2006 Eddie Bauer - should I have buyer's remorse?

[bryris]

Been on the market for something new for a little over a year. I've never owned a Ford, always tending to favor Japanese vehicles for longevity. I am coming out of a Nissan Sentra that has served me so incredibly well for almost a decade.

I wanted something that could pull my boat better than my 95 Wrangler. After a good amount of shopping, I settled on this 2006 Explorer Eddie Bauer. The price was right and it just felt right through the whole process. It was purchased at Bartow Ford in Bartow, FL. The carfax was clean and they gave me a print out of all the dealer service it has had since new. It was bought new at that dealership 7 years ago and has had regular oil changes per the records. It has 91k on the clock right now. It is showing some sort of radiator repair at the 70k mark.

I've always known Ford was so-so on quality. The truck was only 11,900 and is IMMACULATE. It barely looks sat in. Very few blemishes anywhere. It appeared to be such a cream puff, I decided to go ahead and buy it.

Its day #3 and I love it. Drives like a dream.

But, I went online to read reviews and it seems to be getting HORRIBLE reviews from everyone. Radiator problems, transmission problems mainly.

I am not under any illusions that this is going to be my last vehicle or anything. I am 31 years old now and would like to get a solid 5-7 years out of it. After that, I'm perfectly happy selling it and getting something different. I just don't want to be shelling out money at it over and over again for horrible reliability issues.

I only drive about 10k a year (I have a Wrangler for my weekend fun ride). So, I figure if I drive this for 7-8 years, it'll have about 160-170k miles on it. My experience with owning vehicles is that they easily go that long with regular maintenance and care, but the reviews on this explorer scare me, truth be told.

Am I dreaming to except this thing to take me another 80-90k down the road with solid maintenance??

 

[iowndavidson]

I have a 2006 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer as well. Mine has the 4.6L engine in it with 130k miles on it now. Pretty reliable just need to make sure the spark plugs were replaced if not I would highly recommend doing that soon. My previous car was a 1997 ford explorer with 330k miles on it so as long as you take care of it then you will get a lot out of it.

 

[willied]

I think you'll be okay. Is it the V6 or V8?

 

[bryris]

V6.

 

[Flag Gibby]

The V6's don't have the major issues that the V8's have in the 06-08 years. Your vehicle really shouldn't be a problem, just follow the Ford maintenance schedule like the previous owner.

 

[bryris]

I had all the records pulled from the dealer and it has a new radiator installed at 71k. Only 20k miles on it. Hopefully that one will last a while. No other major repairs done.

I googled the previous owner and he is a 76 year old man. Bought it when he was 69, I guess. I even Google Earthed his address and I could see the truck parked in his driveway. So, that makes me feel good.

I guess if you are going to buy a used car, the best way is to get a decent deal, get one with full dealer logs, that has been maintained by the dealer, and owned by an old man. This thing really is a cream puff. I need to do my best to keep it in great shape and on the road for a while.

 

[bikedad]

Like you I purchased my 06 EB with a V6 used.
The radiator was replaced at 67000 by the previous owner. After doing some reading on the site I decided to replace my 20# radiator cap with a 16# per some previous recommendations.
I'm now at 98,000 and no problems.
I had a class 3 piggy back hitch installed to pull my swapped 86 Mazda RX7/car trailer to hot rod events in other states. I made sure to change all drive train fluids right when I got it.
So far I've not had any problems in the 30,000 miles of owning it and that includes a lot of towing. (disengage the OD when towing 5000lbs)

 

[Explorer_PL]

You should not have any remorse. Any brand you Google up, you will find horror stories. Do you think people with bimmers, and Benzes do not have issues ?

They do, from what I hear Mercedes has a very low quality rating these days.

What I like about Ford (and mine has 155k miles) is that I can get parts everywhere as opposed to the fancy, exotic imports.

 

[t0ked]

The thing to remember is that if you don't have problems with your car, you're less likely to ***** about it on a forum. These forums and the internet in general are filled with people looking for solutions so you'll see a disproportionate amount of people voicing issues.

From what I have gathered, the V6 has more radiator issues and the V8 has trans issues (aside from the sparkplug debacle). Keep vigilant about those problems and the truck should last a long time.

 

[bryris]

Whats the spark plug debacle?

 

[willied]

Whats the spark plug debacle?

The spark plugs that came with certain year V8s were of a design where carbon could build up and thus when removing the spark plugs they could break in two requiring a special tool to get the remaining part out. I got mine changed without a problem, though.

 

[bryris]

Spark plugs are coming up due soon for me. Can I just do them old school myself on the V6? Any "gotchas" on that job?

 

[Explorer_PL]

v6 is old school. No issues there

 

[exploration1997]

I'd like to chime in here.
Before I say anything, I'm not trying to stereotype anyone, I'm just going by what I've seen personally.
The majority of Ford Explorer drivers in my area are women. Again, not stereotyping, but women aren't exactly known to maintain their vehicles well. And the Ford Explorer, like any vehicle, is going to have issues if not properly maintained. The Ford Explorer is just more likely to be neglected.
Japanese cars such as Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are a bit more hardy than American cars. Not saying American cars mare bad (in fact, my mom's '04 Escape is miles better than her old '05 Corolla) but Japanese cars generally take more of a beating.

