Newbie questions from England

[Griffster]

Hi all,

Wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction? (Sorry, these are 2 pretty dumb questions!).

I am thinking about buying an Explorer here in the UK, since they look fun, are reasonably cheap, and well specc'ed for the money. However, you're probably aware that gas is R-E-A-L-L-Y expensive here!

What sort of milage do you get from the 4.0L? I have been quoted around 21mpg.

Is there anything I can do to improve the consumption figures (apart from leave it in the garage!!!, or swap the engine!!!!). Do any mods work?

I can't find an owners club in the UK, do any of you know of one?

Sorry for the stoopid questions, and thanks for the help.

Griffster

 

[Positive Vibes]

Welcome to the site!

I'm not sure of any after market parts that will give you a noticable difference in gas milage. Most parts increase horse power and speed. You might be able to take of some smog stuff, I know this didn't help but maybe someone else will!

 

[DasFrem]

The first two things to improve gas milage is to free up the exhaust with a high flow muffler and free up the intake. I'm not sure if they sell Flowmasters or Borlas there, (the only tuning shops I've been to in London were for Cossies and such) but any sort of free flowing exhust will free up some HP. and at least one MPG or two. The other thing to do is to get one of those filter tips like a K&N. I did both of those mods on my truck for less that $300 (£208) . Of course in England you'll probally pay more for it since everything there's more expensive. All this will free up at least one MPG or two.

I can get 20 mpg on the highway, but it's not easy to get anything like that in the city. But hey, it's gotta be cheaper and more dependable than a Land Rover right?

Those North Face X's look awsome, too bad we don't get them over here. You'll have to post some pics if you end up with an X so we can all see what the right hand drive looks like.

 

[DasFrem]

OH yeah, quick question, what part of London are you from? I spent some time at school out in Ealing a few years back.

 

[Griffster]

Nice to meet some friendly people!

Thanks everyone for the feedback......oh, and for not laughing!

Prices over here for used explorers is pretty good, around £7-11k, because they deprieciate very fast.
The main reason is that they are thirsty (for the UK anyway!). I like the idea because they seem a little
more "grown-up" than most of the regular UK offerings. But for that reason, they are described in the press as "Too big, too brash, too thirsty". Oh, us Brits are sooo reserved!

I have actually seen an explorer for sale with an LPG converstion, which would solve all my fuel problems!!
We'll see if it's still around in a few weeks, when I'm ready to buy.

DasFrem,
I'm based in Iver Heath (Bucks), which is between Slough and Uxbridge. So Acton isn't far away.

Still can't find a UK Explorer owners club.

Cheers

Griff

 

[unabonked]

i'd go with 3.27 gears, youd eek out more milage then the 3.73 or 4.1 ratios. with 4.1 i get barly 15 miles a gallon. you'll lose a bit of power, but you'll still be driving better then most other cars.

 

[Mark Drysdale]

Fellow UK Explorer Owner

Hi

I also own a explorer in the UK, usual MPG in town 12 - 15 / Open Road 18 - 25, All Uk Explorers have 3.73 gears, and 4.0 SOHC so we don't have much choice, you can see my Explorer on my Website www.drysdale.freeservers.com.

The only mod I have done to date is the Tt Lift and the Air Box Mod / K& N filter, the latter mod did improve the MPG 5 - 10%.

As to a UK Club, nothing available apart from the usual 4x4 Clubs, with the Explorer becoming more popular, some 7000 sold in the Uk, a club could be formed or affiliated to another club.

 

[aldive]

I average around 27 MPG on the highway ( with 32 the best I have gotten ).

You can make useful mods to help with economy such as:
KKM intake
custom cat back exhaust
synthetic fluids all around
correct tire pressure
front air dam
removal of roof rack

and most important, driving style.

Good luck

 

[Ross-N-Chicago]

Al, I've seen your posts all over creation but must admit:

YOU DA MAN!!!

That mileage is friggin' unbelievable. I think the best I ever got was 24 with an empty truck on two lane highway going around 50mph. And she has always been cared for.

 

[Griffster]

Hey, Thanks everyone!

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and ideas. Personally, I am sold on the idea of getting one.
And it sounds like some of you have managed to eek out some pretty respectable mpg figures!

The Explorer I saw with the LPG conversion was sold straight away, which is no surprise, but I'll keep looking around, and take a few for a spin when I am ready to buy. (I still have to sell my current car yet!). Don't ask what it is - but it couldn't be more different from the Explorer!

Mark, I guess that virtually all of the UK Explorers advertised in Autotrader etc have probably never even seen a dirt track right? So I guess most of them would be in pretty good condition?

I am looking at something around '98-'99 (R, S, or T reg),
for around £8k ish. Leather if I can get it (sorry to the die-hards for that one!!). Sound reasonable?

Any major possible problems I should be looking out for??

Thanks

Sean

 

[JDraper]

There are two things you want to be careful of on the X. First is the 4.0 SOHC motor. The motors had a problem with the cam tensioners going bad, and were recalled by Ford under the 00M12 and/or 01M01 programs. I'm not sure what motors to into the UK version of the Explorer. The second is the transmissions are probably the weakest link in the vehicle. Make sure the tranny has been properly serviced and has no 'quirks' when you test drive it. Quite a few people here have had trannys die on them.

Overall, they are good vehicles. I'm on my second, and would buy another.

 

[mikef]

Griffster

I'm a Brit living near San Francisco. Over here, my wife gets around 16 miles to a US gallon in her 99 4.0 sohc Explorer, that would be 20 miles to a UK imperial gallon. Mainly city and suburban driving. Improves a bit when we go cross-country on the freeway with the cruise set to 65.

I understand that all the Explorers sold in UK have leather. However, Ford's leather is not the best (understatement), and you might want to have decent leather retro-fitted if that's important to you.

Look for a dealer service history, check underneath for signs of damage, chances are it never went further offroad than Safeway's car park...

If you buy a decent example, and can pay for the gas, you shouldn't regret it - unless you're the one taking the hit over from-new depreciation

Mike

 

[unabonked]

hey griffster, this was bought up in another fourum... Have you seen any euro Explorers with a gill gaurd that looks like this? Dead Link Removed Swissexplorer brought it up yesterday. We never seen it in the states, so we were trying to figure out if its an option for the euro x.

 

[Griffster]

Whoa! That's a guard!

Hiya,

No, I haven't seen any here with the Grill Guard like that one fitted. In fact, I haven't seen any X's with grill guards of any type at all!
We went through a bad patch here a few years ago, where grill guards, nudge bars, bull bars, whatever you want to call 'em, were getting the blame for fatalities, and serious injuries to pedestrians. Because of this, I think they may have fallen out of favour a little here.

Thanks for the info about what to look out for when buying an Explorer, I'll keep my eyes peeled when viewing.

BTW, transmissions were mentioned, what about high milage? If the engine is anything like most other "V"s I have experience of, then the 4.0ltr should be fine.

Any thoughts?

Thanks again all.