I'm still waiting for some much needed revisions
Written: May 17 '04 (Updated Nov 17 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Exterior styling, seats seven, steering very good for an SUV, low price after rebates
Cons: Quivering structure, busy ride, cheap interior, seats could be better
The Bottom Line: Buy something else, even though you'll probably have to spend more.
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| mkaresh's Full Review: 2004 Ford Explorer 4WD |
Beginning around fall of 2000 I told people interested in buying a mid-sized SUV that they should wait until a totally redesigned Explorer was introduced in January 2001. I had learned that the revised SUV would have an independent rear suspension, a rarity in a truck-based SUV. Since an independent rear suspension costs more to manufacture, but should substantially improve both handling and ride quality, I took this as a sign that Ford had done everything necessary to make the new Explorer the best vehicle in its class. It ended up being delayed a couple of months, but in March it finally arrived. I promptly took one for a test drive—and was very disappointed. The interior was awash in cheap plastics, the ride was busy, and the structure quivered continuously. Needless to say, I didn’t recommend it.
Manufacturers make running updates to address product weaknesses all the time. Wondering whether Ford had addressed my issues with the Explorer, I recently took a 2004 XLT Sport 4x4 for a test drive.
Styling
The styling has not changed. Some people will find it overly conventional and boring, but I personally find the exterior styling of the Ford Explorer very handsome. The proportions are just right, and a great deal of effort clearly went into every line. Just about any competitor is flashier, but the Explorer’s styling exudes a refined brawniness that suits an SUV well.
The Explorer’s interior, on the other hand, is flat-out boring. The styling is very plain and the workmanship is poor. Even with the optional leather, it looks and feels very downscale. The plastics of the center console look and feel especially cheap. The seams on the seats are not even and the cushions appear oddly puffy. Maybe the Eddie Bauer and Limited feel a bit richer, but the basic bits remain the same.
Accommodations and amenities
In the Ford Explorer's driver’s seat, you sit high. Too high. The sunvisor is barely above my line of sight—and it was up. And I’m not a tall person, only 5-9. Even in the lowest position I was sitting too high relative to the windshield header for my personal taste. The dash is quite low, providing excellent visibility forward. The seat could be lower and still leave the driver well above the top of the dash. Why isn’t it? Beats me. Or why didn’t they simply extend the windshield higher (the top of the roof is well above the top of the windshield)? Again, I haven’t a clue.
Otherwise, front seat comfort is acceptable but thoroughly unexceptional. A firmer, more contoured seat would be welcome. These feel a bit puffy and formless.
Rear seat comfort is at best acceptable. The seat cushion isn’t quite high enough to provide good thigh support. It’s shaped for three passengers, so each position feels a bit cramped. There is little contour to the seatback. For adequate whiplash protection, the headrests must be raised substantially—a common issue in SUVs and minivans with seats that fold flat.
This time around I drove an Explorer with the optional third-row seat. It’s more comfortable than I expected, but that’s not saying much. The cushion is very low to the floor, so adults must ride with knees high. However, there is enough room for said knees, and heads as well. So while I would not want to be back there for too long, a trip across town wouldn’t be too bad.
Ford did do an excellent job with the cargo area. There’s very little room behind the third seat—even a single row of grocery bags will be a tight fit. But fold at least one row and the area is large, usefully shaped, well-finished, and very easy to access. First, there’s a low floor enabled by the independent rear suspension. This translates to a low loading height. Then, there is the the liftglass. It is nice to be able to open the rear glass without opening the entire tailgate if all you have to do is throw in a shopping bag or two. The problem is that SUVs tend to be so high off the ground that it’s not always easy to throw something in through the raised glass. With the new Explore5r, Ford has addressed this problem by having some of the door open with the glass, so that it is like a door within a door. This reduces the liftover to a very manageable height.
On the road
IRS or not, the Ford Explorer remains no X5 substitute. Even in moderately hard turns it leans substantially (if less than the GM products) and understeers. The steering is fairly decent for an SUV, with good weighting and precision, but there’s just no joy to be had here. One definite bright spot: the turning circle is very tight for such a large vehicle.
The problem is not that handling has been sacrificed for ride quality. Fairly minor imperfections in the road surface still make the structure quiver. The suspension is especially bad at filtering out the small stuff. Compared to most competitors, the Explorer feels insubstantial, crude, and, well, cheap. It’s possible that a heavier load would smooth things out a bit. On the sparsely populated positive side of the ledger, the new Explorer is fairly quiet except during hard acceleration.