Every car has issues. And also, SUV's are used to tow things. Many people exceed the tow rating, blindly. That could be causing transmission issues.

Here is another theory. The demographic that buys japanese cars generally drive gingerly i.e. very light footed. Ever get stuck driving behind a Toyota? ugh. But most American cars are driven harder, too.

Sorry I kinda went on a rant, I just had a few theories as to why the Explorer was regarded as unreliable.

 

[Flag Gibby]

I'd like to chime in here.
Before I say anything, I'm not trying to stereotype anyone, I'm just going by what I've seen personally.
The majority of Ford Explorer drivers in my area are women. Again, not stereotyping, but women aren't exactly known to maintain their vehicles well. And the Ford Explorer, like any vehicle, is going to have issues if not properly maintained. The Ford Explorer is just more likely to be neglected.
Japanese cars such as Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are a bit more hardy than American cars. Not saying American cars mare bad (in fact, my mom's '04 Escape is miles better than her old '05 Corolla) but Japanese cars generally take more of a beating.

Every car has issues. And also, SUV's are used to tow things. Many people exceed the tow rating, blindly. That could be causing transmission issues.

Here is another theory. The demographic that buys japanese cars generally drive gingerly i.e. very light footed. Ever get stuck driving behind a Toyota? ugh. But most American cars are driven harder, too.

Sorry I kinda went on a rant, I just had a few theories as to why the Explorer was regarded as unreliable.

I will kindly have to disagree with your statement because I understand a little about the quality control measures that Toyota adheres to. Toyota from early on ran what is called a 6 sigma (very similar to an ISO 9001 program) quality control program and all of its vendors were required to meet that level of quality too, and as a result they have less failures and recalls. Ford on the other hand does have a quality control program, but it is not as stringent as the one that Toyota runs. So, as a result Ford had more component failures and the quality control measures of the Ford vendors in the past was left up to whatever the vendor decided to do.
*I know nothing of how the companies currently operate, but this is how it was done in the past.*

 

[bryris]

I've heard that 40-50% of the market in Japan is held by Ford. I wonder if the Japs think that we make better vehicles.

 

[Flag Gibby]

I've heard that 40-50% of the market in Japan is held by Ford. I wonder if the Japs think that we make better vehicles.

I don't know about that number, but they do have a vehicle law that states that a vehicle has to be inspeced regularly and costs a pretty significant amount to keep a vehicle on the road after the first three years. It is called the Japanese Shaken law so many individuals find it easier and less costly to just get a new vehicle every three years. In other words, Ford may be outselling the other manufacturers because they are able to sell their vehicles for less and the average driver there only drives 30,000 miles or less in three years so they don't see any of the long term quality issues that we may see.

 

[willied]

I've heard that 40-50% of the market in Japan is held by Ford. I wonder if the Japs think that we make better vehicles.

From what I've read the Big 3 sell very few cars in Japan. And Jap is a derogatory word, so I probably wouldn't use that in the future.

As far as reliability, Japanese vehicles have historically been (and still are) more reliable. You really can't argue how a vehicle is used, who it's driven by, etc. as there are other cars that are driven by a majority of women (and while I would support the notion that they aren't as on top of maintenance, they do drive easier usually) and they still have excellent reliability. I hear this excuse used for VWs as to why they aren't as reliable, but in the end it's just an excuse. While I wish American cars were the most reliable, they tend not to be. Ford has had a lot of ups and downs over the years and from model-to-model. Hopefully they can become more stringent in their quality standards over time. My mom's 2011 Explorer had more problems in its first year than her 2000 Expedition did over its ~315,000 miles before we sold it, so that doesn't really bode well for Ford for us, but then again that's just anecdotal evidence. And take it how you like, but Ford is near the bottom in Consumer Report's annual survey of brands mainly because of only fair reliability.

Sorry if this is a bit off topic.

 

[Explorer_PL]

My wife will not drive anything else but Japanese cars. She had a Sequoia with 100k miles of no issue when we sold it. Now it's Subaru Tribeca with zero issues and built quality way ahead of my Ford.

I will not drive anything else but domestic truck/suvs: I had Tahoe, Ram, and now Ford.

The difference in favor of Japanese is how they stand behind the product when the problem appears with a certain make or model. They respond very well. I still wait for Ford to admit their screw-up with spark plugs, radiators, and on and on.

 

[bryris]

Well, we'll see what happens. I only paid 13k for my 06 Exploder. I used to make fun of them myself. My brother used to have a 91 and it was knocking on death's door at 160k. But, the one I bought looks immaculate and obviously well taken care of. Plus, it is a second vehicle that will only be used on the weekends to pull my boat and for pleasure driving. My daily driver is an older Nissan Sentra with 148k and still runs like new.

I am replacing my Jeep Wrangler. I love it, but it just doesnt pull my boat well or do well on the highway.

Hopefully with recreational driving only and sitting in the garage M-F, it'll hold up as long as I want it. I'll stick with Japanese cars for the "have to" driving.