(First posted August 11, 2013) Towards the fall of 1998, I’d started to realize that my switching jobs earlier in the year had been a very wise move. As a Print Broker during the rise of the dotcom boom in Northern California, it’s almost as if we were printing money instead of marketing collateral. So being somewhat flush, we decided to do what everyone else seemed to be doing at the time and look for a Ford Explorer.
My wife-to-be’s parents had succumbed to the trend a couple of years earlier, and I always enjoyed driving their ’96 when we visited them. Since it was late summer, traditionally the time when sales promotions started, Ford was offering 0.9% financing over 48 months. Seeing as how it was pretty easy to get a nearly 5% return at the local banks then, and we actually had the cash available to buy it outright, it seemed like a great deal – park the money in the bank, earn 5% on it and every month, send in a payment based on a 0.9% interest rate.
We were pretty particular about what we wanted–the XLT trim level, in Light Denim Blue with a gray fabric interior–and I insisted on the V-8 model which came with standard all-wheel drive. Since it was getting close to the end of the model year we ended up looking all over the Bay Area but ended up finding the perfect one at San Bruno Ford, some 15 minutes away from our home.
And so it happened: According to the copy of the purchase contract in front of me, on October 31, 1998 we became the proud owners of a 1998 Ford Explorer V8, for the sales price of $26,750 and a total price of $30,124.64 including tax, title, and license, of which we financed all but $2,000.
The document shows that over the next four years, we’d be paying Ford Credit just over $500 in TOTAL interest, the bank would be paying us 5% just to keep our money with them, and we’d simply send in the payment every month. Looking back, that seems like a huge amount of money for 15 years ago…(Update: the first two pictures in this post are of it the day we (very proudly) brought it home, I finally found my missing box of pictures)
For 1998, Ford had redesigned the body slightly, most obviously at the rear, which had a very different lift-gate design than before. The front was pretty much the same at it had been since 1996, and the interior was a little bit different, mainly in the seat design.
Ours had running boards, as my wife is on the shorter side, and inside we specifically wanted cloth seats, having looked at used Explorers before deciding on a new one and noting that Ford’s leather didn’t seem to hold up nearly as well as their cloth, even on very low-mileage vehicles. Having no kids and just one dog this did not seem to be an issue, never mind that the dog (who is still with us at 15 years of age, go Melbourne! (update: She sadly passed away in the summer of 2015, a couple of years after this was first posted, best dog ever)) vomited in it on her third trip–thankfully, back in the cargo area.
The V8 was the 5.0 “Windsor” engine, which was paired with Ford’s four-speed 4R70W transmission. It was a great combination; 215 hp, lots of low-end torque (280 ft/lb), nice rumbling engine noise and low-rpm highway cruising. Never mind that it averaged maybe 14 mpg around town and struggled to hit 17 on the highway; gas was still very cheap and 9/11 was still three years away. Nobody really cared about gas mileage then; even though we had some of the highest fuel prices in the nation, regular was still under $1.25/gallon.
We certainly did not need a V8, but it was a luxury I wanted at the time. Weight is listed at 4,166 lbs. (much lighter than I’d assumed until I looked it up), a couple of hundred pounds heavier than the V6 version. What was nice about the V8s was that instead of the manual 4WD system, they came with an automatic AWD system where you would keep the switch in “Auto” and the car would figure out what was needed. And while you could override it, really, for about 99% of the populace an automatic AWD system is the way to go.
What else did we have? Well, I recall it came with a 2” towing ball and wiring harness tucked into a cardboard box in the rear interior body side. Which is where they remained the entire time we had it. We did use the CD player it came with a lot as the sound system was quite good for the time. Everything was power-operated and the floor mats were nice and plush, but we covered them with a full set of Husky Liners to make it easier to keep clean.
ABS was standard, and it came in handy more than once as stopping distances definitely seemed on the long side compared to what we were used to. It happened to come with the automatic headlight option, which was nice but not used much, as I prefer to stay in control of the lights. And, of course, a nice little set of V8 badges adorned the front fenders.
What everyone remembers about this generation of Explorer is, of course, the Firestone tire fiasco; ours was not immune. The recall occurred when we had put around 18,000 miles on the vehicle, and we got a letter stating that if we were affected we could either schedule an appointment with any Ford dealer for tire replacement, or source our own tires and be reimbursed. OK, our tires were getting a bit worn, and this would work out well if we were part of the recall. I crawled under the truck, and on the inside walls of the tires saw the code that indicated we were part of the recall.
Of course, we soon found that no Ford dealer actually had enough tires to satisfy the demand. They were quoting dates well over a month from then to get replacement tires, but admitted they really were not sure how long it would take. After calling literally about 30 different tire shops, I found one about 20 miles away that had a set in the correct size. They promised to hold them for one day only, and otherwise they’d give them to the next guy who came looking. I went down there and came back with a set of Dunlop Radial Rovers, in the correct size, and a receipt for about $500. I sent the paperwork to Ford and got a check a few weeks later. I think all in all they certainly handled the recall part of the situation pretty well.
