reserved50
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- April 21, 2005
- Messages
- 1,267
- Reaction score
- 57
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2013 Sport Exploder
*puts kids gloves back on*
I just looked up trade-in values for an 2010 X6 and it was within a few thousand of what you said you got in trade for your Explorer.
The highest trade-in value for your X6, if you have nearly every option available and mileage similar to the Explorer, is around $20,000/
I've owned BMW in the past, and I love the brand except that Audi > BMW now. It sounds like you got lucky with your X6 and unlucky with your Explorer. So far my 2017 (14 months) seems to be solid, not a single problem. But Ford does have a reputation for middle-of-the-road reliability, so I bought a 10 year extended warranty with the car for piece of mind.
https://www.edmunds.com/ford/explorer/2017/st-401638396/cost-to-own/ (2017 Explorer Sport V6 AWD)
https://www.edmunds.com/bmw/x6/2017/st-401671410/cost-to-own/ (2017 BMW X6 mid trim V6 AWD)
In every category, the Ford is a cheaper car to buy, insure, maintain, fuel, repair, etc. The BMW is nicer and more expensive. But this is the law of averages, some people will be lucky and some people won't. Although for the money today, I would go for the Audi Q7. The X6 is dated at present. And Audi is one of the most reliable car brands (3rd place after Toyota and Lexus). I wanted the Audi Q7 but it was 50% more expensive than the equivalently spec'd Explorer Sport. ($90k Canadian for the Q7 out the door, vs $60k Canadian for the Sport out the door). The Volvo XC90 is a pretty, yet festering pile of failure for the same price as a Q7.
The one nice thing going for BMW is that all your maintenance is included for 3 years, so you'll never have any repair expenses under normal circumstances. But then they charge you for that upfront in the price. But given that you are driving a 2010 X6 out of warranty, you just wait for something to break and see what happens. For BMW, this is genius because it pads the reliability survey data and makes the car appear that it's cheap to repair. Ford maintenance was incredibly expensive to pre-purchase, so I passed on that.
My BMW 325i out of warranty was getting too expensive, so I eventually sold it. And I had a lot of warranty work done on it too which was mostly electronic gremlins. I've had ****ty fords too in my young days (Escort x 2), and the most reliable car I've ever owned have been Hondas. But Hondas are boring, but then again, so are Escorts.
All the German branded SUVs lose a lot of cargo space, interior cubby space, power plugs, usb plugs, etc. over American equivalents. And BMW doesn't even make a proper 7 seater (yeah, you can option it in a X5, but you effectively lose your cargo space).
I cross shopped and compared a ton of cars before I bought the Explorer. I also thought I'd never own a Ford again, but it was the perfect car for the price range. And while I was slightly ambivalent at first, I definitely have not regretted it at all. So count me lucky
Objective, well said, I appreciate that.
I'm an American, my parents owned Ford/Chevy/Dodge/AMC/Pontiac/Olds/Mercury, nothing else I recall, oh, one Civic after I went to college. I've never owned any car from an Asian country, and I never will. There are countless American vehicle choices, no need to ever shop Jap junk. I don't mind European cars, those countries are relatively good friends/neighbors of ours. But I have no intent to ever add support to the companies of Japan, Korea etc, given a good choice. American cars are plenty for me, though I wouldn't turn my nose at any BMW. I love a ton of European cars, but I don't need one. Regards,
The average Honda has way more American made parts and labor than any Ford/Chevy you will ever own.Objective, well said, I appreciate that.
I'm an American, my parents owned Ford/Chevy/Dodge/AMC/Pontiac/Olds/Mercury, nothing else I recall, oh, one Civic after I went to college. I've never owned any car from an Asian country, and I never will. There are countless American vehicle choices, no need to ever shop Jap junk. I don't mind European cars, those countries are relatively good friends/neighbors of ours. But I have no intent to ever add support to the companies of Japan, Korea etc, given a good choice. American cars are plenty for me, though I wouldn't turn my nose at any BMW. I love a ton of European cars, but I don't need one. Regards,
The average Honda has way more American made parts and labor than any Ford/Chevy you will ever own.
I'd rather support the American working man than worry about wealthy CEOs and board members. I don't care if it's an American company if their engineering is trash and they don't make their garbage design shortcomings right when they fail.
Wow, you learn something new every day
I've got no qualms with Japanese vs American vs European cars.
Japanese : Economically focused, reliable, and low depreciation.
American: Power focus and good bang for the buck, but fast depreciation.
German: Luxury and performance -- expensive to buy and maintain, and worst depreciation.
I wanted a 7-seater SUV with lots of power. The Explorer Sport was perfect for that. Nothing in the Japanese lineup could qualify, and European cars were too expensive for any sort of performance variant. I found Japanese SUVS, in particular the Mazda CX line are better than Fords at the lower trim levels, but once you get into the premium trims (Sport & above), the Fords leave them in the dust. A CX-9 is powered by a 2.5L 4 cylinder single turbo generating 250 horsepower. That's great for fuel economy, but that's definitely not going to be fun to drive. But likely a better choice for most people. Honda Pilot foo-bared their redesign, particularly the transmission and center console.
I can't say enough bad stuff about the Volvo XC90 -- the engine sounded like angry hamsters. Totally underpowered car with a 4-banger with supercharger and turbocharger. But the interior was gorgeous with little Swedish flags stitched in, except now it's built in China and owned by Geely, a Chinese company. With laughably bad reliability and a terrible decision to make a car that only uses touch screen for everything, including climate. You have to wait for the damn thing to boot up before you can alter the climate controls. Good luck trying to do anything while driving. Seriously the prettiest worst car I've ever test driven!
I didn't want to like the Ford or the Explorer... after some bad experiences over 15 years ago, but they sure came a long way. Damn thing looks like a posing Land Rover.