I love the 4.3 liter engine, great acceleration. Burnouts are great, and the 6 speaker system is good since I am into car audio. Suprisingly good mileage.

I really hate the brakes. Today I almost crashed in an intersection because of the lousy breaks. The air conditioner doesn't really work well either, doesn't cool.

It has been fairly reliable on daily and weekend trips. I love the truck, besides its serious brake and air conditioning problem. I am using it for car audio competitions and the electical runs great.

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Wont't quit, very dependable, takes abuse, decent gas mileage

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My Granfather bought this truck from a rural letter carrier in Victoria, Texas. They used it to deliver mail and for long cross country trips. He and I use it now to Deliver mail in a rural area in central Texas and it's the best darn truck I've ever seen. It's not perfect, and has been neglected, but the truck just won't quit. It's only got 150,000 miles on it but most of those miles were driven in hot, dusty stop and go conditions on unfinished roads. It will last a long time, it's already a 12 year old truck but it sure doesn't want to quit. I'd buy another S-10.
This ones an extended cab, w 4.3L V-6, auto trans.

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Best looking small truck on the road. Great gas mileage (mine gets about 25 mpg with heavy city driving and a/c on in the hot Louisiana sun). Nice stock rims. Beautiful interior (graphite). Smooth ride on highway. Great looking black paint job. 2.2 liter with manual tranny is peppy, if you run it without the a/c on. It won't win many races though. Air conditioner is arctic-like (a common quality in small pickups). The arm-rest is really cool. Built like a tank; I got rear-ended by a Mack truck, only cosmetic damage to the rear bumper. I like the fact that you can turn off the passenger air-bag. Mine had a nice factory cd player, although I would recommend upgrading the speakers. Headlights are really bright. I haven't had any problems with brakes like other people said, but mine only has about 17,000 miles on it. Like they say, great bang for the buck.

Lack of power in the 4-cylinder with a/c on. Also, clutch makes weird noises when you take off in first with a/c on. Shifting from first to second is a bit notchy. That stupid shift light is driving me crazy, you can be going 25 mph in third and it comes on. Stock tires suck, I'd have them replaced if I wasn't so cheap. The bow-tie emblem on the front came off after two months, replaced it and no problems since (although it did take about 3 weeks to get the part in). It has the same old floor-mats they've been using since the mid-80s. The paint is starting to show little scratches and nicks, I should've listened to my dad when he said don't buy a black vehicle. Oh well, nothing a good compound wax and some touch-up paint can't fix. Don't touch the weather-stripping in really hot weather because it melts and is hard to get off your hands. A few minor rattles from driving on rough city streets. It over-revs big time when I start it up for the first time in the morning. The 4-cylinder motor is light, so the front end sits up a bit higher than the rear. This also makes it a little unstable at speeds over 70 mph. Not that I drive faster than that anyway. No cruise on mine, I plan on having one installed shortly. As you can see, mostly nit-picky stuff that I shouldn't be complaining about with a truck of this value.

I got this truck in July 2000 for a good price because the 2001 models were coming out. My complaints were mostly minor and are far outweighed by the strengths. Would be a good buy for young people or as a second vehicle for a family. This was my first new vehicle and I plan on hanging on to it for a long time.

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'90 Mazda B2200. A tough little truck, but it was really stripped down.

Handling is excellent, motor access is good, Except for the #1 spark plug. 6 speaker stereo is good, except it could use some subwoofers. Gas mileage is good. Extended cab is very convenient. Fit, finish, and paint are good. factory alloy wheels look nice.

4 cyl. engine is pretty weak. Unaroyal tiger paw tires suck, I replaced mine with BF Goodrigh T/A Radials.

I would recommend it, because I think it is a better all around truck for the money. With a few aftermarket upgrades it becomes a much better truck.I have 55,000 miles on mine and only had to replace an alternator and Tires. I love mine in the snow.

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Ford Ranger 2.3, mazda B2300, Toyota Tacoma 2.4, Nissan 2.4 it is comparable with horsepower and torque. I like the legroom in the S10 better. Handling is better with the S10. Rear seating is better in the Tacoma. Aftermarket is better with the S10

Extended cab is roomy. 4 cyl, 5 speed easy at the gas pump. 5 years and 70,000 mile not a complaint at all.

With 2WD limited slip rear end should be standard.

Dependability, 70,000 miles and no major repairs.

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My 1987 S-10 2WD with the 2.8 V-6 was a better combo for a small pick-up. The 4.3 is way too much motor gor a small 2WD truck, thast's why I went with the 2.2

4.3L engine is strong, I have 212,000 mile on mine and have had no problems at all, except having to recently replace clutch ...... ( but after 212,000 miles that's ok)

Paint is starting to chip off

I love these trucks, i'll keep mine for many more years to come, even though i'll probably have to eventually replace the motor, it'll be well worth the cost.

