Faults:

What hasn't?

70,000 miles - rear power window, heated seats and power door locks stopped working with in three days of each other.

72,000 - front suspension became extremely noisy - everything was replaced. Sway bars, control arms, torsion bars, etc. (Buy the PremiumCare Warranty!)

73,000 - Transmission Began to bang loudy when placed from drive to reverse or vice versa. Replaced Valve Body. Two weeks later problem back.

78,000 - Heated Seats stop working again, turn signal switch starts smoking at random times. No Fix available, dealership says everything looks fine.

80,000 - Another Valve Body in the transmission.

83,000 - Car starts stalling at stop lights. Spends almost three weeks in the garage while they trying to find out what is wrong. Dealership says it is fixed, stalled out as I was leaving dealership. Turned out to be faulty IAC valve. Replaced.

85,000 - Car starts knocking loudly. Faulty lifters. Entire top half of engine has to be replaced. Another week at the Ford Garage.

88,000 - Right Front Wheel Bearing seizes. Back again.

89,000 - Two more valve bodys for the tranny in two weeks. Warranty ran out because its time limit expired. (5yrs)

90,000 - Suspension is noisy as ever again.

95,000 - All the old problems are starting to come back again. I have always done the maintenace at all the right intervals.

Only 25,000 miles and this is what has happened. I would hate to know what was wrong with the car before.

General Comments:

I would Highly Highly recommend purchasing the extended Warranty that they try and push on you at the Dealership. I was very happy that the people that bought my car new, bought it with the warranty. I only had to pay $50 for each time I had to take the car in for repairs.

The car has actually paid for itself in all the repairs. The last time I was at the Ford Garage, my service guy, who knows me on a first name basis, told me he would estimate this car has had about $12-grand in repairs done to it.

I miss my Crown Vic! It got better mileage, ran better, was faster, did just as good on the snow, and had 250,000 miles. I only did regular maintenance, never a major repair on the Vic. (It was a police cruiser, so it had the crap beat out it)

Faults:

Bad Front-end alignment caused premature tire wear.

Bad Throttle Control Valve caused engine to stall when idling.

Power Sun Roof doesn't work.

Couple of lights in the Dash and all the lights on the Steering Column are out.

RDS Mach Radio doesn't light (and "the fix" didn't work).

Front window Wipers provide only 90% surface contact (no matter how you bend the arms).

Power Driver's Seat has lost some its front-back range of travel.

General Comments:

Bought the 1999 AWD Explorer XLT for its overall value. I bought it 3 yrs used for $15K. I like its family-friendly features like size, comfort, power and inclement weather handling. The XLT doesn't doesn't come richly appointed, but the the options it does have are nice much appreciated like anti-lock brakes, fog lamps, self dimming rear-view mirrors, and keyless entry.

The ride is surprisingly comfortable for an 90's SUV. It handles the famous New England potholes pretty well. The "truck-like" feel is not apparent unless you are trying to get in or out of the vehicle, then it's a bit too high for most youngsters if you are not equipped with Running Boards, as I am not. Also the interior noise can be a bit loud at highway speeds especially after donning a new set of tires.

I avg about 15mpg (half city/half hwy).