Thread: 07 Ranger XLT or Navara STX

Well I’m going to sell my wee Suzuki and going to buy a Ute. With my budget I am looking at the above vehicles. Both with reasonable high km, but that’s to be expected for that age.
Does anyone own either of the above? Pros or cons of each?

If it's the 3.0l ranger just watch out all the ones I know have blowen the head at some stage.
I have the Nissan for a few years good Ute for the money.

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Nissan all the way...

Looking at this one:

https://www.facebook.com/share/oWLKn...ibextid=79PoIi

Had motor rebuilt 27k ago

Though was really keen on a manual.

Once you've been off road in auto,you unlikely to go back to manual.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Once you've been off road in auto,you unlikely to go back to manual.

repent you sinner !
....could be worse you could have said you liked EV's

I learned to go off road in the army driving manual navaras out the back of Waiouru

Originally Posted by 25/08 IMP

If it's the 3.0l ranger just watch out all the ones I know have blowen the head at some stage.
I have the Nissan for a few years good Ute for the money.

Sent from my CPH2531 using Tapatalk

Ahh, I've known more Navara's to crap themselves than the Ranger/BT50 of that era (as an aside, the BT50 is virtually the same vehicle as the Ranger and usually costs a lot less spec-spec). The Navara's with the 2.5L funky hairdryer setup was a poxy thing then and had all sorts of weirdities going wrong with them. The earlier version was notorious for dropping number 3 cylinder, the 2.5L suffered from turbo, head, cooling system and EGR/emissions nasties. Also, auto trans could be a lottery if used for a lot of towing.

It's the old story, buy the vehicle not the sob story from the seller so get a full check done before you hand over the cash. Could save you thousands in repairs and hassle costs, but having said that if you get one that's cheap enough and honest enough it could still be worth a punt. The problem with these types of vehicles, the cost of the unit goes down as they get older but the cost to repair them gets dearer as labour goes up, parts get harder to get and etc etc etc.

The rangers/bt50's had their share of issues, clutches on the manuals was one area where they didn't do so well but on the whole they gave a reasonable run if well serviced and not abused. The Navara's left a few people marooned on the side of the road that I know of - one was the turbo shitting itself, another cracked a cooling fitting at the engine which cooked the donkey (was repaired under warranty luckily) and another suffered a clod of crap into the intake manifold which caused the dreaded lean out on a rear cylinder and holed out the piston (Four! - the owner was a mad nut golfer). Whatever you decide on get it checked and buy the vehicle, not the story!

I had one of those STX Navaras for a while, mine was the 6 speed although i was so used to driving 5 speeds id often have it singing along in 5th for hours before id remember it had a 6th gear lol. Was a good truck although had two issues in the time I had it, one was the 4wd actuator which crapped itself several times, I actually figurer out how to get under the truck and manually put it into 4wd it was so unreliable. Other issue was rust behind the windscreen, was unknown untill I had a smashed windscreen and Smith and Smith refused to put a new one in it as there was a heap of rust along the roofline behind the old one when they took it out, I had it rrpaired but it was a nearly $3000 exercise in the end. Not sure if that could be considered a common problem as I havent really heard of it in other Navaras but something to watch out for.

Also of note, those Navaras have bugger all ground clearance for a 4wd, probably not an issue with the one youre looking at as has bigger tyres and possibly a lift by the looks of it?

The other one I was looking at was this:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/iYy...ibextid=79PoIi

If your budget allows, stx 550 is a decent power train upgrade

That is true. The 550 is usually a chunk of change dearer though...

Stay away from the Nissan chassis snappers, there’s a reason the NZDF got rid of them as fast as they could for the equally suspect tritons in the same decade.

Also 07-09 PJ ranger/bt-50s suffered from EGR cooler failure and input shaft bearing failure., rectified fairly well on the PK ranger and Bt-50 2009-2011


Most people who have had bad luck with the ranger/BT50 utes of the era would have been stung by the EGR cooler failing and cooking the motor, then assuming it’s the head, remove and block the EGR and you will seldom have issues unless you are abusing and neglecting it.

The PK rangers we had at Fletchers all had well over 500,000 and showed no signs of slowing up (EGR removed from day dot) half a mil is easily achievable in a PK ranger with 10,000 service intervals, once you delete the EGR

EGR ????