Does anyone actually love their 5th gen Explorer?

[Odrapnew]

I wouldn't say I love it, but I definitely really like it.
When I bought mine there were no other new 3 row vehicles that had the same performance as the '14 Sport in the same price range.
I've had a few small issues, but nothing that would make me say it's even remotely unreliable.

Hell, my mom's newer Highlander has had more issues than my Splorer.

@Napalm - is there a reason you plan to change front struts? Making noise, poor damping?

 

[94xlt4x4]

I like our two 5th gens - but I loved my '00 5.0 like a child. Just my $0.02

 

[J Palmer Cass]

It’s OK. I have a 2019 Limited that I bought because I need a station wagon that tows flat behind our motorhome and it has room to carry the two tadpole trikes we recently bought. It’s suits our needs. But the 2018 Focus and 2016 Turbo Fiesta we had previously were much more fun to drive.

I was keen on the new Edge ST but it lacked enough room for the trikes. I also would’ve preferred a Flex to an Explorer but while the cargo area is longer than the Explorer’s it’s also narrower, just a tad too narrow. But the Explorer is nice—it’s comfy, quiet, rides nice, good pickup with the 6. Handling is OK. But it’s not an endearing car; station wagons seldom are.

 

[Livernois]

I can tell you are customers absolutely love the sport. The 3.5 ecoboost engine picks up so much power off just a simple tune and with a couple more bolt ons you can really surprise people with the awd. Here is a video of a dyno after some basic bolt ons.

 

[Napalm]

Struts on a 3 year old vehicle? That’s incredibly lame.

How and why? So struts are the highest wear item on a vehicle or I guess I should say suspension dampers as it applies to struts or shocks.

They are under constant load and in constant motion - even when you think the road is smooth. I don't know how many people say "gee my car sure does drive better with these new struts - it's almost like it's a new car. And they replaced them at 120K miles or more.

NOTE the mileage I quoted not the years. 76K miles. We hit that yesterday - in under 3 years. That's over 25K miles per year - more than I've put on any other car I've owned so far. It's not that the struts are worn out - it's that they are worn. If you get on them quickly you can save wear on bushings, but what you also have is more controllability with non-worn out dampers. It helps braking, turning and in some cases acceleration. Biggest thing is turning for me.


SO yes I'm one of those odd advocates of checking out your suspension system and replacing parts for wear as soon as you can. My 10 year old daily driver had new ball joints, main bushings, ans struts at 155K miles.

If you live in Germany and took the autobahn - and you had a car designed for the fast lane (not all are) like say a BMW 550 or M5 or Merc E 63 etc. In the book there is a mandatory inspection program and upon certain intervals suspension parts are replaced. Struts are replaced before 100K miles.

I also trade brake pads before I hit the wear markers - and get this - I flush the brake system every 3 years or sooner.



@Napalm - is there a reason you plan to change front struts? Making noise, poor damping?[/QUOTE]

The fronts are starting to bob a bit more and dip when I brake - showing signs of wear. It's subjective I admit - but there are tests criteria. basically you put a compression on the side - and watch the rebound - it should come up and have a very short or no rebound cycle (where it comes up and then down and up again). I like to check them when new to get an idea of how it was setup - otherwise you never really know. But dampers other than the new magnetichydraulic ones (think GM's, and some high tier sports cars like the mustang GT350), wear our somewhere between 70-100K miles. Give or take a bit. If you highway drive on decent roads you'll be in that 100K mark. If you city drive you'll be closer to that 70K mark or below.

We have crap roads - and one of the struts does have a torn boot. It's bad enough we broke a tire sidewall on a pothole this fall. SO I know I need to replace one because it's got to be damaged. If you do one you should do it's counterpart on the other side. So for me it's two fold - we are now past that 70K range and one has a torn boot. And I bet the bearing is damaged or highly worn.

But I admit I'm odd. my father in law - drove a car for 140K miles without ever considering replacing the dampers in it. I rode in it once time, told him the struts are shot out, there's at least one bushing bad, and it's possible the ball joints need replacing. His store never noted it - because he rotates his tire ever oil change. NO they never check because they suck. showed him how much it's moving around when he hits bumps or brakes - he finally changed the front struts (dodge nitro by the way) and he was amazed at how much better it tracked down the road. 2 weeks later - he replaced the ball joints and then said, you know it just drives so much nicer now like a new car. His view of anything is cheap is good - one day I'll get him to stop buying the cheapest chinese named tires he can find too.

It’s OK. I have a 2019 Limited that I bought because I need a station wagon that tows flat behind our motorhome and it has room to carry the two tadpole trikes we recently bought. It’s suits our needs. But the 2018 Focus and 2016 Turbo Fiesta we had previously were much more fun to drive.

I was keen on the new Edge ST but it lacked enough room for the trikes. I also would’ve preferred a Flex to an Explorer but while the cargo area is longer than the Explorer’s it’s also narrower, just a tad too narrow. But the Explorer is nice—it’s comfy, quiet, rides nice, good pickup with the 6. Handling is OK. But it’s not an endearing car; station wagons seldom are.

I wanted a flex over the explorer if it wasn't so boxy - they really do have more wind noise at 70 that it's noticeable.

 

[Mbrooks420]

How and why? So struts are the highest wear item on a vehicle or I guess I should say suspension dampers as it applies to struts or shocks.

They are under constant load and in constant motion - even when you think the road is smooth. I don't know how many people say "gee my car sure does drive better with these new struts - it's almost like it's a new car. And they replaced them at 120K miles or more.

