shopping for used small pickup truck

Hello, I am new here.
Am new retiree from North California.

I am shopping for used small pickup truck.
I will be using this pickup truck to occasionally loading furnitures & appliances over to our children's spare room, around 80 freeway miles in central California. So that we can go over their home to baby sit grand children.
We are retired couple. We are thinking to pay no mare than $4000.

We wish to avoid any major enginer or transmission repair.
What made & year pickup truck do you recommend?

Thank you for your help.

Two wheel drive Ford Ranger,  2002 or later if you can and preferably with the 2.3L four cylinder(they switched over to this engine about midway the 2001 model year). Economical, especially with the 5 speed manual- I used to get 30 mpg highway with the one I had. Nothing wrong with the 3.0L and 4.0L V-6's but they're nowhere as near economical. Toyota would be another good choice except that I don't think you'll find much in a Toyota pickup given your $4000 budget. I'd also run a Carfax on it and have a trusted mechanic go over it before you part with your hard earned money. Welcome to the forum.

I agree with rustbucket. Ranger is a pretty darn good pickup for the uses you are looking for. Its reliable and inexpensive and if something does break on it, repairs arent bad on it. Most you could do yourself. Good luck and stick around and let us know what you pick and how its going.

toyota makes really reliable trucks and some real nice small basic trucks

problem is, the resale is insane, so it will be tough to get one for 4K

we also have a older ford ranger in my company that has been pretty decent, not quite as bulletproof as the toyotas but still, a good truck.

the used truck market is real tough right now as the values are real high, especially toyota

rustbucket wrote:

Two wheel drive Ford Ranger,  2002 or later if you can and preferably with the 2.3L four cylinder(they switched over to this engine about midway the 2001 model year). Economical, especially with the 5 speed manual- I used to get 30 mpg highway with the one I had. Nothing wrong with the 3.0L and 4.0L V-6's but they're nowhere as near economical. Toyota would be another good choice except that I don't think you'll find much in a Toyota pickup given your $4000 budget. I'd also run a Carfax on it and have a trusted mechanic go over it before you part with your hard earned money. Welcome to the forum.

sound advice here

thank you sirs for your kind comments.

In some rare occasion, my wife may need to drive this pickup. I taught her manual shift around 30+ years ago (in my Pontiac Firebird with 400+ 4b carb., on 8- gpm, well, that was the yesteryears). I think she hesitates driving manual shift on the freeway. So, automatic that is.

Since, mostly for two of us, do you recommend standard cab? Or, you think extended cab is a good thing?

I hesitate on Toyota's high premium. I shall look into the Ford Ranger.
What do you think of Nissan pickup?

jgy2001 wrote:

thank you sirs for your kind comments.

In some rare occasion, my wife may need to drive this pickup. I taught her manual shift around 30+ years ago (in my Pontiac Firebird with 400+ 4b carb., on 8- gpm, well, that was the yesteryears). I think she hesitates driving manual shift on the freeway. So, automatic that is.

Since, mostly for two of us, do you recommend standard cab? Or, you think extended cab is a good thing?

I hesitate on Toyota's high premium. I shall look into the Ford Ranger.  
What do you think of Nissan pickup?

if your going ranger, go with the extended cab if you can pay for it, the regular cabs are beyond tight inside

nissan makes a nice small truck as well, it will cost more than the ranger, less than the toyota on average

We have never purchase a used 10+ years old vehicle with over 100K miles at $4K.
The last time I work on and tune my cars was over 20+ years ago, when I was much younger and cars were just much simple to work on.
How should I do resarch and enlight myself aware of what to deal with?

jgy2001 wrote:

We have never purchase a used 10+ years old vehicle with over 100K miles at $4K.
The last time I work on and tune my cars was over 20+ years ago, when I was much younger and cars were just much simple to work on.
How should I do resarch and enlight myself aware of what to deal with?

easiest thing would be a carfax to check and see if it's been in any kind of serious accident, etc.

Then find yourself a good local shop that you trust and bring what you find over to them for an inspection prior to purchase.

any seller should allow for an inspection.

beyond that, check for easy things like oil leaks, pull the air filter and see if they have been changing it, etc. Pull the dip stick and check the oil condition etc.

Please allow me to turn this question around. How should I set my shopping goal?

What kind of proper price I shall set for a used pickup truck to move a household of essential furnitures within range of 100 freeway miles. What kind of pickup truck, what year, mileage driven, good engine / transmission condition?

We are in Northern California, retired, own a 4 door sedan and a small SUV. Should I look for extended cab pickup truck?

Why not just buy a small trailer and tow it with your SUV?

We were thinking to leave this old pickup in our new location permanently. So that one of us stay behind, we have another vehicle to get around town. We definitely do not wish to burden our children busy schedule.

That makes sense. Find any possibilities yet?

been looking at SF bay area craigslist and car sales web sites such as AutoNation, AutoTrader, Cars.com, eBay. So far, we feel we end up spend over $10K to get anything workable, or large repaire bill. That is much more we wish to spend. May need to find other alternative. Any advise?

Sounds like a trailer might be your best option, as TheQuig mentioned earlier. That and an old beater car to leave behind as a second vehicle. Unless your budget has room to grow. You may want to look at an old full size van or SUV as well. Not sure what they go for now days.

This one has crazy low miles. If it was closer I'd even look into getting it.

2002 Ranger

More of a bare bones model but a little newer and still looks in great condition. Plus its auto which I think you would prefer in that area.

2008 Ranger

theshyguy, thanks, this 2002 Ranger with only 28K miles looks good. Still talking to the lady of the house on the manual shift. This is around the right ball park. Now, I know what to look for. No hurry, May be better deals after summer, by year end, right? Thank you.

Anther question, in my previous vehicle shopping couple years ago, Southern California used vehicles for sales are typically 20% to 25% lower compare with Northern California, or rest of country generally. Do you agree?

I honestly wouldn't know much about California's market. But knowing California what little I do, it wouldn't surprise me. You may be able to find a better deal out of state if you are willing or allowed to purchase out of state.

In my last purchase in 2015, I was looking for 2 to 3 years old lease return vehicle with resonable mileage and still with adquate factory warrenty.

I send out email to many dealer in Northern & Southern California and selected southern states (ie AZ & TX to avoid snow salt erosion), I was surprise general substantial lower pricing around 20% to 25% from Southern California dealers. Finally, we bought a 2015 model with 5K miles (not loaded with options, dealer courtesy car) at near 30% less msrp listed price from major dealer in Santa Barbara.