My New Eddie Bauer

[Four Wheel Drive]

Thank you for letting me make my first post here, rather than in the Welcome Forum. I wanted to run on a bit.
The '06 Ford Explorer wasn't my first choice, necessarily. I liked it fine, but I might have settled on a different ride if it was just for me. But it's really for my wife, primarily. She has always wanted an 'Eddie Bauer,' and now she has one.
My V8 was $17,500 w/42K miles, about a month ago. It looks and drives like new. We had some trouble initially with the heater door and tire pressure sensor, but the GMC dealer we brought it from fixed it free.
I love the ride and comfort and practicality of this car and maybe I could have gotten a better deal on the price, I don't know. It's a keeper for sure.

But I'm kept awake at night by the gas mileage. It seems to run between 15.5/17 in overall use, though there was one streatch initially where I got 20.5. I'm guessing that someone forgot to give me a receipt for gas she bought, but I'm not sure.

If you can help me, though I'm sure the subject has been done to death, make me feel more comfortable with the gas mileage, because the payments on the car are $325/mo, but the gas is running about $475! How do you ladies and gentlemen feel about gas mileage?

It's nice to be here. Thanks for your input.

 

[Ronin8002]

Driving style seems to make the most difference with gas mileage more than anything else, and it costs nothing to implement. I try to avoid short trips in my truck also...that helps.

Another no-cost thing you can do is make sure the tires are aired up to 35 PSI or higher (if they can take it).

After that you can do a lot of other things that help, but all cost money, like synthetic fluids, replace the clutch fan with an electric one, aftermarket exhaust, etc...which really don't pay for themselves in a reasonable amount of time but they do help a bit with fuel economy.

The best I ever saw when I had those mods and stock tires was about 25mpg on the highway and 17-18 around town.

 

[Explorer_PL]

My average over the past 70,000 miles commuting to work 75 miles a day in mixed driving yield between 14.5 in the winter to 15.8 in the summer. On long family trips I may see 17-18 mpg. Mine is V8, 4 wd with 112K miles.

 

[rusty813]

I would start to pay attention to your radiator for leaks, i had to replace mines at 32,000 miles and i dont got the esp plan, but the radiator is a defective part that ford knows about and refuses to recall

 

[Four Wheel Drive]

The other thing I notice is that the acceleration from a standing stop is not real smooth. It's like the transmission is either hunting or the fuel injection is surging, or something. At moderate acceleration, it just isn't that smooth.

 

[EX-SV]

Congrats on your Eddie Bauer, sounds like a good deal.

My 07 V8 consistently gets about 14-15mpg in my local driving and 19-21 on the freeway. Gas mileage is slightly better than I expected given the 5000 pound curb weight and good power.

Not sure about the lack of smoothness off the line, haven't experienced that.