Okay, I am sold and would buy another

[2Fish]

As posted before, I bought my 03 XLS about 3 1/2 months ago and it is my first Ford.

After becoming a member of this forum and seeing all the doomsday threads, I was nervous about buying it. I have now put on more than 12,000 miles and have had no real problems. No exploding tranny, no rear whine, no wierd electrical issues, no blend door troubles, and very happy with the mpg. It is definately sensitve to fuel brands and I'm still grumbling about the seat support, but getting used to it.

We had a little foul weather over the weekend and it appears plenty capable in the snow. All in all it appears to be quite a dependable vehicle that should get me to the 150 k mark before trading. At this point, I'd buy another one at trade time. Just thought a little good news was appropriate . . .

 

[BrooklynBay]

Any vehicle could have its issues. We only see problems from other members.

 

[ZBlackBeast]

And the occasional praise!!! I LOVE MY EX. ha

 

[north/west,ex]

I'm at 350,km on the the clock .
I've done 3 a4ld's, swapped in a 5 ,speed gone to a d44 and changed the 4l and 8.8 once.
The only thing original is the transfer case (manual).
All this and I would still buy again if I ever have to.

 

[E.B. Cornburner]

I too will give the Explorer some praise. I've found one area where it isn't just a "C student"...Winter snow traction. It goes thru the snow like a bullet! Much better than my Durango I had previously. The Durango's sheer bulk made it rip thru the snow pretty good, but it didn't have nearly the takeoff traction that the Explorer does. The AdvanceTrac system on mine takes quite a bit of the "fun factor" out of it though...You can't pitch it out in a corner as it tries to fix you by applying some brake pressure to one front brake to straighten it out. But you can literally floor the throttle from a dead stop and take off like a streak with little to no wheelspin, even in a foot of sloppy wet snow.
I can definitely tell it's lighter than the Durango just by its manners on slippery roads...It has a more "nervous" feeling at speed than the Durango did. The Durango gave you this feeling that nothing was going to stop it once it got rolling. Almost felt disconnected from the surface it was traveling on to a certain degree.

I'd buy another Explorer...Probably would go with a newer SportTrac with a V8 if I were to do it over again. I really like the way the newest SportTrac looks.

 

[Donner]

Dittos

And the occasional praise!!! I LOVE MY EX. ha

x2

3rd Ex, may the blessings be unending!

 

[BrooklynBay]

And the occasional praise!!! I LOVE MY EX. ha

A neighbor of mine down the block is up to his third wife. Oops, wrong kind of X!

 

[Joe Dirt]

A neighbor of mine down the block is up to his third wife. Oops, wrong kind of X!

Ok, that was just plain funny...

I walk out and say goodnight to Snowball every evening.

Ok, I don't really do that, but I still love my X! :

 

[ZBlackBeast]

HA. when mines clean, i always look back before i close the garage door and say "damn, thats a sexy truck!"

 

[E.B. Cornburner]

I'll admit, it's rather bland styling is starting to grow on me. I still personally think the 1st gen Dodge Durango has more overall "sex appeal" to it as far as midsize SUVs go, but the Explorer isn't bad, especially the higher trim levels. The more base models look very blah, for lack of a better term, but the uplevel packages such as the XLT Sport, NBX, Eddie Bauer or Limited really kick it up a notch.

 

[ZBlackBeast]

I agree. And i think the 2nd gens an compete with the 1st gen durango. They have that round edges and what not. personaly, i dont like durangos at all. I think the exterior is decent, but the interior looks very cheap and isnt as comfortable as the explorers.

 

[GregV8]

I have yet to have the first "real" snow with my X. Can't wait.

And I agree the styling of Ford's latests trucks is growing on me too. I'd love a 08 expedition. (but even the new escape looks decent, at least on photos)