Looking to buy Nissan Hardbody extended cab, a little help?

[RB81]

Hello members,
I'm new to your forum, and I'm looking into buying a Nissan Hardbody pickup in the near future and have some questions. Any help anyone here can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Firstly, It's a 1996 lifted 4x4 extended cab, v-6 (which I'm assuming is the vg30de motor, I don't know much, I'm just a Nissan enthusiast/mechanic's wife, and the only trucks I've owned myself and know much about are toyota pickups) has a bit over 200k miles, automatic transmission with reverse out. Asking price is $1500 since reverse is bad. Minimal rust, runs great, seems to be in nice shape aside from missing reverse.

My questions being:

1) Worth it? (husband says yes, but I'm a woman so I don't entirely believe him, LOL. Part of me says he just wants me to buy it so he can drop his spare SR20DET into it)

2) Would it be better to 5 speed swap it? I've read that the vg30 automatic transmissions are not as reliable as the 5 speed ones. The transmission is already going to need replaced, I thought it might be worth it to swap to 5 speed, and make more the truck more fun in the process.

3) Do child safety seats fit in the back? I have a 5 year old in a booster seat and in my opinion it would be stupid to have him sitting in the front while my husband drives and I ride in the back of my own truck.

4) How do they handle in the snow and other nasty winter conditions? Since we live off the beaten path in middle Tennessee I'd like to be able to get out in the snow. Up until now we've been driving around in the snow and ice in my husbands SR20DET powered 240sx and that gets rather scary!!

Thanks in advance for your feedback!!
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[StephenG]

Well, knowing nothing about snow(Texas), I cant help you there.

1. IMHO, $1500 sounds ok, not great. A trans swap shouldn't cost you more than a grand if you do it yourself, and its still about average for a king cab. I think you can get it for less but it depends on how much money was put into it in the "lifting" process.

3. Back seats are kind of an after thought. I don't see any way of safely putting a child safety seat in them. Personally I wouldn't consider them adequate for an adult either, they are very small. I love my king cab, but I don't kid myself that its anything more than a two seater with some storage.

[RB81]

StephenG, thanks for rapid response! About the trans, my husband is a mechanic and I've found several of the used auto trans for under $200 locally. Was thinking of hitting the local Pull-A-Part for all the parts I would need if we decided upon the 5 speed swap.

[RT22]

Yeah get a used transmission and do it yourself much cheaper than rebuilt or new. Back seating is minimal at best, as above it is storage area I use for stereo speaker box. 4x4 should do okay in snow with the right tires. swapping to 5 speed requires a lot of stuff will need a donor truck for transmission clutch driveshaft pedal and master and slave cylinder.In some vehicles the ecm or computer is different on 5 speeds and autos Not sure but check to see if that is also needed. with 200k most important thing is service records nissans are very well built engines but must have maintenance to last.