The 210-horsepower 4.0-liter V6 is just barely up to moving this much vehicle. Thankfully Ford has endowed the automatic transmission with five ratios, so that once the transmission does shift you remain in the engine’s powerband. I never felt like the engine was letting me down—I could accelerate as quickly as I’d want to in regular driving—but the engine makes a lot of noise while going about its work. It’s not an entirely unpleasant sound—I’ve certainly heard nastier sounds coming from engines. But it always seems like the engine is working quite hard, if not quite straining. In regular driving, using about 1/3 throttle to accelerate, the transmission shifts at about 4000 RPM. This is a fairly high shift point for regular driving. A bit more throttle, and the tranny shifts at 5000…you get the idea. So while this engine moves the vehicle well enough, I suspect fuel economy will be very poor. High shift points will do that.
A few years ago I drove but did not separately review a Mercury Mountaineer with the 239-horsepower 4.6-liter V8. The eight performed only marginally better than the six. It lacked the torquey feel engines of this size usually have. As with the six, even half throttle resulted in 4,000-5,000 RPM shifts. This engine should not have to work this hard. I have no idea why it does. At any rate, the six in the GM SUVs performs better than Ford's eight.
Explorers are available in rear-wheel-drive, four-wheel-drive, and all-wheel-drive forms. The last lacks a two-speed transfer case; it remains in all-wheel-drive all the time to enhance on-road traction and handling balance. The Explorer I drove was a four-wheel-drive model. I did not do any off-road driving. Given the on-road experience, I do not expect this is a good vehicle for serious off-road driving. The suspension is too soft, the handling too clumsy, and the vehicle is just too big for that sort of thing. Of course few people use Explorers this way. For light duty SUV stuff, like driving on snow or unpaved roads, it should be adequate.
Ford Explorer Pricing and Price Comparisons
For quick, up-to-date pricing, and especially user-specified price comparisons, check out the website I created: www.truedelta.com. Why yet another vehicle pricing website? Well, I personally lacked the patience to keep using the others. They were too slow and required too much effort, especially when trying to compare prices. So I taught myself some programming and created a site where there is no need to dig through option packages, prerequisites, and the like one by one -- the TrueDelta algorithm figures these out for you in one swift pass.
The Ford Explorer XLT Sport V6 4x4 I drove was equipped with third row, leather, rear A/C, a sunroof, and roofrack crossbars. It listed for $35,720 after a $500 Detroit-area discount. (Most other regions provide similar discounts, usually free leather or a free third row.) This vehicle was built last fall. Those built more recently cost about $500 more because of interim price increases. The standard rebate is $3,000, but additional rebates are often available. Add in the typical large dealer discount, and the actual price is at most $30,000. This is less than any other midsize SUV save the Kia (which is actually closer to a compact than a midsize). The Toyota 4Runner and Dodge Durango (which is actually closer to full size than midsize) in particular cost substantially more. But since they are so much better than the Explorer, the extra cost is worth it.
For information on my reliability research, visit www.truedelta.com.
Last words
I had hoped that Ford had updated the Explorer to correct the issues I found three years ago. Sadly, it has not. The Explorer looks good on the outside, carries a healthy amount of people and/or cargo, and is endowed with better steering than the average conventional SUV. But these strengths cannot compensate for the cheap interior, middling seats, and busy ride. On the road the Explorer simply doesn’t feel like a quality vehicle. GM’s SUVs do not handle as well, and in regular wheelbase form do not offer a third row, but otherwise are at least marginally better than the Explorer in every major area. Their ride quality is especially good. The Toyota 4Runner feels bulkier than the Ford and GM SUVs, but outdoes them in refinement. The Dodge Durango, with its strong V8 and refined chassis, is my favorite in this bunch, but has an unfair advantage in its larger size. Frankly, none of these can compare to a decent car or even car-based SUV as an on-road vehicle. Unless you need a conventional SUV for heavy towing, I’d get something else. If you do need one, then the Toyota or the Dodge is the way to go. A redesigned Nissan Pathfinder and Jeep Grand Cherokee will be introduced later this year. Maybe one of those will be easier to recommend.
A Note on Ford Explorer Reliability
I cannot practically cover reliability within the context of this review. However, many people are interested in such information, so I've started collecting my own data. Results, once they are available, will be posted to my site, www.truedelta.com, with updates every three months.
Unlike other sources, TrueDelta will clearly identify what difference it will make if you buy an Explorer rather than another vehicle by providing "times in the shop" and "days in the shop" stats (among others). You will be able to specify the number of years, annual miles, and types of repairs to include in Ford Explorer reliability comparisons.
Before I can report results, I need reliability data on all cars--not just the Explorer--from people like you. To encourage participation, those who help provide the data will receive free access to the site's reliability information. Non-participants will have to pay an access fee.
For the details, and to sign up, visit www.truedelta.com.
A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.
Some of my reviews of related vehicles:
Chevrolet TrailBlazer review
Dodge Durango review
Jeep Grand Cherokee review
Kia Sorento review
Toyota 4Runner review
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 35,720
Model and Options: XLT Sport 4.0 4x4 leather sunroof third row rear A/C
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