No, a 4 cyl will not plow a drive. To handle a plow attachment, you need at least a V6 and a reinforced frame. You clearly don't have a plow on your truck. Do a little research and you'll see even my Jeep isn't up to a plow attachment.

Jeep Wranglers with inline 4's will plow Draug... I had a buddy who used it for years on his driveway and it was at least a 50 foot long drive. Only a 6 foot blade at best, but you can use it.

Maybe for short drives but the Wrangler also has a solid frame with less flex than a typical small pickup.

For what it's worth, my Ford Ranger saved my life in a highway wreck. Got hit going 70, overcorrected, ended up flipping on my roof in the ditch, walked away with nothing but a small cut on my toe and an expensive lesson in handling a spin.

Been driving a Ranger for years now -- that one was a 2000, current one is a 1999. They're great, stout little trucks, and for the sort of work you're talking about they'd definitely suit your needs.

but the typical small pickup is also a boxed frame in the front end which is why they make plows for all applications today. They are only an open frame in the tail (and even most are boxed in the tail as of the early 2000's). Also, the small pickups have very lightweight bodies making their frames less likely to twist. Remember, almost all small/medium SUV's are on the same frames only shorter in some cases. It's all in what you want to do. He's looking to help his parents out for the most part, not plow for a business. Hell, a VW Jetta could do what he wants to do as far as plowing. And as far as hauling, he's not hauling a lot, but a Ranger can handle a solid 800-1000 lbs without breaking. The suspension will squat, but it'll handle it without a problem. I can't speak for the S10 (personally I hate Chevy), and I know a Dakota would handle all he's asking of a pickup and more.

I jist don't like the 4 cyl engines for anything needing torque. Combined with an automatic tranny that works with a 4 cyl (not exactly a heavy duty tranny) and you are jist asking for repair bills that a simple upgrade to the V6 avoids. That one he was looking at for 4K looks about right for his needs.

Ok here's a thought that might save you some money--stick a trailer hitch on whatever vehicle you have that can pull, get whatever size utility trailer you need used, and use the trailer to haul stuff. Then use a little snowblower to clear your driveway. But if you're going to buy a pickup--My brother had an '80s Toyota pickup, one of those little red ones, and drove it every day for decades with almost no repair bills. I had a '75 Ford F 150 and liked it a lot. I bought it in 1990 for $2500, almost immediately had to pay $1500 to rebuild the engine, drove it every day for 11 years, kept it running with very minor repairs but let the body, window soundproofing etc. go, and sold it in 2001 for $1000--so it cost me only $150 per year to own, or $300 if you count the engine rebuild. And all that time I wanted a Toyota. lol

I do not know enough about your intended use etc to say buy this or buy that

i have beeen involved in mining exploration in remote areas of Australia.
where 4WD Toyota landcruisers are the most used vehicle & excellent
but they are not cheap, lot of demand so even resale prices are high

i was involved in setting up a base vehicle to be used for downhole logging

so typically, there is a mud rotary drill rig, drills the hole, soil samples taken every 2 meters for the geos, they trip out there rod after hitting the target depth, & move their rig off the hole.
then the downhole logging vehicle moves up, sets up, swings out a hydraulic crane arm
with sheath pulley wheel setup on it's end
you set up a probe attached to a double weave stainless steel mesh exterior cable
that has 4 insulated wires in it's core, that links a pc in the operators booth to the probe.
the probe is sent down the hole to find where the Goblins have buried their treasure,
so proper christian persons can steal it away.

i took one of the rigs out past Moomba to deliver it to it's purchaser and to
"run them through" it's operation etc.

now drill rigs are flat out at the time, so becuse these are shallow holes
they have an A/C drill team with their rig.

it's a 4WD Toyota landcruiser v8 diesel traytop that has been made a six wheeler
with full 6 WD and hydaulic stabiliser legs etc etc with an A/C drill rig parched on it's back. all only maybe 12 months old.
Now the base platform, the 6 wd tratop must have cost $Aus 100k
a base 4wd traytop new was $Aus 60k at the time, we'd priced them.

