Buying an s-10 which is better for me

[DaGGer]

ok well i have found two 1989 s-10...both 4 wheel drive..now i was wondering...one is a 4 cylinder and the other is a 4.3...now for me i need to drive to school everyday and its pretty far and i drive around al ot and i need a vehicale that does pretty good on gas...i looked and saw that the 4.3 doens't do good on gas but is pretty powerful...not the 4 cylinder looks pretty weak...if i gave it some power and everything else would it be a nice vehicale to go off road and play around it or what

[travis712]

My dads 4.3 get 20 mpg. Its 10 years old..156k miles.

[DaGGer]

ok 20 mpg on what highway or city...if its city then thats good for me but if its highway then no way...a 5.0 gets better gas milage

[J-Ri]

Get the 4.3. If they are both in good shape, the 4.3 will actually get better gas milage. In the smaller ones, you have to keep the pedal near the floor at all times. I got 22 mpg on my 91 4.3 going over 110 MPH on a 150 mile drive. That was the only all highway tank of gas I've used, but I think it gets about 26 going 55-65. My average of city/highway driving is probably 20-22. The 4.3 is also a much better engine, in my opinion.

[balls_to_the_wall]

Even if you don't like the gas milage incredibally, the resale will be higher with the 4.3

[vtmecheng]

I have a 4.3 with an average of 20 mpg, before my BFG All Terrain's. I remember reading a post on here a month ago regaring the 4 cyl gas milage and that it wasn't too much better then the 4.3's. Good luck and make sure to really check the trucks over, what the trucks were used for makes a big difference. Its was nice to know my truck was never used for towing before I got it.

[DaGGer]

so the 4.3 isn't that bad on gas...well i have to drive 30 miles all highway to school everyday so i do a lot of highway driving...but lets say that i do 40 miles of driving everyday and 4 days out of the week i do city drivng....do you think that one tank of gas would hold me over or what....i know that trucks don't get great gas milage and everthing but i want something around 27...thats well the highest i could expect from a truck...my mustang gets great gas milage because its a 4 cylinder....so the 4.3 is better and has more power and gets pretty good gas milage...anything that would get me some what better gas milage...i have heard of this thing called the tornado and it suppose to get you like 1 to 2 miles per gallon more...wellit can get more i guess

[dmbrisket 51]

Dagger, i own a 98 s 10 4.3L just as a reference for gas mileage, ill fill it up once, or on a busy week twice, and im changen oil every 3 months because my 3000 miles are rolling around, also, 90% of my driving is short trips, 2 miles or less, idels for a while with the car starter on, so it gets good gas mileage, the 4's imo, have no power, dont have a good way to get power to them, and have lots of problems

[mike1224]

hmmm, well as a 4cyl owner, i'll tell you that it DOES seem under-powered on the highways (but thats b/c of driving habits) I like it for city driving, and thats 95% of of the time i spend on the road.. as for fill-ups every 2 weeks. Get the 4.3, it'll cost a little bit more in fuel, but not a whole lot.

[vtmecheng]

If you really are worried about gas milage get a toyota tacoma instead. You won't get the power but man will it sip your tank, not to mention your pocket. If not mistaken their V6 gets decent gas milage. I love my S10 but didn't get it for the fuel economy.

[movin2stereo]

Wish my 4.3 got 20 miles to a gallon.

[dmbrisket 51]

do a tune up, run cleaner through the gas and get a new ff

[DaGGer]

ok well thats good...i want a newer s-10 but i could deal with it if it doesn't get the greatest...i mean if it gets anything near what my parents ranger does then thats fine....also plus i want to buy a 350 and make it really nice...then i can drop it in....also if i have a 2.8 instead of the 4.3 can i still drop in a 350 or do i have to change everything out

[dmbrisket 51]

if your goin to do a sbc swap out, your best bet is to go with a 4.3l, it is literally a 350 missing 2 cylenders... 5.7/8=.7125, take .7125 * 6 = 4.275, the 4.3L

[DaGGer]

well can i still do the swap with a 2.8 or is it different