First Post Second Explorer

[daChurchPcGuy]

This Tuesday or Wednesday I pick up my 2005 Explorer Sport Trac XLT. I had an older Explorer that I used as a plow truck so I'm familiar with the platform.

I was in the market for something to replace my old '94 S10 Blazer plow truck. I need four doors, a pickup bed, and the ability to tow a trailer a few hundred miles reliably. The candidates were S10/Sonoma, Colorado/Canyon since I knew they could handle my 6'6" plow. After shopping for a while I decided to keep the Blazer and get a crew cab for family hauling and small projects. At that point I added the Explorer to the mix.

Boy what a difference! The Sport Trac is more comfortable and has a higher build feel feel in my opinion. My biggest concern was finding a nice truck for under $10K. I'd gone through a bunch of crap trucks over the years and wanted to move into something I wouldn't be embarrassed to drive around in.

After the first Sport Trac drive I concentrated on finding one and dropped the other trucks. I also decided to not look at anything older than a 2004.

The first truck was a spotless 2004 XLS but the dealer wouldn't budge from their $9500 price, too high for an XLS. The second was a well worn 2004 XLS, an obvious work truck, for $7500. We put it up an the lift and found a two foot hole through the driver's side rocker panel and a bunch of other issues.

The winner is a 2005 XLT as clean as the first, with lower miles for $8500. The last owner was a little old lady, really. After I agreed to buy it I found out it was traded in at the Nissan dealership where my wife works. They sent it to the auction where the current sellers bought it.

Anyway, I pick it up next week, once they replace lower ball joints and an idler arm. Pretty common for an Explorer with 123K miles.

Was that enough information?:scratch:

 

[OffTrac]

Nice buy. Any pictures?

If I'm reading right, you won't be attaching the plow to your ST?

 

[daChurchPcGuy]

Weird, the board asked me to post an intro in the New Members Forum and then it moved here!

No plow will go on this truck, I've been warned against it. I have an old Western cable controlled 6'6" steel plow. It's been mounted on three S10 variants so far. The series 1 S10s can handle these plows without a problem. I'll just buy another cheap S10 when this one dies.

The dealer took down the pics since it's sold. I have one but can't see how to upload it here!

 

[OffTrac]

How to post photos

 

[daChurchPcGuy]

Pics!

Thanks, I did know how to use the link to photos, I just couldn't find a way to upload them here. As you can see they washed the outside, they didn't clean the inside but it still looks good.

The listing for my car is still up on Cars.com My truck

 

[OffTrac]

Nice. That's my second favorite color on these trucks.

 

[daChurchPcGuy]

Nice. That's my second favorite color on these trucks.

It does look nice in brown, it's my first brown vehicle in 40 years of driving! Loads of tan and beige, never brown.

 

[daChurchPcGuy]

It's here!



Well Tuesday or Wednesday turned into Thursday and then Friday ... I finally got my truck last night!

They fixed all the issues my mechanic found and the truck failed Mass safety inspection Thursday due to a loose front bearing. They replaced the hub and it passed.

Thanks to Steve McKellop's instructions I reset the personal lock code. I also disabled the silly autolock function. That's good if you have toddlers, annoying to me.

I think I'll drive it to New Hampshire tomorrow to see what kind of economy I get on the highway. It's about a 300 mile round trip from Western MA.

 

[gtyates]

I have one just like yours. I have had mine over 3 years and overall really like it. I have 92 k on mine. Love this color. It is officially called Charcoal Beige Metallic btw. Congrats on the new to you Trac.

 

[429CJ-3X2]

gtyates, thanks for posting the name of that color! Every time I see one that color on the road, which isn't often, I can't tell if it's brown or gray. With a name like charcoal beige, it sounds like Ford couldn't tell either!! At least now I know I'm not color blind.

Nice truck!

 

[daChurchPcGuy]

I just noticed how wrinkled the driver's seat side is. You can tell that the last owner was, um, petite. She probably just slid off of it. That was one of the reasons she traded it in.

Hopefully I'll be replacing the seats with a set of tan leather from a Mountaineer shortly, if they're as good as the picture the seller sent me. My seats aren't bad, I just WANT leather. I've never had leather in a car, my wife has, twice! Besides, the set will cost me less than a good quality fitted vinyl seat cover set for just the fronts, under $200.

 

[daChurchPcGuy]

I have one just like yours. I have had mine over 3 years and overall really like it. I have 92 k on mine. Love this color. It is officially called Charcoal Beige Metallic btw. Congrats on the new to you Trac.

Are you sure about the color name? I looked on three different sites and I didn't see that color on the 2005s. The closest I saw was something called Dark Stone Metallic.

Here's an F150 in Dark Stone Metalic:

 

[429CJ-3X2]

When I bought my '94 Explorer, it was obvious the previous owner was most definitely NOT petite! The fabric was good, but the cushion didn't offer much cushioning.

I've got a set of power leather seats from an Explorer that will be going in my '02 Sport Trac before long, but not because I want leather or power. They just seemed really comfy when I sat in them to take the console out in the salvage yard. My stock seats get uncomfortable after about an hour.

 

[gtyates]

I am positive on the paint name. I got a letter from Ford that is effectively the build sheet. However, go to the following site and out in your vin# and you can see what your truck had on it from the factory:http://www.etis.ford.com/vehicleSelection.do#

 

[daChurchPcGuy]

From an F150 forum: " How rare is Dark Stone Metallic? Otherwise known as Charcoal Beige or T7(paint code). "

So, we're both right, it just depends on who's calling it what. I scoured all sorts of web pages and both names appear for the same trucks, F150s, Explorers ...

That said, all the paint matching suppliers call it Charcoal Beige or Charcoal Beige Metallic. So, that's what I'll call it as well.

I Stan Corrected

 

[429CJ-3X2]

Could be like 1970 when Mustangs were "Calypso Coral", but Mercury Cyclones that same color were "Competition Orange". Same color, but different names depending on the model.

 

[gtyates]

When I bought mine the dealer called it brown in their ad. Looking at the pics they had posted it looked more charcoal to me. But what I love about the color is it depends on the lighting as to what it looks like. Sometimes it looks grey, sometimes a green look, sometimes even a bronze look. But bottom line is I love the color and I do not see many of them on the road, though here in the south the Sport Trac seemed to have been a decent seller. Enjoy your new Trac churchpcguy! I just got home from church myself.

 

[daChurchPcGuy]

My registration says "Brown", which is what it looks like most of the time.

I work for my church so I'm always "just getting home" from there. Nobody ever got rich working for a church, well except ministers.

I just got home from a 315 mile round trip to NH where I picked up an OEM tonneau cover. Nice ride, 22 MPG or really close to it.

My Torque app says 23.5MPG
The odometer/pump calculation says 21.7
Google maps/pump calculation says 22.07 MPG.

I think the google maps calculation is the closest since my tires are slightly oversize 265/70R16 instead of the 255/70R16 stock tire size. 22MPG is fine with me, I'll take that any day.

 

[OffTrac]

That's the sign of a well kept truck. It's at the upper limits of mpg for these.