As it turned out, about a month after we got the Explorer we started searching for (and quickly found) a home to buy out in Dublin, on the far side of the Bay Area. Knowing what I know now, it’s a very bad idea to take on a car payment before applying for a mortgage, since it significantly reduces what you can afford to buy via a home mortgage, but it worked out for us and probably kept us from buying more house than we needed.
A few months after moving in, Allison’s sister visited. One day she borrowed the Explorer, and upon returning misjudged the garage entrance and somehow rubbed the rear fender against the trim. I assured her it was OK, no big deal, it’s just a car, let’s eat dinner etc.–and then, as soon as she departed for the airport, I was in the garage with my rubbing compound and applicator sponges freaking out over it. It turned out to be mostly a matter of paint transfer onto the fender. The paint rubbed out and the slight crease in the sheet metal was not noticeable to anyone not looking for it.
This was the second brand-new car either of us had ever had, and overall it was excellent. Ford had built a very popular, very well-made product. I think we had one tail light bulb go out, and it was promptly replaced by the dealer–and of course, the tire thing. Otherwise, our Explorer was a champ.
Two years after we bought it we moved again, to Oakland this time, and decided that although the Explorer was great we were ready for a change after almost 30,000 miles. We advertised it, and it sold fairly quickly to another young couple for $18,500. With the tire fiasco still fresh in peoples’ minds, Explorers had taken a hit on resale value and besides, gas prices were rising. Thank goodness we had that low interest rate, for without it we would have been upside down on the note.
As it turned out, we ended up with a few thousand dollars left over. Yeah, we took most of the depreciation hit, but we had a good experience with it and realized that America still knew how to build a darn good vehicle when it was inclined to do so. I have no doubt that the truck is still on the road somewhere in Northern California.
This is certainly an understatement, but these were EVERYWHERE in the late ’90s. Family, friends’ parents, even my preschool teacher owned one of these. You’d think I would have ridden in many of these, but oddly that’s not the case. I can’t ever remember riding in an explorer from this generation. Still brings back great memories of my childhood though. Iconic vehicle.
This body style came out in ’95… 98 saw the redesigned hatch, and 99 saw a new front bumper.
I’ve got a ’95 XLT 5 door, 2wd and I love it, save for the weak-link 4R55E transmission, but thankfully in 316,000 miles its only needed one rebuild. I bought it from the original owner, my brother-in-law, at 6 years of age and 100,000 miles on the clock to replace my fun but rapidly aging 1986 Pontiac 6000-STE in 2001. It was his college car, and then became mine.
I still have it, and it still looks brand new, albeit with a few rock chips in the hood. It had leather seats, but I ran across a set of tan cloth seats that matched, after the leather had given up the ghost… best move I did to it, it went from a slightly never comfortable to very comfortable cabin in terms of temperature, those leather seats to me were as bad as vinyl seats, too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. About the only thing inside the gives an idea of how 18 years is getting along with it, is the headliner has really started aging, I will have to have it redone, its not sagging, just looks old.
While slow, it gets decent mileage to me, I get 17 in town and 22 on the highway, and if you can get it to cruise at 60-65 it’ll knock down mid-high twenties. It’s been fairly bulletproof, having had to have the heads worked on at 275,000 miles, and two fuel pumps, its only had to be towed home once, when the fuel pump went out at the gas station, otherwise its been very reliable, even now about the only time I open the hood is to add washer fluid to it and check vitals once a month.
The Explorer is my roadtripping buddy. 8-900 miles is an easy day driving it.
My wife and I still own the 1996 Explorer Limited that she got from her parents (who bought it new). Prior to our marriage, I was one of those “holier than thou” car nuts who thought everyone in an SUV should have been driving a wagon or pickup. Having that Explorer for the last 7 years, showed me how wrong that mentality was. Even though it was regulated to back up and “haul stuff” duty 3 years ago, I actually enjoy driving it whenever I take it out.
The sight lines are refreshingly unobstructed, the V8 has a great sound, the seats are very comfortable, and it always starts. The odometer stopped at 205k and so I guess it has around 210k on it and the two major issues we had were a radiator hose leak back in 2006 and the A/C just stopped working this summer. My wife is talking about selling it as we just don’t need a 3rd vehicle and now I’m realizing that I am the one who wants to keep it.
I think this was a real improvement in practicality over the ojaymobile it replaced. I am a fan of the 302 as it takes a teen a lot of time to ruin one. If one of these were to drop into my lap I would be happy.
Replaced? The Explorer came out for model year 1991. The Bronco was produced until model year 1996. This would have replaced the Bronco II, but not a Bronco.
