I bought this car new in September, 1992 principally because my wife and daughter liked the Forest Green color. SUV's were popular then, and my wife liked the idea of being higher than the rest of the traffic. The truck is somewhat bouncy, and if you are on a rough road, you really feel it. The good thing about the setup is the chair height. Your knees are closer to a ninety degree angle when you ride, and that is a lot easier on your back than a sedan.

While the body style may be unstable in sharp turns, it sure holds a lot of haulage. I have used it to truck each one of my kids to college. I have found the truck to eat front brake pads. I average around 15k a set. I also think that there are problems with the design of the truck. The catalytic converter is in a place where it heats the transmission, and causes it to fail early. It is also near the front control arm bushing, and heats it so that it fails early. These are expensive repairs. The front suspension needed replacement as well.

At around 120K, the transmission failed in a catastrophic manner, and it cost around $2,200.00 to replace with a remanufactured unit. My dilemma is this. The truck still looks great. It has around 138k on it at this point. The engine is still tight. However, the AC Delco remanufactured transmission is now starting the same death dance as the old one. Right now, reverse is slow to engage when it is cold. This is how the other transmission started to fail. According to the transmission guy I deal with, this is a common problem with Explorers. He has one, and his transmission does the same thing.

The truck is still expensive to keep up. It is always needing something like brakes, tie rod ends, exhaust parts and such. I have also detected weeping around the water pump. I don't know whether to sell it now, or keep it for the long haul. This truck is for someone who likes to make a good appearance, and has deep pockets for maintenance. It is not for someone who appreciates fuel economy or low maintenance cost. The 1992 Explorer is an early version, and there are a lot of bugs in it. Some of the bugs were worked out in the 1995 makeover. However, it looks like the biggest bug, the tendency to roll over, will not be worked out until the 2002 model. Update 8-12-05. I had to part with this vehicle in November 2003. I was thinking of keeping it, but body shop refused to work on it because rust was so extensive. Even Maaco wanted large dollars to make less permanent cosmetic repairs. The four wheel drive conked out a year before the sale. Also, the vehicle seemed to run through batteries.
Amount Paid (US$): 22,000
Condition: New
Model Year: 1992
Model and Options: XLT