~£3K 4x4 pick-up
Discussion
I am looking for a cheap but reliable pick-up truck in a region of £3K
Under no illusion, it is going to be pristine.
It must be as reliable as possible for its age. Dont mind an odd glitch, rust, or cosmetic problems, but the engine, gearbox, chassis, and 4x4 must be in good condition. For context - I am buying a car to send to Ukraine to help the war effort.
Found a few options, is there anything that stands out here as a big no?:
Ford Ranger 2003
Isuzu Rodeo 2010, high mileage
L300, flashing 4x4 and engine lights
Under no illusion, it is going to be pristine.
It must be as reliable as possible for its age. Dont mind an odd glitch, rust, or cosmetic problems, but the engine, gearbox, chassis, and 4x4 must be in good condition. For context - I am buying a car to send to Ukraine to help the war effort.
Found a few options, is there anything that stands out here as a big no?:
Ford Ranger 2003
Isuzu Rodeo 2010, high mileage
L300, flashing 4x4 and engine lights
Had a 2 Rangers over the years, had no probs, having many 4x4s over the years with ladder chassis, don't look at anything with a poor chassis, or rear tub, Nissan navaras had problems with chassis breaking in half, they had a recal and had to scrap some. Look at past MOTs and discount any with rust, or thick underseal.
In the end I found a 56 plate L200 K74 in a really good state, costing me £3600. Drove the truck all the way to the Poland/Ukraine border and it already with the sappers helping to clear the mines in the South. From my research you can, if you are patient and lucky, find a really good pick up at around the £3K mark.
Top job 
SuperPima said:
In the end I found a 56 plate L200 K74 in a really good state, costing me £3600. Drove the truck all the way to the Poland/Ukraine border and it already with the sappers helping to clear the mines in the South. From my research you can, if you are patient and lucky, find a really good pick up at around the £3K mark.
I rarely visit the off road forum on PH, but saw the thread title and dropped into say for that budget most of them have been snapped up and sent to Ukraine!And behold thats where this one has gone to, I've spent many hours looking over 4x4 pick ups for some Ukrainian friends and there's some dreadful trucks out there for the price range but also some gems if you look hard enough.
They've managed to find a decent guy in Birmingham that sells refurbed L200's for a fair price, guy is Afghan and moved to the UK a long time ago due to their Russian issue so is more than happy to do a good deal.
Good to see you managed to find a decent truck!
Slava Ukraini!
A Mk2 Ranger (02-06) is an excellent choice. I've had the green one for 11 years and covered 50,000 miles with very few issues.
It now sits on 180k and is proving to be extremely reliable.
Look for rust - not due to any poor design or corners cut in production, as it's in reality a Mazda B series that has been around since the eighties - due to the fact it's 20 years old. The chassis on mine has some remedial work and is now looking very good.
Other things to consider are that it's an old IDI diesel with suitably low gearing. Economy therefore is not spectacular, I average around 25 with half a tonne up.
Its successor, in the background, has more power, taller gears and averages around 30 mpg.
I just returned delivering two more trucks; it was a great drive.
This time, we had a Ford Ranger 08 plate, 3.0 Auto with some 100K on the clock and a 16 Plate L200 with almost 180K.
It's fair to say that the budget is somewhat different, with Ford costing 5K and L200 just over 7K, but they drove much much nicer/faster than the old K74 L200.
It's only been about 2 months, and the frame on the previous L200 has snapped from overload, but the guys have welded it back, and it is back in service, so that's great news. Apparently, they are using it for mining/demining, and it carries A LOT of mines back and forth from and to the battlefields.
This time, we had a Ford Ranger 08 plate, 3.0 Auto with some 100K on the clock and a 16 Plate L200 with almost 180K.
It's fair to say that the budget is somewhat different, with Ford costing 5K and L200 just over 7K, but they drove much much nicer/faster than the old K74 L200.
It's only been about 2 months, and the frame on the previous L200 has snapped from overload, but the guys have welded it back, and it is back in service, so that's great news. Apparently, they are using it for mining/demining, and it carries A LOT of mines back and forth from and to the battlefields.
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