2001 Ford Explorer Sport review from Czech Republic
"Stubborn luxury"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
The speed sensor went wrong and the automatic transmission recognized wrongly how to shift.
The engine sometimes "without a cause" as the local dealer sad, fails to start. One never knows why.
The rpms at low speed or during the de-parking sometimes dramatically decrease and the engine perishes.
The starter got rotten, split into two and had to be replaced.
The headlamps work improperly (sometimes only high beam, sometimes regular regimen, sometimes half and half...) and the problem is in electricity.
The rear window lock splited into two.
Brakes disks are disapearing in front of your eyes.
The shock absorbers as well.
The air condition stopped to work (due to its servo.
As for the sudden defect the car is absolutely stubborn and no matter how much of maintenace you give him it will always surprises you unprepared.
General comments?
This car is a partially nightmare and partially great joy.
It is not of the most reliable cars in the world, but it's unusually comfortable like heaven, powerful and has enormous capacity.
The inetrior has a great ergonomics, lot of useful equipment and amazing seats.
The power is pleasant and can be very helpful in crisis moments.
Its off-the-road performance cannot be compared to Humvee obviously, but it is surprsingly good on sand, snow and heavy mud, even if equipped with regular factory tires.
The brakes are not that bad comparing to other SUVs.
It has a great power and can be pretty speedy among its SUV category
I have a many cars in my life, most of Fords, but also a Mercedes, Lexus, Volvo etc. - but as for the comfort probably only jaguar can beat an American SUV.
Running costs are not from the cheapest, epsecialy as for the parts, but if driving with consumption in mind, the fuel economy can be easily otpimized - except winter city driving.
Steering is great, but handling I do strongly recomend not to drive to the curves at higher speeds, the cars feels (and behaves) unstable.
My judgment on service at dealership and logically on spare parts costs cannot be objective - no only in my country the American cars are rare, but also my model of Explorer (Sport) was not on sale in Europe, so everything must be shipped from the States and it reflects the price significantly.
No matter how much of nerves and money this car has already cost me I would buy an Explorer again, I hope I would have a better luck than I have with this one.
At no circumstances I reccomend buying The Explorer Sport (aka 2doors version) to purchaser in countries, where it was not officially at the authorized dealerships - if burglar brakes your middle window you will be sentenced to drive weeks without it - not speaking about the spare parts if literally anything goes wronng - unless you are either a millionaire or mad about troubles.
but in spite of all the troubles I love him. There are only two in my country :-)
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| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| Year of manufacture | 2001 |
| First year of ownership | 2001 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2004 |
| Engine and transmission | 4.0i V6 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 10 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 5 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 10 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 2 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 5 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 33000 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 100000 kilometres |
| Previous car | Ford Mondeo |
| Date of Entry | 3rd August, 2004 |