How can you tell from a pic if an '05 Explorer has a 3rd row?

[2006ExplorerXLT]

I was thinking of buying this 05 Explorer XLT for my wife, but wasn't sure if it had a 3rd row:


I talked to a salesman at the dealership who said he didn't think it had a 3rd row, but wasn't sure even when he went to check.

Can you tell if there's a 3rd row based on the pic that shows the cargo area? If there isn't a 3rd row, then what are the 2 floor panels for?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Exproblems]

I was thinking of buying this 05 Explorer XLT for my wife, but wasn't sure if it had a 3rd row:

I talked to a salesman at the dealership who said he didn't think it had a 3rd row, but wasn't sure even when he went to check.

Can you tell if there's a 3rd row based on the pic that shows the cargo area? If there isn't a 3rd row, then what are the 2 floor panels for?

Thanks in advance!

I looked at your pics, and the 2 rear floor panels should be as follows, the forward folded down front panel should be the 3rd row seat and the rear most panel, should be a small storage compartment recessed in the floor. On the back of the front, folded down panel, pull up and rearward on the black lifting ring in the center of the panel and it should fold out the 3rd row seat into the upright position. If you look at the pic of the 2 folded down panels, you can see a cup or ashtray built into the rear, driver side wheel hump which should go with the 3rd row seat. The driver side, 2nd row seat folds down as well giving access to the 3rd row seat. I must admit from your pics, the rear panel appears much larger than mine and I have a 2005 Ex XLT model with a 3rd row seat. My rear storage compartment built into the floor is much narrower than what yours appears to be. BTW, if the auto salesman trying to sell you the car doesn't know if the vehicle he is selling has a 3rd row seat, run from him/her, they don't know what they are doing. The vehicle looks clean, rims appear pitted but expected for it's age and the tire tread depth is hard to judge from the pic. Before you buy it, check it out good "mechanically" and take it for a good test drive. Find anything wrong with it you don't like, tell them to repair it before you pay for it. Good luck!

Correction: Not a 3rd row seat vehicle. Those rear panels are too big compared to mine and Everdream is right, they wouldn't fold down perfectly flat (or hide) with a 3rd row seat. The seat panel would sit upwards a few inches and there would be a seam line between the 2 panels, with the rear most panel being much smaller for underneath storage. BTW, I updated this hours ago, but something didn't take with the edit.

 

[Everdream]

That's def. a 2002-2005 truck, but I don't think It has third row seating, if it did, there would be a latch system on the back seats to pull the seat forward like a 2 door coupe car, and I don't see it there. Also the seat would fold up out of the rear and only leave you with about a foot of cargo room, and that panel has no headrests (the seats don't "hide" when you fold them down." Here's a few pics of my third row, sorry they are dark, if you would like some day light pics maybe I can get them tomorrow.Unless they cahnged this in the 05' model (mines an 02')

(note: the blue tarp is sitting on the seats back there.)

 

[FordFool2]

Definitely not a 3rd row seat. We have one.

 

[2006ExplorerXLT]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll go check out the 05 Explorer anyway, even if it doesn't have a 3rd row, since it seems to be fairly priced. Mileage is a bit high at 130,000 but I'm confident it'll run long enough to make it worth buying.

According to Edmunds, the 05 is about 4 inches shorter in length than my 06 Ex XLT (which has a 3rd row). So when I saw the size of the 2 panels in the 05, I had serious doubts that there was a 3rd row due to the size of the panel closest to the rear. The rear panel on my 06 is only about 1/3 the size of the 05's rear panel, so I didn't see how it was possible for the 05 to have a 3rd row when the rear panel was taking up so much more floor space compared to my 06. So I think the salesman was correct when he said they were both probably for storage.

So if those are just storage compartments, now I'm wondering how big or useful those compartments can possibly be. Is the rear panel for the spare tire and jack?

 

[IAmTodd]

02-05 and 06-10 have nearly the same internal dimensions. The extra 4 inches could be from the reworked front bumper.