Yup. I know. In fact I watched the oj freeway crawl when they interrupted the Rockets’Knicks finals in 93/94. Both models in production then. I did read, possibly here, that the oj parade ruined the business for that model. The only ford remotely like it was this one. Big V8 with some off road.
Frankly don’t know but sounds reasonable. Wouldn’t dream of arguing about it.
No, it’s not reasonable, and it doesn’t make sense.
Wow… It makes you realize SUVs used to be really good-looking. I miss the big areas of glass and the white lettering on the tires. I’ll take this over the Mom-mobile crossover blob any day!
+1
This makes me smile. Not because I wanted one, needed one, or even ever owned one, but because it reminds me, more than maybe any other car, of my high school years (’97-’01) when my friends and I were growing up, the economy was swinging, and almost everything seemed possible. My generation, the tail end of generation X (or the beginning of Y, but I never felt it), were much like the high schoolers of 1925-1929, children of prosperity groomed for prosperity, unprepared for a lot of the disappointments and changes coming next.
Everybody’s dad seemed to have one of these in high school. I remember being driven home before I had my license by many a father; usually from something late night like a baseball game, band practice, or dance..something the kind of dad who worked late would get you from. Moms never seemed to have the Explorer. But, this was just about the time I remember the minivan going from popular family-hauler to fatally uncool.
These seemed so much bigger than their early 90s predecessors, an F150 vs a Ranger (although I think the Expedition was the F150, right?) and to me they symbolize that brief but carefree era when families of 4 seriously considered buying something like a Ford Excursion—and then actually did so, because what the hey, gas was $0.95, the house had doubled in value over the last 5 years, and we made $10K on the stock market yesterday. Who cares if it gets 10mpg and offends those silly nabobs at the Sierra Club. We have shares in Lucent and everything is rockin. Most of the dads had the Eddie Bauer edition as I recall. Does Eddie Bauer even exist anymore?
Thanks for the memory of a time I look back on as a lost, unattainable summer of the past, much as another generation saw the late 1920s. It was great to be 16-18 then, but little did we know the first of two recessions was just around the corner, planes were about to fly into towers and our parents could no longer meet our planes, and our lofty expectations of what we would do with our lives and careers were about to take a big, big hit…we deluded ourselves for a few years in the mid 2000s thinking it was coming back, but really it was a high we never returned to.
Edit: Looked at the sales figures on Wikipedia. This generation was selling at 400K+ models per year in the late 90s. We won’t see that again.
FYI: Eddie Bauer still exists, but is now owned by Golden Gate Capital.
These were the best selling “car” of the time coming in ahead of the Camry and Accord in many years.
Dude,
You nailed it, being of that similar generation (late Gen-Xers more so than early Ys) we all bombed around in these things. Some buddy’s parents always had one, with a car phone, and they were perfect for high speed liquor store runs to the border, usually with a couple people stuffed in the back and/or some offroad and airborne hijinks. These truly are a hallmark of an “…unattainable summer of the past…”
Yea, I was born in 1989 and was in second grade from 97-98. I grew up and went to the same Central New York school district my whole life until graduating in 2008. This place has been economically depressed for years and in high school we looked to places like Nevada, California, Arizona, and others with jealousy because they all had prosperity. I did not enter the job market until a year or so ago having done community college and taking care of family and I am having struggles. Glad I did not graduate high school earlier and glad I do not have student debt.
In regards to the Explorer. Well where I lived people were too poor, too smart, or something else so these Fords were not all that common. I do recall though a bunch of GM and Chrysler SUVs and trucks as well as cars from almost every domestic and cheap to buy brand, but not Explorers. There were also a decent amount of Minivans.
The transfer case you have was the Automatic 4wd, not the AWD. Personally I can’t stand it so I went for the Mountaineer with AWD. While test driving one with the Automatic 4wd I stomped on it in the rain and spun the tires halfway down the block before the system decided to engage the front axle. Many people find these “slip and grip” systems undesireable and dangerous. On the Explorer forums you’ll find directions on how to disable the Automatic function so you can have 2wd, 4 hi and 4 lo.
Oh, I thought I had the exact same system as the Mountaineer. Different than what was on the 6cylinder versions. The pictures are not of my actual car, so not positive if your comment was based on that. I’d be surprised if the line had 3 different systems – 2 for Ford, and a different one for Mercury. It is possibly I was not describing it accurately though, causing confusion.(?)
My Sport with the 4.0 SOHC V6 had the automatic 4×4 as well. It was not exclusive to the V8. The AWD models were full time AWD.
The auto 4×4 was fine if you knew what it was and understood the limitations. I never had it not engage for half a block like Eric describes, but it wasn’t instant either. You could easily get it sideways before it kicked in. The tradeoff was better gas mileage than a full time AWD system.
