StevenC56
Active Member
- Joined
- March 14, 2017
- Messages
- 95
- Reaction score
- 12
- City, State
- Fresno, CA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2017 Platinum
We took possession of our 2017 Explorer Platinum on Friday evening 3-31-2017! It replaced our 2007 Lexus GS350 which has been the best vehicle we have ever owned. We had the Lexus for almost 10 years. Although the Lexus had only 75K miles, it was showing signs of age and was getting a bit loose and quite a few rattles had developed in the last couple years. This is the longest we've ever kept a vehicle in our 40 years of marriage. Having worked in the automotive industry as a service tech for 22 years and now 17 as Tech/Service manager at a Motorsports dealership, I know how age can be even more of a factor than mileage when things start to deteriorate and fail. We decided it was time to part with "Frosty" before any issues popped up, and while the trade/sale value was still decent.
After a couple months of discussion and looking at all cars and SUV's, we decided an SUV was what we wanted this go around. We did have a 1999 Chevy Tahoe for right at 3 years from 1999 to 2001, but other than that my wife has driven only cars as her primary vehicle. We looked at pretty much every SUV within our price comfort zone. (and a few outside if our price range as well)
We had originally thought we wanted a smaller SUV that would be easier to drive. Lexus NX my wife thought. Then we realized just how small they were, and took them off the list. Our vehicles need to make us feel good, and have to be pleasing to our eyes. They are more than just transportation to us. We drove a couple Edges and a Lincoln MKX. The Edge Sport looked nice and had the features we wanted, but the ride was a bit harsh. The MKX was more refined, but out of our price range when equipped comparable to the Edge. Didn't really care for the grille on the Lincolns either. Looked at the Toyota Highlander, BMW's, Lexus RX, Infiniti's, GMC Acadia, Caddy XT5, Kia's, Hyundai's, Hondas, Acura MDX, Mercedes-Pretty much everything. Nothing was really getting us excited visually.
All the European brands end up out of our price range when you add all the tech packages, and although the fit and finish sets the bar on the luxury brands, we know all too well how they seem to always be in the shop for glitches and electrical woes having owned a 2003 BMW 530i for close to 4 years.
We haven't owned a Ford product since we first were married. My Grandfather was a Ford lover back in the day. That was the preferred family brand and my choice back in my hot rodding days. Had a 1970 Torino GT that I spent way to much time and money on, but it did help me develop my mechanical skills. Then at the age of 20 I got a job as a technician at our local Chevrolet dealership, and it was all Chevy's for the next 22 years. First vehicle purchase after leaving the Chevrolet dealership was a 2001 Olds Aurora between the Tahoe and the BMW 530i. I still drive a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado for my primary vehicle. Had a 1990 Z71 and a 2006 Silverado prior to my current 2016 truck.
We seemed to be drawn to the look of the Fords. Made contact at our 2 local dealers. 1 was quite responsive, the other one not so much. 2 other Ford dealerships within 25 miles just didn't seem to want to commit on price until we came in. At 60 we're not going to play the Dealership BS game. We went to responsive local dealership to check out a couple Edge Sports they had, and then found out there was a recall for the driver's airbag and none of the Edges were available to drive of buy in the color we wanted. (White Platinum) Would have been nice if the Sales Manager had told us that before we came in, and we felt like he held that info back to make sure we come in. That's where we drove an Edge Sport plus the Lincoln MKX, but we were not impressed with this dealership for a lot of reasons. Had contacted a few other dealers out of town, and got the best response and feeling from the Ford Store in Morgan Hill. They notified us about the recall and said it could be a while before that was resolved. When we mentioned the Edge Sport's somewhat harsh ride, they suggested the Explorer Sport and said they would make us a stellar deal on one. Hadn't really thought about the Explorer. Larger vehicle than we had planned on for sure. We seemed to be drawn to the look of the Explorer the more we looked. After putting all the options we wanted on the Sport, the price jump to the Platinum really wasn't much. The Platinum started to look very attractive. But how would it drive and feel? Too big? Fuel mileage not terrific. The Ford Store told us they would extend the same pricing they offered on a Sport to a Platinum or any other vehicle on their lot for that matter. Made an appointment with our Sales Consultant Logan Summers to drive both an Edge Titanium, and an Explorer Platinum. We took the Lexus to Car Max and got a purchase price of $11K from them. The Ford Store was very interested in our trade, and they asked us to bring it for evaluation.
