You can see the unique Mazda bed sides and front fenders in the photo above. This era of Mazda’s B-series pickups was basically a Ford Ranger, built in St. Paul, Minnesota, but it had a few unique styling touches to set it apart. The seller has this 2001 Mazda B2500 SX pickup posted here on craigslist in Vancouver, Washington, and they’re asking $10,995. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
Just over three decades ago, in 1994, Mazda and Ford agreed to offer a Ranger-based pickup for Mazda as the B-series. They’re unmistakably Ranger-looking, but with a few touches that differentiate the Mazdas. The grille is, of course, different, but the aforementioned lines/flares on the bedsides and front fenders are also different than what Ranger customers got. I prefer the clean lines of the Ford Ranger, but that’s just me. Getting around the pesky 25% import tax (chicken tax) was another big factor in that agreement.
This truck appears to be a gem, and the selling dealer has added a lot of good photos showing almost every part of this truck. We don’t get to see underneath, but that’s really about the only missing photo. They show the inside of the bed, which is nice, but it’s showing some rust on the fasteners, and what’s the scary, flaking edge of the bed between the tailgate and floor? It looks a bit flakier than I would have imagined for a truck from the Pacific Northwest. I hope that isn’t rust forming, but the rest of the truck body looks almost like new, so I can’t imagine it is.
As a base model SX edition, this isn’t a fancy truck, and even the seller concludes that there aren’t a lot of options or features, but with the low miles (66,703), it should be good for years’ worth of service for the next owner. The all-important 5-speed manual is nice to see here, too. The following year, in 2002, Mazda renamed this small truck line the Mazda Truck, so no more B-series after 2001. Not being a SuperCab, there isn’t much space behind the seats, but the seller did a nice job showing what’s back there.
The engine is a 2.5-liter fuel-injected SOHC inline-four, which had 119 horsepower and 146 lb-ft of torque when new. Backed by the Mazda-sourced M5OD-R1 5-speed manual sending power to the rear wheels, the seller doesn’t say how it runs, but I have to believe it works as well as it looks. Power steering and power brakes would make for a nice little daily driver. The price seems fairly aggressive, but it looks like a nice truck. What are your overall thoughts on this truck?
Overall its a very well preserved Mazda. The only concern is what Scotty already mentioned. I wonder if there was a small load of stone, or mulch or something in the bed at one time and some debris got in that crack and they just tried closing the tailgate? Just a thought. Otherwise, you don’t many base models like this in this kind of preserved condition. Curvette sure found a creampuff here, very nice one Scotty.
These are the basic little trucks manufacturers need to bring back I think it’son the high side for the price but its easily got another 200k miles left in it
Clean truck, but $11k?