New guy here!

[dmitch86]

Hey everyone! My name is Dustin... let me start by saying we do not have an Explorer... just yet. We've started looking and have it narrowed down, and may be being a little picky. We've decided on a 17-19 Sport but the wife says it HAS to be Magnetic Metallic. We actually just went and looked at a 19 this morning, but it just had to many random dings on it, both bumpers, door, fender and even a scratched near the tailgate handle that was deep enough to expose bare metal. So... the hunt is back on.

We're both in our early 30's and this will be our first REAL car, we keep them til the die so want to be sure we get what what we want. I've always had a Honda and she has a Saturn Vue, so this will be our first ford.

Any suggestions or pointers on things we need to be looking for, or aware of that might be Explorer Specific?

TIA and can't wait to be driving our own!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Each section has a lot of information for the generation of Explorer that you might want to get.

 

[94Eddie]

I highly recommend getting an extended warranty to 100k miles. If you are very lucky you won't need it. However if you do need it you will be very thankful that you have it. We have a 2015 Edge and the extended warranty has more than paid for itself over the past 50k miles. A transmission repair (replaced the electronic control unit) alone cost nearly $3,500. Like it is with most newer cars, repair costs for 5th gen Explorers, Edge etc. are outrageous. The Edge shares much of the drive train with the Explorer.

 

[dmitch86]

I highly recommend getting an extended warranty to 100k miles. If you are very lucky you won't need it. However if you do need it you will be very thankful that you have it. We have a 2015 Edge and the extended warranty has more than paid for itself over the past 50k miles. A transmission repair (replaced the electronic control unit) alone cost nearly $3,500. Like it is with most newer cars, repair costs for 5th gen Explorers, Edge etc. are outrageous. The Edge shares much of the drive train with the Explorer.

Noted, thank you for that. That is one thing we've been looking at, as some dealerships also provide different warranties. So far the ones we've look at are all used, but still well within the ford 6yr /60k mile warranty. Is that 100k mile warranty through ford? And is that something that can be purchased on a used vehicle? Sorry for the noob questions, we haven't bough a new car in probably 10years, and both our previous ones were from private parties.

 

[94Eddie]

Noted, thank you for that. That is one thing we've been looking at, as some dealerships also provide different warranties. So far the ones we've look at are all used, but still well within the ford 6yr /60k mile warranty. Is that 100k mile warranty through ford? And is that something that can be purchased on a used vehicle? Sorry for the noob questions, we haven't bough a new car in probably 10years, and both our previous ones were from private parties.

Most warranties purchased through a new car dealership are transferable between Ford dealers and independent repair shops. We bought the Edge from a Nissan dealership and so far two Ford dealers (different owners) have honored it. The Edge had 25k miles on it when bought. I would guess that we have had almost $4k-$5k in warranty work done on a warranty that cost around $1,700. A water pump replacement on the 3.5L engines in many Ford vehicles costs around $2k to replace if done at a Ford dealer. A bad water pump (not all that uncommon) can also take out the engine and that is a $6k-$8k repair tab. Transmission repairs are hella expensive too. The odds are that by 100k miles you will at least save what you spent on the warranty. Our $3.5k transmission repair came at 80k miles and was well out of the manufacturer's warranty.

 

[Mike65]

Welcome Dustin. I worked for 25 years in the automotive business mostly in new car dealerships in the service dept. If you are going to purchase an extended warranty make sure it is a Ford warranty & not an aftermarket warranty the dealer is selling.