I have two friends with GC's... a '95 and a '98. The '95 has given my friend 160,000 fairly trouble free miles - he has only just begun off roading. The '98, like Mike 92 XLT stated has the aluminum diffs which just exploded on him at 100,000 miles, no off roading. He has a host of other problems too, including transfer case. So of course there are good and bad stories. Both vehicles have great V8's though and ride pretty nice.
I personally like the Explorer V8. I would definitely buy one if my Explorer blew up. Especially since you won't be modding it, I love their ride, their interior, great engine and they are the most reliable Explorer too.
At 100,000 miles I wouldn't worry too much about resale, I would guess you will have this car for a few years at which time both cars will have substantial mileage to make a very small difference in resale.