The new design has many good features, but my 92 has gotten me home through heavy snow and flooded streets. I'd like to see some video of the 5th gen in deep snow or going up and down snowy hills. So far the videos I've seen only deal with beach sand.
My experiences and the fact that many of our Explorers are very old attests to the fact that the older generations were indeed "built Ford tough". I don't think that a rebadged Taurus X would be as rugged.
I don't offroad or need to carry 7 passengers, but I like to fold down the seats and load in a snow blower or fill 'er up with camping gear. That could be done without making the vehicle so wide, as Ford did starting with the 3rd generation. (I suppose that making it wider was to deal with the rollover issues, but the 5th gen is even wider).
Fuel economy is important. Prices are not going down. That, and the fact that they are really big, would prevent me from trading up to an Expedition or F-150. I just like something that looks a works a little more like a truck, but isn't huge. An updated Ranger would have been ideal to keep in Ford's lineup, but....
http://www.ford.com/trucks/ranger/ :rangerred:
There are some things that could be done to beef up the 5th gen:
Relocate or replace the stock antenna so that I can carry plywood or a canoe on the roof. Some guys have already put on the shark fin antenna.
Get rid of the front air dam. Replace it with something aftermarket that doesn't hang so low, or cut it as some have done.
Remove the third row seats, to save weight and create more cargo space.
Remove the mini spare tire. Put on a hitch-mounted swing down carrier that will hold a full size spare tire.:exp:
One review that I read said that Ford put spacers on the subframe to increase the ground clearance over the original Taurus X design, which had only 5 inches of clearance. If this is true, maybe taller spacers could be fitted without messing up steering or suspension geometry.
Ditch the H/T touring tires and fit A/T or M/S tires.
Convince Advance Adapters to offer a 2-speed transfer case.
Fit performance shocks (I haven't seen any aftermarket shocks for the current generation).
Other ideas....? No? Then I'll have to keep my '92 a little longer!
Bwana Bob