Wife owned two Ford Rangers, and I owned one Ford Explorer, based on the Ranger chassis.
You couldn't pay me enough to own either again. The Rangers were skitterish in handling, at best, and the Explorer was a liability until the lawsuits forced Ford to redesign them. Sway bars? What sway bars? To me, they aren't worth the powder to blow them to hell.
I'm on my 3rd S-10, and have also owned a 2.8L S-10 Blazer. We call 'em "Baby Blazers", in deference to the full-sized Blazers that were rebadged as Tahoes.
I've skipped buying the GM Colorado and Canyon pickups, because they just plain turned me off after a couple test drives. The later round-bodied S-10, Sonomas, and Hombres (all the same vehicle with different badges on the grilles) had a lot more going for them than the trucks that replaced them, IMHO. Same goes for the derivative S-10 Blazer, Jimmy, Bravada, and early Envoy, which was just a luxury Jimmy for 1998-2000.
The Trailblazer and Envoy are built on a proper truck frame, as opposed to the FWD Rendezvous, which is based on the Pontiac Aztek chassis. I've driven and rented the Trailblazer, and was suitably impressed, although not enough to forego buying a 3.7L Jeep Liberty. (I aim to misbehave when off-road).
If you can locate a Baby Blazer for relatively cheaply, then you'll have a stable platform that offers plenty of spare parts, good driveability, and plenty of aftermarket goodies to bolt on. I know where there are a bunch of them in excellent condition, but the dealership dumped Bon Ami down the intakes and valve covers when they got traded in under the Cash for Clunkers program.