I shopped for a f150 for a long time. A friend lived Ford so helped direct my research.
Basically, everything pre 2011 is junk f150 for trans and motor. many, many many problems you do not want to have. though many trucks will never see these issues, it is too common a problem to roll the dice if you have a limited budget. A limited budget means a very limited budget to make the big repairs that could come with the pre 2011 f150.
Go to ford forum and browse the titles and see how many people are having issues, and with what…
The Toyos and Nissan Frontiers do not have quite the collection of basic problems that the fords do. I am not knocking ford, but these years were ones to avoid. Some engines are ones to avoid too.
All the research I did for f150 and towing, I picked the 2011+ (or newer) with 3.7 v-6. best mpg and 302hp/278 torque and 21 hwy. The 3.5 turbo was my second pick at 365hp/290 torque and 23 hwy. Both motors had reliable service since introduced. But prob out of your price range until you replace a trans or cylinder head in a 97-2010 model and it all evens out real quick.
The Nissan, or toyota, will run forever even abused, but not that great towing mpg.
