Another vote for the 2nd gen Dakota. I loved mine except the 3.9L V6 was a real dog. Size wise it was perfect, IMO all these PU's are just too big these days. It's fine if you really need a huge work truck, but many (like me) would love to have something smaller. My neighbor has a beautiful '03 Dakota quad with the V8, low miles & looks like new. If they ever decide to sell, I'll be 1st in line even tho I really don't need a 4th vehicle
The new Ranger is an example of how they keep 'growing' these trucks. The old ones were perfect, now these new ones are bigger than an F-150 was back in the late 90's - ARGUH !