Ford Explorer

The explorer is not everyones favourite 4wd.If you keep it on the highway it will be ok.I would spend my money on something like a Jeep Cherokee that will cruise the highway and have some offroad capability and have resale value.

A guy at work has one that has rarely seen dirt, but has been faithfully around the country towing a van. He has never had a problem, has been very happy with the mileage and is sad to part with it!!

The current issue (Feb 2004) of 4WD Monthly has a good writeup on used explorers. Basically, they are an underated medium duty 4WD that can be bought for a good price and did not suffer the same problems as the Yank versions.

I personally have no experience with them, just what I read!!!

Cheers

Mark

Mate of mine bought a 1999 Explorer last year for wife and multiple birth duties. Has performed these tasks without a problem. No intention of ever getting offroad and is more than happy with the room and performance. He paid a geed price considering all the stuff in it. Check out details on yesterdays accident near Minilya r'house re an Explorer rolling. Apparently the person who died was not wearing a seatbelt but there is still that combination of Explorer and rollover. Other than that they are a reasonable vehicle if driven within their limitations - then again that can apply to anything. rgds

I actually drive/own one from new. It is fitted with two extra fuel tanks, an auxiliary battery and a UHF radio. I use the standard tyres around town and a set of BF Goodrich off road. We did the Simpson a couple of years ago and found the best way was to leave it in “D” for dune. We have also done Googs track and a few other off roads. It is used extensively for outback cruising. We have done 105k km and averaged 12.6 on the last trip and 14 in the Simpson. The cheapest thing about the car is the servicing. I think the most I have paid is $120. While the most expensive is anything you buy for it. $25 for a reversing light bulb. It did let us down Alice Springs and Musgrove when the fuel pump did its own thing. It was eventually replaced by Ford but it think this problem may have been in combination with the AIC motor (Air Idle Control) which was finally serviced by my local dealer who took the charge off my bill after I asked them why they hadn’t looked at it ages ago. My wife loves the car and I am reasonably happy. The rubbers in the driver’s door squeak. I must put some more ArmourAll on it. There are a few marks on the mats, chips in the winscreen and other than that it is pretty good. Would I buy another one? No. I think I would head for a 4.2 turbo Nissan or Toyota and keep driving west from here. In the mean time it will do just fine.

Hello Dave,
The tanks were made and fitted by Long Range Automotive in Melbourne. There is one on the drivers side which is a pump over with its own gauge. The other is on the passenger’s side and is connected to the main tank. The LRA tanks have baffles in them but the standard tank is a bit slack so there is a problem when you are going down a steep hill or stopped facing down hill with the fuel flowing to the front of the auxiliary tank which is pretty long. I’m going to modify the connection between the main and auxiliary (when I get time)
I put a deep cycle battery behind the back rear wheel as I couldn’t find any other room for it.
The battery works well but it is a bit of a pain to check the electrolyte level.
There are Explorers everywhere in Nowra. We have a photograph at the Lawn Hill car park with three of them together. We have come across them in the Simpson and every where we go.
People tip bleep on them but they have never owned on. I think it is a case of if you don’t driver a Patrol (I had one) or a Landcruiser then every thing else is rubbish.
We would probably only get out into the bush for about four weeks per year so for the rest of the time it has to do domestic duties and drive to Sydney. For that use it is OK. Like most things in life you have to reach a compromise. If you want to it will get up and fly. I took ours up to 175 and the bloody thing changed down from fifth so I decided it was time to back off.
Regards,
Trev