2004 Ford Explorer User Reviews

I Love This Car — Performance- This SUV handles like most. its big, pretty top heavy, but its got a 4.0 liter engine and can reall ypick up speed if necesary. its handles quite nicely, and braking is even better. half way down on the brake should easily stop the car in about 1.5 seconds while doin 60-70 Build quality- since this is a used car that i have there are a couple of things that i would like to get fixed, mainly in the sterio, but for a used car with around 120k miles on it there aren't alot of glaring problems with it. alittle bit of squeaking here and there but for a used car this thing is still running strong. Appearance- I love the look of this car. interior was designed quite nicely, leather interior on the seats, alot of trunk space and fold away seats. can comfortably seat 7, but this car is quite expensive. the exterior of the car is quite modest. its a dark blue with gold skirts near the middle of the car. grill has the standard explorer grill, rims are just stock as well. the whole car looks awesome and im proud to show it off in the high school parking lot. haha cost of ownership- this thing drinks gas like grad student drinks booze. it is not good at all for gas mileage. if i had to guess id say it gets around 15 to 16 MPG and gas money is always taking out huge chunks of my paychecks. so far maintenance has been good. no major problems with it. this car is great but the gas mileage will come back to kill you in the end. Fun Factor- I think this car is fun to drive. its great to just cruise around town, just having a good time with your buddies in the back. i also like how the explorer is higher off the ground than most of the other cars. i love this car, but i could see how for other people not in my situation how it could be my of a burden than a blessing.

Expensive Disaster — I got this car when it was 1 year old and paid $45 000 for it , and I must say that was the most regretful $45 000 dollars I ever spent. When I bought this truck it had about 21 000 miles on it, I fell in love with it for the first to years it sat up high , very powerful, and all though it was very bad on gas I walk to work so i didnt mind but i still put a lot of miles on my car going up to the cottage on weekends, but it was great for towing. then around 3 years into owning it, everything went wrong it started burning through ignition coils every couple of months, at this point it had about 100 000 miles on it, it started making terrible noises, and then about spring of 2008 it blew the transmission, and i had decided to replace it ($3800), a week after I replaced that the catalitic converter blew! ($600 - used part) by this time i was already looking for a new car, (at this point it had about 155 00 miles on it) and then a month after i blew the catalitic converter, the tranny blew again, luckily it was under warranty so i fixed the tranny and sold it for $1500, but it was just so much hastle, i do not reccomend this car to anyone, since then i bought a bran-new Mercedes ML 350 bluetec, on the road about $58 000 , its so cheap on diesel, so quiet inside, beautiful interior, and from what ive hear very reliable

Nice Looking Truck — i love all the features in my explorer the performance could be a little better but it does well for the small v8 engine i love the brakes they feel really strong it has really poor fuel economy but i don't mind i love the leather interior and the third row seats and the safety features are pretty good

Ford = Found On Roadside Dead. — It's been a great family ride. It has very easily accessible "LATCH" system for child restraints. I really enjoy the rear-air feature, Towing capacity, storage abilities, 3rd row seat, child-safety features (ie. window locks, rear door child locks), and overall look of the truck. I would prefer a larger windshield. Sometimes I have to bend my head down a little to see the stop light at an intersection. It has great 4x4 handling, as well. I was recently left stranded on the side of I-95 in Florida when my Harmonic Balancer and Ignition Sensor went out. The FORD repair manual calls for the incorrect sized belt. It's very confusing for car-repair shops to repair your vehicle if the manufacturer's book is incorrect. I went thru 4 belts before we figured out the problem was Ford's recommendation of belt size...

Outstanding Outside, Inside, And Under The Hood! — This vehicle is nice to drive because of it's size and versatility. For a midsize SUV it really allows the room you need, the power you may want, without the bulk of a larger truck or SUV. Every time you go out to get in the classy, handsome color combination welcomes you to enjoy your drive to the store or the lake or wherever you are headed.

Primary Use: Family transportation