I had an Isuzu medium truck it weigh'd 3000kg & could carry 6000kg
6cyl diesel with turbo and as a 4WD version
The base truck had cost $Aus 59k then $Aus3 or $Aus 4 k for a basic tray

the equipment we put on these trucks typically valued around $Aus 300k to $Aus 400k

so that puts it in perspective for you

the chap with the A/C drill rig asked me a few questions about the vehicle i was delivering and i could see him nutting it out as a base vehicle for an A/C drill rig
and realising he had spent a lot more to get where he was and it did not make him happy

now the toyota 4wd would get places i wouldn't take the Isuzu, but we don't take a logging truck over super rough terrain, we'd get a backhoe in to scrape a clear path first
but on the highway driving 100 km to jobs, on the dirt tracks etc, no problems with the Isuzu

err that should be driving 1,000's km on the highway
and the whistle from the turbo, cold night air at 4 am, motor hot from constant running
beautiful

SUV heads are ok, if you're into middle-class muppet-heads, but what the hell happened to the Hell's Angels? More angst, don't you think? Come on. Get the bikes out and on the road to nowhere other than the homes of those stupid SUV owners. Kick ass!

Toyota, for lack of a better word, sucks. In my opinion, their reliability with cars is also extremely overrated, but that's a discussion for another day and another thread.

Toyota pickups can't haul anything. Stay the hell away from them, especially four cylinders. You'd be better off with a V6 minivan than a Toyota I4 pickup. Besides, their smallest pickup sold in America is the Tacoma, which is in a whole different size class (and price range) than the Ranger. Anything older than the Tacoma and the bed is most likely half gone and half rust or all Bondo.

Chevy makes the best pickups overall, but the S10 sucks. Ford (used to) make the best light pickups, the Ranger. Stick with your original choice.

Everybody keeps saying "slap a hitch and tow". Does anybody here besides me actually tow stuff? Hitches are rated into classes and vehicles have manafacturer specs for how much their drivetrains can pull. Not all vehicles can tow and when you start talking landscaping rocks or timbers, you can easily bottom out the suspension and put an extreme strain on the drive train, and if you went with a cheap class one hitch, one good bump and you no longerhave the hitch on the car.

Seriously folks, if you don't use a hitch yourself, you probably shouldn't be recommending "just throw a hitch on and get a trailer". You'll have him killing the family car's engine and tranny and breaking the rear suspension when he tries to tow the trailer around into the back yard and hits a rabbit hole with a rear tire.

Exactly agree with Draug on the hitch deal. My half ton has a class III and was MEANT to have a hitch. I'm an over the road truck driver right now and I have seen some cars that should NOT have hitches. For example - a Toyota Prius with a hitch, pulling a uhaul trailer. The bumper is nearly on the ground as is the hitch. Don't put a hitch on ANYTHING that isn't at least a small pickup like the Ranger. I know people with them on minivans that have had no problems, but even with that, I don't recommend it at all.

@Mujus

A small trailer is something we are also considering, but I have a couple concerns:

1) It needs to be registered and insured anyway, so while we're saving money, we aren't really saving time in that department.

2) I don't want to turn my mother's primary car into a work car. I'm concerned about the reduced life it will get from towing, plus the added risk of an accident, plus, I'm sure the interior is going to get pretty dirty.

3) A truck would be much easier for my parents to operate when I'm not around. It's easy to drive a truck. It's harder to hitch and unhitch a trailer.

Oh, and, of course, that throws plowing out the window.

Do exactly what you wanted, a small ranger - PERFECT. I don't know if you're looking at extended cab or not, but I definitely recommend that as their cabs are pretty tight. That was my only issue with my 91, regular cab. I'm only 5'9 and I felt it to be a little tight. My 01 had the extended cab and actually felt spacious (for a small pickup)

Yeah. Your original choice is perfect for your situation. Rangers are very user-friendly, with simple, easy-to-use controls. With a 95-00, you also avoid having too much electronic garbage that will confuse the hell out of your parents.

It sounds like you don't like towing anything, and I agree that a trailer is unnecessary. If you do decide to get a trailer, make sure get an aftermarket hitch installed. The stock one on the Ranger can't handle much. Basically, listen to Draugnar.

Try to get a low-mileage one, but anything under 120,000 or so should be okay. You get what you pay for, so try to get one at the upper end of your price range. If it costs less than 3,000 American dollars, something is probably wrong with it.

Yeah, I went to look at the one I linked above and liked it. Unfortunately, it seemed to have a serious leak, as the entire back of the cab was wet. So, I'm going to search a little more, but I am a fan of the Ranger XLT.

Based on the above-mentioned factors, I'd agree with a small pickup. And yeah, I sit tall, and the Ranger I sat in was super-uncomfortable, but that might be better with the extended cab. Of course, then you might be talking a little more money.