2004 Ford Explorer XLT Sport Trac Adrenalin review from North America

Passenger heated seat switch faulty from day one.

Fit and finish was not Job one.

Right rear window intermittently worked from day one.

Cruise control failed at 12,000 miles.

Turn signals lost their seal and fogged.

Fuel gauge worked intermittently, at best, from three months of ownership until the day I traded it in.

The paint on the front bumper peeled off.

Factory installed hard tonneau cover leaked from day one.

At 21000 miles the entire front suspension had to be rebuilt.

I purchased my first Ford in 1994 and loved it dearly until the day I had to trade up to something larger to haul my family. The obvious choice was the Ford Explorer Sport Trac. Since I loved my Ranger so much I figured why not go all the way, and get a Sport Trac with every bell and whistle including the Adrenalin package. Boy was I wrong.

The only two good points that this vehicle had the entire time I owned it were,

1. It towed a trailer like a son of a gun.

2. The stereo was awesome!

Almost immediately my wife and I regretted buying this, dare I say, pile of junk.

If you did not pay attention getting in the car-truck whatever it is, you were almost certain to turn on the heated seats (Believe me it is most uncomfortable in the summer). Even though the interior of the Sport Trac shares a lot of common parts with the Ranger, there was a significant lack of comfort with the Explorer that we dearly missed from owning the

Ranger.

Taking a road trip in this car was an adventure in itself since the fuel gauge worked when it wanted to, if it wanted to. Most of the time I could drive an easy 300+ miles on a half a tank then the needle would drop to empty within the next 50 or so miles. The dealership answer to this was "Bad gas" or "your mileage is accurate". I'd like to see a 30MPG Explorer.

The most discouraging part of this entire vehicle experience would have to be the total lack of concern the dealership had toward repairing this vehicle. Sure the easy things were fixed, Seat switches, cleaned up whatever over spray or defect was on the finish, eventually fixed the cruise control, but seemed unconcerned about the fuel gauge, tonneau cover and the front suspension problems.

After at least six trips to the dealership for the fuel gauge issues I finally gave up and just filled it up by mileage, however the final straw was when I sent it in for state inspection and they had to rebuild the entire front suspension.

At 15000 miles I paid the dealership $100 to do the multi-point service and everything checked OK, yet 5-6000 miles later the entire front suspension was shot? This truck never left paved roads, had mostly intestate miles on it and was serviced only by the dealership the it was purchased from. When I asked why it was shot and had to be replaced the answer I received was "That's a Ford". Needless to say I traded it on a Dodge the next week.