NOTE the mileage I quoted not the years. 76K miles. We hit that yesterday - in under 3 years. That's over 25K miles per year - more than I've put on any other car I've owned so far. It's not that the struts are worn out - it's that they are worn. If you get on them quickly you can save wear on bushings, but what you also have is more controllability with non-worn out dampers. It helps braking, turning and in some cases acceleration. Biggest thing is turning for me.


SO yes I'm one of those odd advocates of checking out your suspension system and replacing parts for wear as soon as you can. My 10 year old daily driver had new ball joints, main bushings, ans struts at 155K miles.

If you live in Germany and took the autobahn - and you had a car designed for the fast lane (not all are) like say a BMW 550 or M5 or Merc E 63 etc. In the book there is a mandatory inspection program and upon certain intervals suspension parts are replaced. Struts are replaced before 100K miles.

I also trade brake pads before I hit the wear markers - and get this - I flush the brake system every 3 years or sooner.



The fronts are starting to bob a bit more and dip when I brake - showing signs of wear. It's subjective I admit - but there are tests criteria. basically you put a compression on the side - and watch the rebound - it should come up and have a very short or no rebound cycle (where it comes up and then down and up again). I like to check them when new to get an idea of how it was setup - otherwise you never really know. But dampers other than the new magnetichydraulic ones (think GM's, and some high tier sports cars like the mustang GT350), wear our somewhere between 70-100K miles. Give or take a bit. If you highway drive on decent roads you'll be in that 100K mark. If you city drive you'll be closer to that 70K mark or below.

We have crap roads - and one of the struts does have a torn boot. It's bad enough we broke a tire sidewall on a pothole this fall. SO I know I need to replace one because it's got to be damaged. If you do one you should do it's counterpart on the other side. So for me it's two fold - we are now past that 70K range and one has a torn boot. And I bet the bearing is damaged or highly worn.

But I admit I'm odd. my father in law - drove a car for 140K miles without ever considering replacing the dampers in it. I rode in it once time, told him the struts are shot out, there's at least one bushing bad, and it's possible the ball joints need replacing. His store never noted it - because he rotates his tire ever oil change. NO they never check because they suck. showed him how much it's moving around when he hits bumps or brakes - he finally changed the front struts (dodge nitro by the way) and he was amazed at how much better it tracked down the road. 2 weeks later - he replaced the ball joints and then said, you know it just drives so much nicer now like a new car. His view of anything is cheap is good - one day I'll get him to stop buying the cheapest chinese named tires he can find too.



I wanted a flex over the explorer if it wasn't so boxy - they really do have more wind noise at 70 that it's noticeable.

I fully grasp replacing parts before thy entirely fail. My Subaru had over 100k on it (and 20 years) when I changed the struts and the ride quality didn’t change a bit. It rode great before and after. If the one hadn’t started to weep, they would have probably stayed on another 5 years.

 

[CDW6212R]

I won't say I love it but it's been a solid great vehicle. Wifey might say she loves it. If I had waited a year and gotten sync 3 with android auto and car play I'd be closer to loving it. But My ford touch isn't bad.

I wish it got a few more MPG's, but it does do well. I sort of regret not buying the Buick Enclave we almost bought but the only reason is that it had more front seat leg room - which would help me some. BUT -all that aside. it's 3 years old, had 3 batteries in it - all my wifes fault mostly - about to get 3rd set of tires, well 2 anyway - and rolled over 76000 miles yesterday. I can't complain really. It's front heavy hard on tires - OK, and I need to replace the front struts soon - otherwise it still drives well, rides well.

I agree on the struts, changing shocks every 50k or so is smart. On really smooth nice roads you can get away with 100k or more if the shock quality is good, but poor roads can kill suspension parts very fast.

The three batteries is what I think "lame" on also, that's a problem. I thought you had mentioned a couple of other odd parts to be replacing sooner than three years. I'm hard on tires also, so 25k per set is not that bad to me. But some people drive too easily, and they get 65k miles often.

I love the newer Fords for the technology, but I'm not giving up my old Fords that are easier to work with.

 

[Napalm]

I wrote about this before the batteries aren't necessarily the cars fault. SO we have the push button start and my wife being the lazy one she it - leave the key fob in her purse more oft than not. Why - Well the car unlocks when I touch the handle and locks when I leave - why should I do anything it does it for me. Forget ever using the remote start feature or the

Anyway - the rant is more about this - at home in the garage with door down - being safe she leaves the car unlocked with per purse in the car - and the key in the car. This leaves the system on awake mode - which has higher current draw on the battery - over the hours it sits in the garage.

It has a second effect too - BMS doesn't get a good trend on the battery condition so it will suddenly shut off the electronics because to it's trend line the battery has gotten bad, quickly. BMS is designed to sample the batttery when the car is in sleep mode (key off/out, doors locked for more than 3 hours) and do some light battery load testing. (it's keeping up with the internal battery resistance in basic terms)

So our car never slept that first year - dead battery. Then replacement - told her to stop leaving her key in the car - about half this time this worked - still dead battery in a year. I'm on number 3 and it's going for the exact same reason and it's not the cars fault my wife uses it wrong - if she could stop leaving the key in the car it would respond better. My next battery is going to either be as large a battery I can get in the hole, or I'm going to start putting a trickle charger. What I really need is for the wfe to take her purse inside, or somone to steal the car from our garage one day. I guess that might work.