The transmission had to be rebuilt twice before I had 65k miles on it.
The Rear Air went out at about 50k miles.
The leather seats did not hold up.
The DVD system stopped working at 65k miles and is not covered by the extended warranty even though it was installed prior to us purchasing it.
The Automatic Dual Climate control makes a knocking sound from behind the dash. However, it will never do it for the dealer. It is extremely annoying.
Other smaller issues too numerous to mention.
Everything except the seats and DVD have been covered by the extended warranty. So that has been a good decision even though the purchase was a bad one overall.
The car is fairly comfortable. I expected a smoother ride being that it has an independent rear suspension and has a longer wheel base than the previous Explorer body style. However, my 92 short wheel base F150 rides better and drives better than this Explorer.
I have always preferred Fords, but this one has turned me off of Ford.
I agree 100%. I bought my 2002 Explorer used with 78,000 miles. I am very disapointed in its overall performance. I do not have a secure feeling when I drive it. I always feel like this is the day it is going to break down. I have had quite a few repairs in my 5 months of driving it, none of which were covered under the warranty. I traded a 2003 jeep liberty 5 speed to have a bigger truck (for the kids) that hadan automatic due to an injury and have regretted my decision every day. I love the Ford brand, my husband has a F150 that drives like new, it is a 2000. I, however must live with my decision until the day my Exploder (as everyone calls it) dies, at 83000 miles can't be too long now. I am not sure if I would buy another one. On a good note, it has very comfortable seating. Be careful not to slam the doors, they are a little testy, and the hinges are known for problems. Due to the door ajar light being on although I checked every door repeatedly I ened up with a dead battery on a work day. Always seems to be something.
I don't know, I just bought a 2002 Ford Explorer Sport (2-door) with 79,000 miles and so far think it is by far the nicest vehicle I have ever owned. It is far more comfortable than my old truck, both in terms of interior and ride. I notice myself doing 10 or 15 mph faster than I thought I was due to it being so quiet and comfortable, so have to constantly watch the speedometer. Granted, I haven't had the vehicle long enough to comment on reliability, but will do so in a new review when I have some history behind me. I've had no problems in my short ownership. The first thing that I did was have the local dealer perform the routine 75,000 mile maintenance schedule, and anything that wouldn't have been covered on the 60,000 mile schedule, just to get a base line for where I'm starting with the vehicle. So far I love it, but we'll see.
Hey my 03' mountaineer does the same clang you are describing from the climate control. The dealer missed this three times, and I finally figured out why --- during their road test they shut off the climate control to listen to the engine.
Any way it's a heater door that gets stuck, and now on top of that my blower motor is "rubbing against something" which makes it noisy.
Neither of which are covered under Ford ESP warranty, nor does nationwide covered it (I checked). They said it would be upwards of $800 to fix it.
It seems the whole climate control system has to explode first before they fix it... I just hope that it happens before my extended warranty is over.
I love my Explorer - looks good, is quiet, very comfortable and well appointed inside.
It looks chunky enough, and is still quite understated.
I will, however, never buy another Ford.
I've had three Fords now, this is my second Explorer, and the transmission has gone on all of them.
On my current Explorer, I have paid to have it fixed 3 times, with it being in the shop 5 times.
End result, I've got a used one on there, and it's getting sold.
It's a real shame Ford dropped the ball with this, as I otherwise love the car.
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