'02 Explorers v. '02 Mountaineers...

[Andrewgh88]

My Dad and I went to look at '02 Explorers for him today. The salesman was an idiot, as expected, and couldn't answer any availibility questions. He didn't even know that they had a 4x4 on the lot. (they did!) Anyways...

1)Are the side curtain airbags avail yet?
2) When will the V8 be released?

I've been pricing these things out quite a bit on the Internet and I found that the '02 Mountaineer is about $1500 cheaper than the Explorer Eddie Bauer when identically equipped. What gives? AWD can't be that much cheaper than 4x4 to build! I'm pricing out EBs with side airbags, sunroof, limited slip (trailer package), sunroof and 3rd row seat. List is $37,015. A Mountaineer AWD with the convenience pack, luxury pack, sunroof, side bags, limited slip comes to $35,600. There's nothing of tangible value bar a low range and some "all-terrain" tires (yeah, right! Firestone ATs and Goodyear Wrangler APs are not all terrains!) that Explorer includes. What am I missing?

Andrew

 

[kilroy]

Well for starters the Mountaneer is Butt Ugly! Also since the Mercury line only has a select few model packages they can keep the costs down because they all use the same base chassis. Of course with the new suspension system they are using I doubt they would be easy to modify to use for heavy offroading, so AWD wouldnt be that bad of a thing to have except for the DRAG and POOR gas milage! (I know that first hand) But then again I didnt buy mine to use offroad, I bought it because it was the only one out there that could pull a heavy trailer and was still a passenger vehicle, the other option would have been a Dodge (NOT!!!!)