The so called "american cars" are known to have severe mechanical problems very early. Oh and just cause Ford started in america don't assume your truck is all american parts. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Toyota Tundra has the highest U.S. parts content of any pickup, at 80 percent. They have been advertising the tundra as "American built" for at least a year.
And in my opinion a kid should buy his first car with his own money. I bought my first car. It was a cavalier station wagon with 133,000 miles on it. It broke down once a week. Thankfully it was only like $20 to fix every time because their parts are so cheap. But I wouldn't have done it any other way. I learned a lot by having to fix my car all the time. Its a valuable skill to have.
Not trying to be rude at all. Congrats on your first car and everything but in my opinion you made a big mistake. The fact that you went to go look at a frontier and drove off with an f-150 tells me the sales guy worked you like putty and you really had no idea of what you wanted in a truck. You told us that you were looking at a compact pickup. An f-150 was like the opposite of what you said you were looking for. Hope the best for you with it though. have fun with it. I can't say I didn't own american vehicles before. They were great while they were running. I'm just partial to foriegn now because every single american car in my family has always been a piece of junk.

 

Lol, have fun with repair bills!

 

X2

 

I've had two F150s, a 97 4x4 Lariat, and a 98 2wd base model, 6cyl 5 spd. Both were good trucks, the 98 had 190000 miles on it when I got rid of it for my taco. I only sold it b/c I found out I am having another baby and needed a double cab. I loved the 4x4, only got rid of it when gas got so high last summer, I was spending over $500 a month for gas, it had 160000 miles on it and was running fine.

So they aren't bad trucks, and they last a long time, just not as long as yotas. Gratz on your first vehicle!

 

You can use your 4cyl for you're own purposes, but I'm glad I've got a 6, you can hear the difference, much less feel for offroad and passing power.