I've often learned that people who say that (this) vehicle is the best have never laid a wrench on said vehicle or had to work on it in any other capacity.

They all break eventually.

 

I lived in Germany for 5 years. I have worked on MB & Bmw's. They are no harder to work on than any other vehicle out there today.

Everyone on this board bashes Chevy (for a good reason, it is a Ford board) but at least you can change the spark plugs on a Chevy V8 with tools you already own & you don't have to tear the entire top of the engine off to get to them. I can barely see the spark plugs on my truck, good thing they last for 100000 miles. I've heard it's about $1200 to have them changed.

Back to the original point of this thread... Is there anything other than the 4.0 & transmission to watch out for? I've never heard a good thing about that engine. I changed a transmission in a Explorer with the 4.0 when I lived on Guam. It was my neighbor's & the damn thing only had 38000 miles on it. Warranty expired at 36000, the trans was $2250 & the Ford dealer wanted $1000 to put it in, which is why he asked me to do it.

I asked around at work about the Explorer & Durango. All of the Ford owners said go for it ONLY IF YOU GET THE V8. Most of the Dodge owners said something like this: "It's got a V8. Um... Seats 7... Did I mention the V8?" All said the Durango gets mileage only OPEC could love. Funny how fuel economy is never an issue until gas is over $2/gal (probably gonna stay that way permanently), huh?

KC-10 FE out...

 

To each thier own but you would have to casterate me before you caught me in a station wagon. That's right up there with a mini van.

You can not get a staion wagon or mini van or SUV that performs well (except the Porsche Cayenne). It might be fast in the supermarket parking lot, (unless you run into a Porsche Cayenne SUV which will blow the doors off, out corner, out brake, out perform any Station wagon, Mini van or other SUV) But what kind of bragging rights is being the second fastes in the super market parking lot anyway? Neither of my SUV's perform as well as my Trans-Am but they are gorcery getters and it's not. You dont buy performance to get groceries and you don't buy a grocery getter for performance. That's just lame.
The Porsche Cayenne is the way to go for a fair combination of street and supermarket performance with an AWD, Turbo The 4.5-liter V8 cranking out 450 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. Lets it do 0-60 in 5.4 sec, 1/4 mile in 13.79 sec @ 102.47 mph, 60-0 in 112 ft, and the 600 ft slalom at 65.9 mph. It does all of this while getting 19 MPG highway and 15 MPG city with a curb weight of 4,949 lbs.
With that kind of performance then you can pretty much keep up with others on the street and get your groceries too. But it will set you back around $80,000 for a used one and insurance is high. So by the time you've forked all of that out you could have bought a nice domestic 4wd suv, and a domestic performance car too. Then you have a better chance at being the best of everything depending upon which one you decide to drive that day. hats just my 2 cents.

 

Back to my original reply (and RP's double post), instead of keep asking the same question over and over here, why don't you go over to the Explorer forum??

BTW - go buy a 98-99 MB ML350 and I think you'll changeyour tune quite rapidly... MB's quality is now in the middle of the pack as they failed to keep up with BMW since the early 90's......

 

I wouldn't own because, well, uummm, I work for Ford, hence my name. In the last JB Powers ratings for "things gone wrong" the American manufacturers were behind the Japanese, but ahead of the German's. The quality from the Big 3 is a lot better than most give them credit for. The bad rap from the crap they put out in the 80's still haunts them. You can hear stories from many people about how they have 250,000 or 300,000 miles on their car, but you hear it from a lot of different manufacturers. For the most part it all depends on how the owner takes care of it. Quality is highest across the board for all makes.

 

Yeah, like Mike said... and what I said after he said it (because I'm such a horrible person for double posting... imagine that, a moderator -- double posting... I'll take my lashings now) .

You really need to check out some of the forums where the 'die-hard' Explorer owners are lurking. Such is the case as well if you're considering any other brand.

You know how we are here... most of us really don't offer much 'non-disclosure' when someone asks a quesiton. 9 times out of 10, you'll get a pretty straight answer from an enthusiast. It might have a slight candy-coating on it that you have to masticate at first but, you get through it and get to the root cause.

Best of luck to you in your search.

RP

 

It isn't my search, I could give a sh$t less. I was simply trying to help a friend that's too stupid & lazy to do her own research. That's why I didn't join the Explorer websites.

