Explain the Ford Explorer to me

In My Humble Opinion
21

Dinsdale - You get used to it. The snow and altitude. It’s rough for the new folks, but then we talk about the best rubber. Tires that is.

Let me recount a near hit that I had with another driver. And discount the idea that SUV’s are so unsafe.

My Wife and I where traveling down a 2 lane state highway at the posted speed of 65 MPH when an idjet coming from the other direction decided that he needed to pass. It was a red Jeep Cherokee. An older one. I still see it. It was a dusty red color. Funny how that sticks with you.

My Wife and I are good drivers. I know we all say that, but we have a combined drive time of 70 years without any accidents.

Said idiot pulls out to pass. Right into me. Coming from the other direction.

As my SUV is taller, I can see this idiotic move. The person he was trying to pass also sees it and pulls on the shoulder. I can see it too, and pull to the shoulder (thank god there was one).

I would not have seen this if I was in a lower car. No way. And if he had hit me head on, I would not have had a chance in a small car, and would have never seen it coming.

My Wife, the passenger, and also an excellent driver and very much on the ball only got ‘UM’ out of her mouth while this all transpired. 2 seconds perhaps.

It was a red Jeep older model Cherokee. I saw it coming. Just in time. If he had hit us, we might have survived in the Pathfinder. Maybe.

A smaller car, lower to the ground would not have seen him coming and would have been destroyed. I’m pretty sure of this.

My Pathfinder saved my wife’s and my life on August 2nd, 2009, 9:52 am.

It was close. But since I had the height and saw him coming over the hill I managed to miss him. We are OK. If he had hit us, because of the size of the Pathfinder we may have survived. Because of the Pathfinder I saw it coming and got out of the way.

I’ll keep my unsafe SUV.

22

Where is Hurricane Ridge?

23

I’ve owned minivans and SUVs. The pros and cons:

If you have two kids or more, a minivan is a great family vehicle. Easy to get in and out of, easy to load baby seats and stuff into. When our child was a baby, we bought a minivan, and loved every minute of it.

Once our kid could get in and out by herself, the apeal of the minivan started to fade. It was a big, ungainly beast. It didn’t handle very well. Most of the time it was driven with one or two people in it. On the highway it was a wind sail, constantly being buffeted by passing semis or high winds. It was only two-wheel drive, which made it a bit of a bear to drive around in the winter.

So, we sold it and bought a Ford Escape. I absolutely love the thing. It’s got plenty of room for four people, and we can haul an amazing amount of stuff with it. It drives like a car - sporty, even. The driver’s position is extremely comfortable for commuting. The visibility is really good. It’s reasonably quiet, and reasonably fuel efficient. It has all-wheel-drive, and plows through winter snows where other people are stranded. It’s easy to park - our Escape is shorter than our old Ford Taurus sedan.

In fact, the ‘big’ size of the Ford Explorer is an illusion. The Explorer is 10" shorter than a Ford Taurus sedan. It looks bigger because a sedan is broken down into three boxes (the hood, cabin, and trunk) which breaks up the visual length. The Explorer will be easier to park.

We considered an Explorer. The advantage of the Explorer is that it’s a more rugged vehicle. The Explorer uses a body-on-frame design, rather than the unibody of a typical car (or the Escape, for that matter). That makes it drive more like a truck, but it also means it’s a more durable vehicle. It can take a pounding on bad roads or offroad. It can tow a lot.

Those running boards aren’t for getting in and out of the vehicle, by the way - they’re for standing on while you deal with cargo strapped to the overhead rack. The first time you try to carry skis or a Christmas tree or a cargo carrier, you’ll be very glad for the running boards.

I’d buy an Explorer if I need to tow something heavy. And don’t underestimate how many people have this need. In our subdivision, it’s seems like every second or third house has a boat trailer or a trailer for a couple of quads or an RV trailer parked in front of it in the summer time. We’ve thought of buying a small airstream trailer for vacationing, but our Escape can only haul the very smallest model, which isn’t quite big enough for a family. We’d have to upgrade to an Explorer.

A minivan is a people hauler. An SUV is a utility vehicle. That’s really the difference. You judged it as a people hauler, and didn’t like it. Take it to a job site or through the mountains in winter, and you might come away with a different impression.

24

There is a Hurricane Ridge here in the Olympics Mountains by Seattle on the Olympic Penisula. I assumed that is what he was referring to. Beautiful drive up and if the clouds are clear you can see for miles. But it can get foggy and you can’t see ten feet in front of you sometimes.

