Narrowed the new truck decision down...

[dmaster79]

Went to a dealership and found a 2001 Explorer 4door xls 4x4 today, and seriously considering buying next week. It only has the 4L v6 but it is the SOHC which I could tell was more peppy then my old '93. I was gonna sell my truck outright but they offered $1000 bucks trade on my '93 which I was only gonna sell for maybe 1500 if that. My biggest question on this '01 is if it is capable of pulling roughly 3500lbs, I've read alot on here and there is such mixed opinions its hard for me to decide. It does have at least 1 tranny cooler, maybe even 2 I saw another radiator type looking thing under the truck around the tranny, but wasn't sure. Either way the truck is very very clean, nothing under the doors at all. Selling price is gonna be $12,390 then I get $1000 off for my trade. The truck has 51k miles, looks to be very well maintained as mentioned before. Any comments on this would be helpful..thanks!!!

 

[metstalker]

if your gonna pull that much you might want a V8 since from what i have herd the trannys for the 4.0s arnt that reliable.

 

[spindlecone]

All the newer Exs have tranny issues, is not specific to the 4.0s.
3500 lbs is not that much for either engine and drivetrain, from my trailer towing experiance, unless it's a boat with a fixed constant wgt.
3500 can turn into alot more real quick.
As a serious tow vehical, I would not be lookin at any EX,JMHO

 

[Creager]

man get a superduty

and put an SCT chip on there

BOOM 100rwhp

 

[ExplorerDMB]

By the way, the other cooler you saw was the power steering cooler. Should be kind of long.

-Drew

 

[dmaster79]

I guess I would consider a V8 if there were more of them out there, but in my area its really tough to find any at all with V8's, at least in my price range. I did forget to mention that at the most I will be towing that much weight about 2x a year and its more like 3k lbs, and maybe about 5 times a year I would be towing 2k lbs, so its not like its alot, I figure when some late model expeditions get down in price I can always trade this one in.

 

[Mbrooks420]

The v8's are good on trannies until they turned into the 3rd gens and started using the same trans on the 4.0, and 4.6. If I was going to tow 3,500 a lot I'd only look into a V8. If you want to buy that, I'd try and get that price knocked down a hair, it's a little high for this time of year, around here.

 

[TJM623]

I'm in Ohio 2...and when i was looking for my X i found a 2002 XLS with 34k on it...for 11k it was a private owner selling it and he was the only owner very nice but ended up not getting it because I'm only 16 and I felt bad having a nicer vehicle then my parents so I got the 98 XLT for 7k. have you checked out www.autotrader.com ? I found mine on there. The classifieds? thats where this XLS was listed. you could probably find exactly what you were looking for on autotrader, just look for a little. Go to dealerships was our last option and they all seemed to want more for stuff that quite frankly was falling apart (this one guy wanted almost 6k for a 94 with 100k and rusting...Give me a break.) Then again they are stealerships



ending my rant now.... hope some of that helped

 

[dmaster79]

I've looked through lots of auto trader's....I originally was looking at something with a few more miles, but its really tough to get financing for certain miles sometimes and still keep your payments low. The finance company I finally went with gave me a good deal, but the vehicle has to be a dealership, 60k miles or less and 5yrs or newer.....just how it goes sometimes, I figure in a few years I can always trade it in for a different model if I come across one. Thanks for the advice, I've looked at many options...

 

[jim blair]

I have drove thru most of Ohio and it seems kinda flat except for a few hills in eastern part and they are pretty small hills. I was thinking that 2001 was rated to tow around 4500 lbs or so. Towing 3500 on fairly level ground wouldn't be a problem.

I have a 94 with the ohv and have never towed anything real heavy with it. My nephew has a 98 with OHC 4.0 and he tows a camper you can stand up in that has to be at least 3500 or 4000 lbs. He tows it from here in south central ky to the smoky mountains in tenn several times a year. It is usually stuffed full of stuff plus his wife and two kids. He has owned the 98 for about 5 years now it has about 120,000 miles on it and is still towing the camper. He has never had any major problems with it.

 

[IAmTodd]

The price seems rather high. I paid $13,500 for my V8 with 39k. And its an almost fully loaded XLT. If you're planning on towing, and you know it will be quite a bit, I would opt for the V8.

 

[00XLS]

I agree on the price thing, when I bought my 00 XLS a year ago with 36K on it, I paid roughly $13K, I'd shop around.

 

[My98xplorer]

As far as towing goes, i have the 4.0 OHV and ive pulled about 7,000lbs on the bumper and did just fine. I had a 3,000lb car trailer and a Chrysler Town and Country minivan. Most people say the SOHC is better, but my OHV does just fine.

 

[dmaster79]

I agree that the old OHV design has been proven, even my old '93 pulled my trailer with little effort on flat lands. On some extreme hills I think the most I lost was 10mph, but after that it would hold pretty steady, so I'm still set on the SOHC being a bit stronger which should be adequate for me. I do need some information, can someone tell me all the differences between the XLS and the XLS model, is it really worth trying to find an XLT. I know some of the minor ones, like the console's, but that really don't bother me a whole lot. I guess the biggest thing that keeps steering me to this truck is how clean it is, it is like showroom clean, from engine to interior, I was really amazed and the dealership likes to keep them clean. No longer had a left them an hour and stopped back with my gf to look at it, they had already had it in to be washed and waxed again and it was shiny when I drove it the first time!!

 

[MARKVII]

In addition to my '92 Eddie Bauer we also have a '04 Escape 4x4 and we tow our 16.5 foot Crestliner sportfish which weighs in at about 3500 lbs rigged with NO problems at all with either one.

 

[Sport4x4]

the main difference between XLS and XLT is appearance and luxury items, nothing mechanical really. There's also XLS Sports that look really nice that i have seen. but as long as it looks good and has what you want, go for it. Sometimes dealerships cost more but i find that they generally stock better cars. i bought my 99 with 75k and just about every option for the Sport (cd changer and limited slip are whats missing) for $10,200, it was a littel high but came with a 1yr warranty so i think it was worth it.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I forgot to add that I'd never even consider buying an Explorer without a warranty. The one I got on this one is a 3 year, unlimited mileage, for under 700. If they don't want to come down on price, make them throw in a warranty.

 

[IAmTodd]

I forgot to add that I'd never even consider buying an Explorer without a warranty. The one I got on this one is a 3 year, unlimited mileage, for under 700. If they don't want to come down on price, make them throw in a warranty.

Agreed. Mine's almost paid for itself already.

 

[00XLS]

Glad I got the 3/36K on mine, but (knock on wood) haven't needed it yet.

 

[Xzibit A]

i could sell you a 96 v8 2wd for alot less than that, but that is a little high for an 01, i could see 10500 with a warrantey, but that truck is 4 years old and i wouldn't pay much over 10 for it unless it was really clean, i say this becaues i just bought my 04 ranger fully loaded for 18k and that is brand new, so you could probibly get an 04 for around that maybe.