Arrived Sunday March 12th and Logan had both the vehicles staged and ready. Logan is fantastic young man. (Boy are we getting old) He has knowledge and integrity that unfortunately is not what most sales people his age have. With me, saying that "I don't know the answer but I'll find out" goes way farther in my book than trying to act like you're an expert by making up BS answers to everything. We were quite comfortable dealing with Logan. We never once felt anything but total honesty from Logan, his manager Michael Tran, and our finance manager. All straight shooters. We drove the Edge Titanium first, and although the ride was smoother than the Sport we drove at our local dealer, the vehicle was just lacking something. My wife didn't like the bumps on the hood on all the Edges we drove, they seemed to be somehow distracting to her. They had just sold their Platinum in Platinum white the day before, so we drove a red one. My wife drove first, but I think the size was a bit intimidating and she had me switch to drive it after just a couple miles. I really liked the feel of the Platinum. Solid and somewhat firm, but supple and not harsh at the same time. Just goes to show you how a little more weight on a vehicle allows the designers more room to refine the suspension dynamics. I had my wife take the wheel a second time, and she got more comfortable and enjoyed the Platinum's handling and feel. They had 2 more Platinum White units on the way, but is was going to be close on their arrival to get the current $2K rebate Plus 0% interest for 5 years that was ending 4-3-2017.
They looked at our Lexus and said they would match Car Max's offer. We only had 7 days to take Car Max up on the offer, but The Ford Store was OK with us using the Lexus until the new unit arrived, and would still give us the 11K trade in for it provided the condition remained unchanged. We put a deposit down to hold 1 of the units.
Both unit's finished production and were delivered to the Milpitas holding area on Monday March 17th. They finally arrived at Ford Store Morgan Hill last Wednesday the 26th. One of the units had 6 miles, the other had been driven by Ford and had 101 miles. We chose the unit with 6 miles. We were going to try to collect it that day, but had a family emergency come up. After work Friday the 31st we drove to Morgan Hill and picked up "The Beast". Logan took us through the delivery and the Finance Manager Tony Castro gave us a competitive price on the PremiumCare ESP "0" deductible 8 year 100K miles. No other add ons or services. Got a $2K rebate from Ford and our 11K trade in for down payment. Ford Credit 60 months 0% and the first payment is deferred 90 days. Really pleasant experience and highly recommend The Ford Store Morgan Hill especially Logan Summers.
My wife drove all the way home, starting out a bit slow and cautious. After about 20 miles I noticed she was getting used to the new Explorer and she exclaimed that "it drives like a dream". We tried the adaptive cruise control which is really quite cool. The blind spot warning and auto high beams work excellent as well.
We have quite a bit more exploring to do with all this tech, but my wife seems quite pleased and me too. She's getting quite comfortable driving "Beast" for almost a week now. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions and comments here over the next 8-10 years.
After a couple months of discussion and looking at all cars and SUV's, we decided an SUV was what we wanted this go around. We did have a 1999 Chevy Tahoe for right at 3 years from 1999 to 2001, but other than that my wife has driven only cars as her primary vehicle. We looked at pretty much every SUV within our price comfort zone. (and a few outside if our price range as well)
We had originally thought we wanted a smaller SUV that would be easier to drive. Lexus NX my wife thought. Then we realized just how small they were, and took them off the list. Our vehicles need to make us feel good, and have to be pleasing to our eyes. They are more than just transportation to us. We drove a couple Edges and a Lincoln MKX. The Edge Sport looked nice and had the features we wanted, but the ride was a bit harsh. The MKX was more refined, but out of our price range when equipped comparable to the Edge. Didn't really care for the grille on the Lincolns either. Looked at the Toyota Highlander, BMW's, Lexus RX, Infiniti's, GMC Acadia, Caddy XT5, Kia's, Hyundai's, Hondas, Acura MDX, Mercedes-Pretty much everything. Nothing was really getting us excited visually.
All the European brands end up out of our price range when you add all the tech packages, and although the fit and finish sets the bar on the luxury brands, we know all too well how they seem to always be in the shop for glitches and electrical woes having owned a 2003 BMW 530i for close to 4 years.
We haven't owned a Ford product since we first were married. My Grandfather was a Ford lover back in the day. That was the preferred family brand and my choice back in my hot rodding days. Had a 1970 Torino GT that I spent way to much time and money on, but it did help me develop my mechanical skills. Then at the age of 20 I got a job as a technician at our local Chevrolet dealership, and it was all Chevy's for the next 22 years. First vehicle purchase after leaving the Chevrolet dealership was a 2001 Olds Aurora between the Tahoe and the BMW 530i. I still drive a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado for my primary vehicle. Had a 1990 Z71 and a 2006 Silverado prior to my current 2016 truck.
