does it have to be a pickup? I now have 92k on my Vue and can recommend it if you are looking for car-like utility. Mine is the Honda-driven one, but from what I hear, the 2.2 FWD model with the 5-speed is excellent. Most my gripes with the car are from the drivetrain, so the Ecotec should solve that. The interior is cheap, but voluminous. The handling is pretty good too. Problem areas are really just wheel bearings and the fast wearing suspension. Both easy fixes for a garage mechanic. I have had problems with snapped sway bars, but I think that is limited to my car because I have not seen one other person on the forums with that problem.

Ranger! And I have one for sale! ;-)

no not restricted to a pick up.. really depends on quality and price.. and i just wanted something with some extra "cargo space?" lol
tell me more.

i just bought a 98 blazer zr2 for 2200 with 135k miles, in decent shape, runs great, havent had to replace anything in the 800 or so miles ive put on it, even after off roading... oh and its a beast off road lol

hmm ill have to check out some blazers to haha

wow a lot of blazers out there.. some decent looking ones in my price range..

fmybody - mostly the frames, short of cleaning the crap down to spotless and POR-15 u are pretty much gonna have frame issues, my friends father had a 02 with 150K on it, we repaired and patch the frame atleast a dozen times because of the rust, yes he did plow with it, but his 01 1500 silverado isnt rusting out except for the backing plates on the rear wheel disc but name me one chevy pick up thats is used everday and all kinds of weather that hasnt had that problem yet

Not necessarily saying to stay away from the 4.0, but the 4cyl engines and 3.0 have a life expectancy over 200k miles. They are just better "truck engines" than the 4.0. You can abuse them day after day and they just keep running.

I was going through this same debate with myself last year, and I noticed that the rangers and S10 pickups seemed to hold the most value. The mid '90's blazers and jimmys seem to be the cheapest out there. I think a lot of people look away because of the troublesome CPI unit, and the push-button NP233 transfer case which doesnt work well, mainly because of the electronic shifting mechanism.

I was able to get my '94 with about 155k miles on it for $1000. It was in pretty decent shape but had the classic blazer problems. Had an issue with the CPI fuel injection, and the NP233 t-case wasn't working properly. I fixed the fuel system and swapped in a manual NP231 transfer case and the truck works great now.