Rollin in my 5.0
Written: Oct 06 '06 (Updated Jun 22 '08)
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Pros: Interior room, V8 power, good fit and finish.
Cons: Lack of interior storage, gas mileage with the V8
The Bottom Line: Great vehicle for several reasons, you might have one...
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| jpeter's Full Review: 1996 Ford Explorer 4 Door |
For those Vanilla Ice fans out there the girls may not be on stand by and I don’t have a rag top down so no hair can blow but my 1996 Ford Explorer is a cool answer to my not so cool question of what to drive for a work vehicle. Purchased half out of necessity and half out of want. I need a vehicle with great interior room and ability (I said ability not familiarity) to smoke by other vehicles on the road. Things that my current GMC Sonoma just didn’t have.
Happily my Explorer delivers on everything I ask of it. Equipped with the 5.0 liter V8 engine straight out of the early nineties Ford Mustang, it will gulp gas to the tune of 14 miles to the gallon in mixed driving but will chase a Corvette onto a freeway. I have seen a high of 19 miles per gallon on highway and a wallet cringing 8 city but that tank had several hours of idling on it and not much actual driving. I am hoping the K&N cold air intake system I just installed helps both produce more power and higher gas mileage as promised. I can also say the engine can happily idle for hours with out over heating issues while running the a/c in 90 degree temps. I can tow up to 4,000 Lbs once I install a tow hitch, it is nice the wiring harness is already good to go.
Being the most popular model of SUV in its day I have found repairs and maintenance easy to get done. I gave it a good wax job shortly after I bought it and the paint really bounced back to near new car shine of course it helped the nicks and scrapes a car normally gets in it lifetime were kept to a minimum. I have purchased perfect match parts off ebay and my mechanic has never had to wait for any special orders. I even found a set of four decent name brand tires at Sears for well under $400.00 including road hazard warranty. Only reliability items are ones I inherited with the purchase. The dash lights not showing up at night ended up being a short in the dimmer switch and the new ball joints on the front suspension were pricey at $520.00 installed but not unheard of. Friends have told me the 5.0 engine has been around for years soi hopfully any bugs have been worked out long ago.
My Explorer is a moble office for me. I usually fold down the left side of the rear seat, which gives me plenty of room for my computer and monitoring equipment and still leaves me room to spread out my arms and legs. In my line of work (insurance fraud investigator) I will commonly sit inside the vehicle for 10 hours at a time. I won't say any vehicle is comfortable after that much time but the Explorer ain't bad. Supportive seats, easy to reach everything. Cargo room is abundant with easy loading access. I like that fact Ford gives two ways to load the rear. First is to open the entire tailgate, this option gives you a nice shaded or dry area to work under. Second is to just open the rear glass. I don't use this much but it is easier than the first if you just want to through something inside. Only improvements I made were to buy two wire storage baskets from IKEA ($3.95 each) to keep things form rolling around back there so everything stays in place.
So far I have driven it 8 hours in one day and felt great. The seat of my 96 has more in common with the 95 models than the 97’s. They look plainer but offer great support and thankfully easy clean up as well. All the controls are in easy reach and I can even reach most items in the back seat with out too much contorting. I have cramed seven people into this vehicle and I didn't hear any complaints...well maybe I had the radio turn up too much but at last i am still friends with those poeple! Four people will have great confort, 5 just ok.
The ride has some bounce to it but no where near that of our families older 1993 blazer. I wish the ride did settle down just a bit more on the highway but I find it better than my 01 Sonoma, Acceleration is phenomenal with the V8. braking is very responsive too provided by 4 wheel disks control by standard anti-lock. Two airbags are in the dash where they belong for now. I like the seat belts that have a high adjuster on the upper anchor. One nifty feature is the double sun visors. You know when the sun comes in at that just awkward angle near the side of the windshield where you can’t decide to flip the sun visor over to the side or not? Well not a issue in a explorer, just flip the main sun visor over to the side and then flip down the secondary sun visor for the windshield. I wish all cars had this!
Things I would change are few. First I really could use more storage nooks and bins. I understand other year and trim models have a more comprehensive center console but mine just stops at two cup holders and a place to put a garage door opener/cell phone. The two front door map pockets fill up quickly with just a tin of Altoids a pen and pencil and a cd case. The second is storage related too. The center console storage is awkward to use. The armrest and separate storage lid is redundant. I would prefer an armrest/console lid be molded together. That said there is decent depth to the bin for cd’s tapes etc. Lastly neither the glove box nor center console is lockable.
I bought this vehicle from a Honda dealership, with taxes and fees my total came to approx $5,000.00 with 134,000 miles showing on the clock. I have already put on another 4,000 miles and plan on keeping it rolling for another 100K. Squeaks and rattles are not bothersome at this point so I hope it continues to age well. Not a bad return on my investment. I’ll keep this updated and the miles pile on.
UPDATE:
Well it has only been five months but I have put 12,000 miles on the Explorer already. Driving all over Texas and a nice loop though Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Oklahoma will do that! Wish I could say they were trouble free miles but as I expected with a nearly 11 year old vehicle there have been some issues. First the biggie, the transmission was rebult due to leaks in several areas and a developing shudder during acceleration. It was one of those catch 22's, the torque converter was going out but could have lasted another 15K. The seals were leaking due to age and the torque converter strain. I could have done just the seals but that would have been $$$ wasted once the torque converter finally went out so I bit the bullet and had the transmission rebuilt. Cost : $2,500.00 Ouch! For reference I may have saved anywhere from $3-700.00 buy shopping around but I know the work was done by a very reputable shop and I should not have to revisit the issue and as I said I plan on keeping the vehicle for a extended period piling on the miles the whole way. In addition I replaced the heater coil ($800.00) which is a common problem on older vehicles where I live since we don't use our heaters much. Finally I replaced the gas cap; being original epuipment I am suprized it lasted this long!
UPDATE 05/08
Wel the gas crunch finally got to my relationship with my Explorer and I traded it in ona Honda CR-V. At 188,000 miles it is still going strong and the day I traded it in I drove over 300 miles in a 12 hour period and I still trusted it with long range trips in and out of my home state of Texas. Yes, I did get to replace s few accessories (A/C blower, steering rack, radiator, Alternator along with some ball joints in the front end) to get the truck up to that mileage but nothing that shocking considering... The interior still was in near perfect condition with no tears and only the drivers side seat cushion starting to show wear by sagging a little (a re-foam job would have done wonders). No rust was present, even the exhuast was original! The paint also was doing fine, slight hazing of the clear coat but every time I waxed it the shine popped right back. Over all I was impressed by the longevity and comfort this vehicle provided me!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 5,000
Condition: Used
Model Year: 1996
Model and Options: XLT 5.0 V8
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Epinions.com ID:
jpeter
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Member: Jack Simmons
Location: Houston TX
Reviews written: 64
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
Am I ready for the next hurricane? Lets not find out...
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