1996 Ford Explorer XLT review from North America

When I bought it, the car had a very slight leak in the radiator, which I replaced. Also the driver's door handle mechanism needed to be lubricated. And I had to replace the alternator.

I never thought I would say this about a Ford, but I love my Ford Explorer. Not only that, but it's going on 13 years old. I've always had Japanese and German cars (Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes, Acura, Subaru, and Audi) which have generally been good cars, but I found myself in a bit of a financial crisis, and I needed a used car and quick.

I had $3,000 and I happened upon a 96 Explorer with 133k miles that looked really clean. I bought it, and within a week of driving it I was really impressed.

After all the years this thing has been driven, it is still comfortable, starts right up every morning, is actually fun to drive, hauls all kinds of stuff if I need it to, and still looks good too.

Everything works on it; all the extra features it came with when it was new, including the 6 disk CD changer, automatic adjusting rearview mirror, power windows, mirrors, door locks, A/C, cruise, etc. No problems. Good truck.

I'd buy another Ford truck any time. And before I had this thing, I would have never given one of these things a second glance except to sneer at it or give it a dirty look.