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I needed an affordable, new truck when my 4wd '88 blazer broke on me, saw the 97 s10 and was intrigued. Didnt want the whole lux package, just the basic blue collar stuff: power, 5sp standard. It is fairway green, a rare color on the streets, and I like the looks. Good rims, always get compliments on the way it looks with tinted windows. I also got the hard bedcover that matches the truck color. Great, awesome power. I tend to drive fast, and this truck is no help. I love that first gear take-off when the light turns green... Small enough to fit in most parking spaces. 3 pairs of speakers for good sound. extras cab is small, but dont use it to transport people mainly.

Rear view mirror fell off @43,000m. Elastic bands on visors lost elasticness. Already changed alternator @47,000m. Changed battery @36,000m. Took it in for f/l brake job @37,000m. Tiger Paw tires SUCK!!!! slippery, dont last, and always skidding. I bought cheap tires from Lex Brodies and they have way more traction. Other than that...

Recommend highly. Affordable, durable, somewhat reliable. Take care of it, it will take care of you. Or maybe I got lucky and chose the good one... Extra cab is good for just keeping stuff in the truck, within reach. You'll love the power. Not racecar type speed, but good enough for a truck. easy to make more attractive than it already is.

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Not as roomy for the driver as the 88 blazer. Never bothered to compare to other trucks, chose this one off the bat because it was affordable and attractive. Dont like fords anyway.

Oustanding good looks and aggressive handling right out of the box. The Xtreme package comes with ground effects, leather steering wheel and ZQ8 sport suspension as a stock option. The 4.3 v6 is a must however it is a toss up between manual or automatic shift. Also, having the extended cab provides much needed leg room over the regular cab. Having your choice between the 3.42 or 3.08 rear gear ratio is also a plus along with locking and non-locking differentials. Chevrolet made these vehicles so that you can order them to your own specifications which is what I did. This was my first special order vehicle with all the bells and whistles.

Gas mileage is not very good but that is what you get with the 3.42 gear ratio. The third door tends to rattle a little when driving over broken pavement. Rear sliding window lock is the cheapest plastic latch I have ever seen. Need a v8 or possibly a super charger option.

I would recommend the Xtreme only to someone who has enough $ to get the v6 because the 2.2 is terribly weak. The X package is not recommended for towing nor any type of off road use therefore it has a limited market. But for someone looking for a decent powered v6 street machine that they can get from the manufacturer with a warranty than I would highly recommend this vehicle.

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I test drove the Dakota RT and although the 5.9 motor was beefy it didn't live up to my BIG v8 expectations. If Chevrolet offered a 360 cubic inch motor I hope it would perform better that the 5.9 Dakota motor. Didn't even bother with the Ford Ranger! Ugly! Ugly! Ugly!

What in the world? The 2.2L has no power! Did you even read about what you were buying? With 118hp and over 3,000lbs. you can't espect much, you know what I mean. Maybe I have three special trucks or something. Two of the three are mini-stock trucks that I race on oval tracks. They are totally stock, no modifications at all except no catallatic conv., hi-performance muffler, and about 200lbs. lighter. I use my 1996 S-10 to pull a truck to the track every week, twice a week if I practice. Sometimes I raced in North Carolina which was about a four hour trip and I pulled my race truck there and back twiced this year. It's up and down, a little hilly around these parts too. So, no power? All are straight's, my dad has an automatic. It's quite sluggish, but it still does the job.
The race truck drove me to an championship this year with 11 poles and 7 wins and I'm the only truck on the track. I race against cars like Cavaliers, Probe's, Celica's, and others. It won me the Overall Track Championship and 15th in the ARA Nationals out of over 1500 other race teams. The truck is also pretty safe. I flipped my street truck over caused from a flat tire and minor damaged occured on the side of the truck.

'94 thru '96 models, some have troubles with head-gaskets I think. But, I tell you people, the Duke Boys have nothing on me. I drive the living life out of these trucks. Just put a head-gasket on dad's and mine is leaking just a little. There is a recall on some.

Pretty good truck. I would recommend buying a '97 or newer model though.

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It looks great. Awsome handling at high speeds and in cornering. The engine is great after some addons. Has a K&N air intake and filter, and a borla exhaust. 4,000 turbo was put on to. New mod chip replaced and stero system was totally ripped out and new put in. Gets 11.3 in the quater mile and thats with a 4 cylinder. Wow!! couldn't be better

There is no such weakness, only the weak cars that try and beat me. Wasssup!

Yes if you can get the S-10 and no other, Especially if you have the money to buy addons. And get the 4 cylinder because it runs much longer and sounds tons and a lot better at 7000 rpm. It just screams like no tommorow

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F-150 and their others 250, 350, none can match the speed of the s-10 suped up. None of the toyota's, ranger, nissan or any others do anything either. And the new nissan frontier supercharged is a horrible joke, what a peicee of crap at 210 hs. when it is supercharged. That is just crappy