25

We have a Explorer Sporttrac which is basically a truck like vehicle on the Explorer frame as I understand it. This works great for our family. We needed a vehicle that could hold five comfortably. We didn’t need a full bed truck but do have occasion to need a truck, so the mini bed on the Sportrac works out great for us. I did read reviews before I bought it that it didn’t drive like a car–well duh, it is a truck and it drives like a truck. For us, it has been a great vehicle.

The big draw for us on this vehicle was we needed something to pull our trailer. We looked a mini-suvs like the Escape, the CRV, etc but they didn’t have the pulling capacity we needed. There has never been an issue pulling our trailer with this truck. It only has a six cylinder but gets decent mileage. No issues whatsoever with the truck as it has been extremely reliable and that was important to us. I know when I go out, it will start right up. Few snows we have had here it has performed very well.

As for parking I haven’t noticed it to be too big or anything like that. Since it is supposed to be on a Explorer frame I assume they are the same size vehicles. I have parallel parked the truck with no issues at all.

The truck bed has been great. My wife is a gardener and often needs mulch or gravel or whatever and the bed is big enough to get what she needs. It also has a 2 foot extension cage that has been helpful. But if you want a real truck, the Sportrac will leave you disappointed I think.

26

That’s the one. Nowhere near as high as the Rockies, but quite impressive drive as it starts from near sea level. I can’t imagine what it would be like to bike - as I saw some folks doing.

As I said, I have no question the Explorer and its like would do the job for towing or off-roading. (Maybe even bad weather, tho I’ve never had a problem with my 2-wheel drives, and see a fair share of 4-wheelers in ditches.) But I see a good number of them driven around the burbs as family errand runners, and personally I just don’t see it.

A good buddy of mine had a similar accident experience. I believe he drove a Lincoln Navigator. A drunk in a sedan crossed the centerline and hit him head-on. My buddy’s Navvy was totalled, but he walked away with little other than severe airbag-rash. He bought another fullsize saying he considered the purchase and upkeep cost simply insurance. A valid position IMO.

Interesting about the size. Man, that front hood seemed HUGE to me. And I did not drive it long enough to get comfortable with the parking maneuverability. My main thought was that for 4 adults and cargo, there is no question that my minivan is roomier. But those are only a couple of the countless considerations when buying a vehicle.

Re: the Sportrac - that reminds me of the big Caddy and Lincoln "trucks. I remember being amused by looking at the websites a couple of years back - and not a single picture showed any cargo in the bed. Kinda consistent with my impression of the “utility” folks used them for! :wink:

27

We owned a '99 Explorer XLT, which we then gave to our youngest. It’s at about 160,000 miles and has been pretty good, maintenance-wise. When we bought it, we lived in the Chicago suburbs. We had two kids and a dog. We wanted something that could haul us all around, and would be good in the snow/slop that is oh-so-common around there. We had had numerous previous good experiences with Fords, we like the local dealer, and it was a very comfortable vehicle.

Our big hobby is diving, so any vehicle needs to be big enough to carry two gear bags, four tanks, plus other miscellaneous stuff, and the Explorer did that very well. The only downside was discovered after a ride from the Florida Keys to our home near Cocoa Beach. The gear hadn’t gotten the best of rinses, so after a couple of hours in the Florida sun there was a nice little funk going.

So, our replacement vehicle was an Explorer Sport Trac - essentially a short-bed four-door pickup. Very comfortable cabin, and with the locking tonneau cover on the bed we can put all out dive gear in there, securely lock it, but not have to worry about the odors. The bed’s got a liner, so when we get home I can just hose it out. It’s got a trailer hitch so I can carry the bicycles back there, and roof racks for the kayaks. The one downside to it is that it’s not AWD, and with the different weight distribution from a normal Explorer, it can be a little squirrelly in slick conditions. It stays in Florida, though, so it’s not too much of an issue.

28

What do you think a '97 Explorer looks like? :confused:

29

Not nearly as boxy as the XBs, RNATB, but that’s merely my humble opinion. The 97 Explorer was a bit more rounded.

30

But still uglier than an elephant’s scrotum.

31

Six of the top ten “clunkers” traded in this year’s program.

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1036/top-cash-for-clunkers-trade-ins-and-new-cars/

*1. 1998 Ford Explorer

  1. 1997 Ford Explorer

  2. 1996 Ford Explorer

  3. 1999 Ford Explorer

  4. Jeep Grand Cherokee

  5. Jeep Cherokee

  6. 1995 Ford Explorer

  7. 1994 Ford Explorer

  8. 1997 Ford Windstar

  9. 1999 Dodge Caravan*