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Something different, No issues with my 21 King Ranch - who else?

cwescapexlt4x4

Explorin' the Desert SW
Elite Explorer
Joined
May 3, 2005
Messages
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City, State
Litchfield Park, AZ area...
Year, Model & Trim Level
2021 King Ranch 4wd 3.0T

21 King Ranch 4WD 3.0T​

I just want to "buck the trend" here.... many complaints, issues but I guess I got a good one as I have had no issues with mine (knock on wood) other than everyone once in a while... the seat belt chime/proximity chime changes note and then upon next restart resets to normal. I have 14K miles on mine (purchased Nov 2021)
 



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36k miles on the clock on our 21 XLT. I had to tighten a few nuts on a shield on the passenger side after we bought it to silence some rattling, but its been trouble free with only normal maintenance (oil changes and tire rotations).

With snow tires on it, it is the most capable snow driving machine we've owned for conditions up to deep snow, when I'd take my F150 instead.

It gets over 7 MPG better fuel mileage than the Explorer it replaced...
 






We have been incredibly lucky with our '20 ST. 40,000 miles and it's never been back to the dealership.
 






We have been incredibly lucky with our '20 ST. 40,000 miles and it's never been back to the dealership.
Problem free especially high or normal mileage 2020's are unicorns. A 2 year old car with less than 20K miles is very low mileage.
 






Yes, thanks to work from home.... the slowest it has ever taken me to rack up miles....
 






Yes, thanks to work from home.... the slowest it has ever taken me to rack up miles....
I nearly lost my mind working from home over 3 years ago. Fortunately I was back at the office within weeks/months being an essential worker. You can't really run a TV station from home...
 






2021s may be ok. I think 2020s problems with axle boots, axle hub actuator leaks and cracked cat pipe welds are a matter of "when" not "If". And given that FordBoss@youtube had axle hub leaks after replacing axle hubs and o-rings makes me suspect this could be an issue across all years. Not easy to catch early either as you need to remove the center, rectangular plastic undershield and look carefully on the driver's side for oil. Dealer "inspections" are useless. Totally missed cracked cat weld and axle hub leak. I caught them both by happenstance just being under the car for other things.
 






For what it's worth, 21s' are all not OK, my platinum has significant NVH issues (noise, vibration, and harshness), my dealership (has an excellent service reputation) determined it's a normal operating characteristic of the '21 Platinum. It was built in early September '21.
I've learned to live with it and tend to forget about it until I ride in my friends MDX.
 






2020 XLT, early build (6/2019). Bought new 7/2019. With just a handful shy of 41k miles. Just like the '15 it replaced, it's been a pleasure to drive, with no issues to date. I plan to keep this one for a while..
 






2021 XLT with sport appearance. Just flipped 20,000 miles. Only problem was a bad connection between upper & lower driver seat causing an airbag light. Great MPG. Worry a bit about fuel dilution in the oil so I change every 5,000 miles.
 






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