Honest opinions of your Explorers?

[CDW6212R]

They bought a Honda, post #20 last year.

 

[skawtland]

Old and outdated topic I know but...

Well from my experience... we've had our 2004 Explorer XLS 4x4 for about a year give or take. She had a good 70k miles on her, now she is up to 91k miles and we have not had a single problem with her.

She does have the occasional "personality trait" though, such as in very cold weather the ABS light will light up, and doing 30mph with cruise control turned on (lazy buggar!) it will go into 5th gear and subsequently stall, but O/D off fixes that.

And so that's really it. No problems in 1 year and 20k miles, runs great, definitely would have another.

Fantastic vehicle in the snow too, despite being an open diff model.

 

[jake the snake]

Better late than never?

I used to have a '94 sport xlt 4x4. I traded it in for a used '02 xlt 4.0
My '94 2 door was awesome, I loved it. Yeah, it was in rough shape when I got rid of it, window motors and a/c out of commission, awful rattling from front end (bushings, etc.), had just replaced tranny, and burned oil like a son of a gun, but I wish I still had it and never bought the '02. It drives like a minivan, and acts like one, too. Gas mileage is awful, should've had a v8. Not too much on aftermarket, independent rear suspension...please!!! I hit the gas and the truck launches like a snail hooked up to a 30' camper five seconds later. My 4wd is not functioning, and the tranny hits and misses like Rocky Balboa when Clubber Lang was handing him his a$$. The tires are way too small (235/70/16) and make it look really lame too. The seats are not very comfortable, the power control for the driver's seat is hard to reach, the instruments and "luxuries" are very bland, too.
It has been two years, and it hasn't really grown on me too much. I feel like I should have tried to look harder and got an '01 eddie bauer with 3.73 lsd, v8, and all the bells and whistles.

 

[bluestream1]

I recently had a frank conversation with a long time Ford Tech. He told me to stay away from any 02-04 Explorer, as thay are having lots of problems with them. Transmission, and rear end issues are major problems, but there are many others.

With any vehicle some mechanical problems are due to lack of maintainance, and some are due to design flaws.

 

[bluestream1]

The trend today is to get away from true SUV's and to build Cross-over vehicles. They weigh less and get better MPG, and are all most people ever need. The Honda pilot is a cross-over, I call these "Chic Trucks".

I prefer a manly truck which includes: full body on frame construction, two speed transfer case, a solid rear axel, and a manual transmission. These vehicles are getting harder to find, but there are still a few companies building them.

 

[nascar_intimid]

I have the '02 Limited and love it, just bought it with ext. warr. and just got the rear end replaced, I hope the tranny goes before the 4 year 80,000km warranty is up.....just love it!!!!!

 

[Exploderpilot]

so you bought the pilot? BAH. too much stamped aluminum.