1st road trip

[GSX-WE4]

We just returned from a 1,500 mile road trip with our 8 and 11 year old grandsons and we could not be more pleased with our Explorer Sport that now has 4,000 miles on it. Both my wife and I agree this is a fantastic vehicle! It is super quiet on the highway and a great cruiser. We loved all the technology in the car, especially the Nav and adaptive cruise control. We have purchased 18 new vehicles in our lifetime (we still have a couple bad ass ones in the garage) and this is the best built vehicle - by far - of any one we've ever bought!

 

[Sinister-CO]

Nice! We just picked up a new 15 X Sport a couple of weeks ago and love it too! They are amazing machines, no doubt! I've got a little toy in my garage as well. An 87 GN. It runs high 11's up here at altitude. I haven't tuned it at all but it was built by Conley in TX and should easily get me to mid 11's up here when I finally get around to tuning it. Those are some fun cars!

 

[GSX-WE4]

Nice! We just picked up a new 15 X Sport a couple of weeks ago and love it too! They are amazing machines, no doubt! I've got a little toy in my garage as well. An 87 GN. It runs high 11's up here at altitude. I haven't tuned it at all but it was built by Conley in TX and should easily get me to mid 11's up here when I finally get around to tuning it. Those are some fun cars!

Cool. Your GN must be a great car because Lawrence Conley is a turbo Buick guru and his "Tweaked" race car was always a standout at Buick events. When I see some concerned posts about turbos it makes me laugh sometimes because I've built our little Buick turbo V6 to have 600 HP at the rear wheels and it is a true 100% street car with ice cold air and all the power accessories and it's running strong after 27 years and about 700 1/4 mile runs With 27+ more years of technology advancements since then, these little Ecoboost engines are awesome. The Sport reminds me of the old GMC Typhoons form back in the 90's. An SUV that can go and be tweaked to fly.

 

[Sinister-CO]

Yeah the GN's are strong cars, no doubt about it. I went the route of over building so I could run what I wanted without fear of things coming apart. I've just been too lazy to tune it up to run the times I want. I never did put it on a dyno so I have no idea what it's putting out. I usually just say it's 245 hp. ;-) That's a great parallel to draw with the Typhoon. Those Syclones/Typhoons ran well too. Plus they were all wheel drive so they were as strong on the street as on the strip. I always wanted a Syclone. Thought it would be a fun little toy to run to the hardware store in. lol! Totally agree on these ecoboost guys though. I've seen other places on the web where they're getting 400-600 hp out of them with zero problems. Seems like the weak point is the transmission, but we already knew that. It's fun to see them all doing the same stuff that we've been doing for years.

 

[peterk9]

GSX-WE4, good to see a very positive post about the Explorer. I believe that the majority feel as you do about their vehicles as well. My 2011 Ltd was a great ride and I'm looking forward to possibly getting a 2016 next.

Peter

 

[tmg19103]

GSX-WE4, good to see a very positive post about the Explorer. I believe that the majority feel as you do about their vehicles as well. My 2011 Ltd was a great ride and I'm looking forward to possibly getting a 2016 next.

Peter

Still don't understand why you traded a great 2011 in for something else instead of just waiting for 2016, Peter, but to each their own...

The most common complaints about the 5th gen. have been some fit and finish issues and MFT before version 3.6.2. I personally find MFT 3.6.2 to be solid.

On the positive side, the Ex has a cool and pretty upscale interior, I think an awesome exterior design that looks both aggressive and SUV-like like while still being modern and stream-lined without a Melba toast crossover look.

The Ex drives really nicely and the engine/powertrain are solid. None of the really big recall issues we are seeing with some other American makes that involve downright dangerous issues.

 

[peterk9]

Lease would have been up March 2015. The only way to extend it would have been to order a 2016 at that time meaning 5 to 6 months without any warranty until the new vehicle arrives. Dealer offered a deal that was hard to turn down on a showroom MKT so I took it for 3 years. Gave me a chance to try a new brand and with the lease expiring in April 2017, I'm hoping there may be some deals on a 2016 because it will be toward the end of its model year. Also gives me a chance to see what the Ecoboost engine is like.

Peter

 

[tmg19103]

Lease would have been up March 2015. The only way to extend it would have been to order a 2016 at that time meaning 5 to 6 months without any warranty until the new vehicle arrives. Dealer offered a deal that was hard to turn down on a showroom MKT so I took it for 3 years. Gave me a chance to try a new brand and with the lease expiring in April 2017, I'm hoping there may be some deals on a 2016 because it will be toward the end of its model year. Also gives me a chance to see what the Ecoboost engine is like.

Peter

Fair enough, but I think you would have been fine for 5 or 6 months without a warranty with such low miles, but it is also fun to try different vehicles out.