We seemed to be drawn to the look of the Fords. Made contact at our 2 local dealers. 1 was quite responsive, the other one not so much. 2 other Ford dealerships within 25 miles just didn't seem to want to commit on price until we came in. At 60 we're not going to play the Dealership BS game. We went to responsive local dealership to check out a couple Edge Sports they had, and then found out there was a recall for the driver's airbag and none of the Edges were available to drive of buy in the color we wanted. (White Platinum) Would have been nice if the Sales Manager had told us that before we came in, and we felt like he held that info back to make sure we come in. That's where we drove an Edge Sport plus the Lincoln MKX, but we were not impressed with this dealership for a lot of reasons. Had contacted a few other dealers out of town, and got the best response and feeling from the Ford Store in Morgan Hill. They notified us about the recall and said it could be a while before that was resolved. When we mentioned the Edge Sport's somewhat harsh ride, they suggested the Explorer Sport and said they would make us a stellar deal on one. Hadn't really thought about the Explorer. Larger vehicle than we had planned on for sure. We seemed to be drawn to the look of the Explorer the more we looked. After putting all the options we wanted on the Sport, the price jump to the Platinum really wasn't much. The Platinum started to look very attractive. But how would it drive and feel? Too big? Fuel mileage not terrific. The Ford Store told us they would extend the same pricing they offered on a Sport to a Platinum or any other vehicle on their lot for that matter. Made an appointment with our Sales Consultant Logan Summers to drive both an Edge Titanium, and an Explorer Platinum. We took the Lexus to Car Max and got a purchase price of $11K from them. The Ford Store was very interested in our trade, and they asked us to bring it for evaluation.
Arrived Sunday March 12th and Logan had both the vehicles staged and ready. Logan is fantastic young man. (Boy are we getting old) He has knowledge and integrity that unfortunately is not what most sales people his age have. With me, saying that "I don't know the answer but I'll find out" goes way farther in my book than trying to act like you're an expert by making up BS answers to everything. We were quite comfortable dealing with Logan. We never once felt anything but total honesty from Logan, his manager Michael Tran, and our finance manager. All straight shooters. We drove the Edge Titanium first, and although the ride was smoother than the Sport we drove at our local dealer, the vehicle was just lacking something. My wife didn't like the bumps on the hood on all the Edges we drove, they seemed to be somehow distracting to her. They had just sold their Platinum in Platinum white the day before, so we drove a red one. My wife drove first, but I think the size was a bit intimidating and she had me switch to drive it after just a couple miles. I really liked the feel of the Platinum. Solid and somewhat firm, but supple and not harsh at the same time. Just goes to show you how a little more weight on a vehicle allows the designers more room to refine the suspension dynamics. I had my wife take the wheel a second time, and she got more comfortable and enjoyed the Platinum's handling and feel. They had 2 more Platinum White units on the way, but is was going to be close on their arrival to get the current $2K rebate Plus 0% interest for 5 years that was ending 4-3-2017.
They looked at our Lexus and said they would match Car Max's offer. We only had 7 days to take Car Max up on the offer, but The Ford Store was OK with us using the Lexus until the new unit arrived, and would still give us the 11K trade in for it provided the condition remained unchanged. We put a deposit down to hold 1 of the units.
Both unit's finished production and were delivered to the Milpitas holding area on Monday March 17th. They finally arrived at Ford Store Morgan Hill last Wednesday the 26th. One of the units had 6 miles, the other had been driven by Ford and had 101 miles. We chose the unit with 6 miles. We were going to try to collect it that day, but had a family emergency come up. After work Friday the 31st we drove to Morgan Hill and picked up "The Beast". Logan took us through the delivery and the Finance Manager Tony Castro gave us a competitive price on the PremiumCare ESP "0" deductible 8 year 100K miles. No other add ons or services. Got a $2K rebate from Ford and our 11K trade in for down payment. Ford Credit 60 months 0% and the first payment is deferred 90 days. Really pleasant experience and highly recommend The Ford Store Morgan Hill especially Logan Summers.
My wife drove all the way home, starting out a bit slow and cautious. After about 20 miles I noticed she was getting used to the new Explorer and she exclaimed that "it drives like a dream". We tried the adaptive cruise control which is really quite cool. The blind spot warning and auto high beams work excellent as well.
We have quite a bit more exploring to do with all this tech, but my wife seems quite pleased and me too. She's getting quite comfortable driving "Beast" for almost a week now. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions and comments here over the next 8-10 years.