I did find out tonight she's getting the Explorer. Apparently the dealer she's working with is going to give her $5000 for a 97 Dodge Intrepid trade-in. The car looks like crap, $5000 is a good deal on that trade. She said after the trade she's out $25000 including tax, title & all other fee's for an Explorer with the V8 & 4X4. I asked what trim level it was and she didn't know. I asked her husband and he didn't know either. How the ***** can you buy a $30000 plus vehicle and not know what your getting?

Interesting side note: Her husband is a total pus$y-whipped dork. She refuses to let him pick out anything. She doesn't have a job so this poor slob has to pay for this vehicle and doesn't get a say in anything. If there is one thing I can't *****ing stand, a pus$y-whipped guy.

So much for Ford selling vehicle for sticker... The cheapest I could configure one on the "build your own" with the V8 & 4X4 was about $32000.

KC-10 FE out...

 

I guess reading comprehension isn't one of your strong suits... I said I HATE SUV's & would never own one. The M series may not be the best vehicle on the road but ther're still worth more than any SUV Ford makes after the same amount of time & miles.

KC-10 FE out...

 

Mini Coopers hold their value incredibly but than again they are a BMW technically and they don't deal off msrp much.

 

Hey Flyboy. Depending on how long you have been at magoo, you might have seen my 150 or the ex's expy.

Here's my new sploder


Here's my ex wife's expy..
http://fordtruckworld.tenmagazines.c...gon/274869.jpg

Does she like lifted trucks?

USAF Retired.

 

I think I remember seeing that Explorer. It might have been someone elses because I don't remember seeing lights on the front of the one I saw. I mean how many are lifted with black rims & mud tires?

I got to KWRI on Friday, 7 Sept 01. Not exactly a good time to get there if you know what I mean. I was awaiting training & had to do "b$tch" work for 2.5 months until my Boeing KC-10 class started.

I almost got ripped off by some as$hole from Columbia, PA. I was bidding on a 1970 Road Runner. He said it was numbers matching 383 & 4 speed. I figured Columbia, Pa is only 3 hours by VFR800fi from my house so I jetted over to inspect the car before the auction ended. Turns out, this "Road Runner" was actually a Satelite with Road Runner badges & stickers stuck all over it. The "383" was actually a 318. For anyone who doesn't know Mopars, all Mopar big blocks have the distibutor in the FRONT of the engine, all small blocks in the BACK. I immediately stopped bidding and the auction ended at $12000. I feel sorry for whoever won that auction. Actually I feel sorry for the seller, he probably got his as$ beat royally for that one. I know I wanted to beat the sh$t out of him.

KC-10 FE out...

 

nope just got the sploder in Apr 05 and lifted it last weekend.

 

Now that I think about it, the one I saw couldn't be yours, the guy lives in New Egypt.

I'm stupid...

You know ther're bulldozing the entire block from the 24hr gate all the way to the red light at Tuskeegee Airman Ave? There will be a "Mini-Mall". It's going to have a food court, barber shop, dry cleaner, movie rental, gas station, 4 screen movie theater, class 6, & shoppette.

KC-10 FE out...

 

KC-10 FE : Why would you never own a MB or BMW? MB's are the best cars on earth (by a long shot) and BMW's & Audi's aren't too shabby either.

MikeF150 : BTW - go buy a 98-99 MB ML350 and I think you'll changeyour tune quite rapidly... MB's quality is now in the middle of the pack as they failed to keep up with BMW since the early 90's......

KC-10 FE : I guess reading comprehension isn't one of your strong suits... I said I HATE SUV's & would never own one. The M series may not be the best vehicle on the road but ther're still worth more than any SUV Ford makes after the same amount of time & miles.


Geez... I COULD have SWORN you wrote that MB's are the BEST cars on earth (by a long shot!)

I guess this is what you get when you try to help out an 18 yr old idiot....

MikeF150 over & out..

 

I said CARS, not SUV's... I don't care anything about them & could care less how well they are built. I have never considered owning one so I've never put any effort into researching them. I guarantee you Ford doesn't make a single passenger car that is anywhere near as good as anything MB makes. Probably the same for SUV's but who cares?

KC-10 FE out...