Yes they had multiple systems over the years. lever shifted 2 sp 4×4, electronically shifted 2sp 4×4 with an automatic position, and single speed AWD. The AWD transfer case was the only way the Mountaineer could have it’s front axle driven, and that t-case was also available on the Explorer in some years but isn’t very common. I believe it was initially only offered on the V8 Limited, which was initially they only was you could get the Mountaineer.
As far as the MPG goes once they went to the torsion bar IFS and the locking hubs went away there was no MPG benefit to the part time system, both got the same EPA ratings.
These were great rigs, as are the ’83 and up Rangers they spawned from. I have an ’83 Ranger, long bed, dual tank 4×4, its had a 302 for 20 years now. But, along the way, I have infused it with many V8 Explorer parts, and the funny thing is they fit like they were made for it. And in a way, they were.
The hot rod SUV. You guys ever see that old Top Gear Episode where Jeremy refers to it as a hot rod? Spinning the wheels with the 5.0. Decent trucks, I guess.
I have always admired these, especially back when they first came out. I had the pleasure, if you can say that of working a temp job at a furniture store that was closing out and one of the duties of the job was to assist people with loading their cars with their purchases. This was when it really hit home how unpractical a sedan/coupe really was when it was anything of size, like a small side chair for instance.
Then one day, someone bought a small love seat, and when we went to take it to their car, it was mercifully the then new Explorer, and with the rear seat folded out of the way, that love seat slid right in and the tailgate was able to fully close. Now that impressed me, and I thought then that if I were to get an SUV, this would be it – and this was around 1991-92.
I have driven for 6 years the vehicle it spawned from, the Ranger. It WAS a 92, but had the 4.0L V6 in it, and the Mazda sourced 5Spd manual, and for the most part, was as reliable as the day is long, and lasted me to almost 237K, when numerous issues precluded me to trading it in on a used Mazda last year.
A great article on what was essentially a decently designed truck from an American car manufacturer of the day.
Explorers of this vintage scare me. My brother had one and for some reason I drove it one time on the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago, and it constantly felt more than slightly out of control. Wandering all over, bouncing from one lane into another. My brother got new company cars every year and I remember thinking, “This thing is only a few months old, is it supposed to drive like this?”
Now I think it was just the high center of gravity and softly-sprung suspension. Whenever I’m behind a 90s Explorer on the highway, I notice how it drives. Every dip in the road sends it bouncing. They really look like they want to flip over.
Most of the ones I see nowadays are somewhere from slightly to alarmingly sagging in back from being overloaded.
Even when new and unloaded, these had a saggy look to them and you can see that in the pictures here. Even more so from the inside due to the upward sweep of the door panel. But I actually don’t mind that look as they had a lot better visibility than today’s cars.
I had a ’98 2-door sport with the 4.0 SOHC and 5 speed auto. It was a very capable little truck and very versatile. Great power, roomy, comfortable, solidly built, strong tower, and decent handling for a truck in its day. Certainly more useful to me than any CUV sold today, and it was reasonably priced.
It truly was a POS though. Over three years of ownership it averaged about one repair every two months. I’m not exaggerating that, I checked my receipts when I sold it. Electronics, suspension, rear end, engine, etc, etc, etc. It was a big disappointment, especially after how good my dad’s Rangers had been. I bought it two years old and with about 32,000 miles on it if I remember right. Maybe it had a rough life before I bought it, I don’t know, but it was ridiculous.
That said, at least it never left me stranded, which is more than I can say about the 4Runner that replaced it.
Funny how strong the demand for body-on-frame V8 station wagons was in the 90s-00s. The downside was that this generation of station wagons were tall and top heavy and some drivers didn’t realize how much easier they are to roll than a car.
I blame Ford for their Firestone woes. 26 psi on the door card. Idiots.
It had to ride as well as a Taurus wagon on the test drive. Actually, given how small they were inside you’d think internal competition from the CT20 Escort wagon would’ve killed them.
I wonder what the door card pressure was on a Ranger…personally, I always treat the door card pressure as the minimum of the accepted range and the sidewall max pressure as the top, and err toward the latter.
They didn’t ride anything like a Taurus. And they were quite a bit bigger inside than an Escort wagon.
I had a 98 with dohc 4.0 six. I got it at a well maintained 101k miles and kept it to 140k. When I got it it needed ball joints. But you can’t change just the ball joints, you actually have to replace the whole control arm. They wore again in 40k miles, which is why I sold it. The only other issue was the ac which never worked. The insulation around the accumulator held in condensation so it rusted out – apparently an almost universal failure. The rest of it ran great, never stranded me.
speaking of gas prices in late 90s,if you check on oil prices in 98 a barrel of oil was 87 bucks(aug 98)&a gallon of gas about 1.09 dollars,now a barrel of oil as of today(8/11/13)is 97 bucks a barrel which means gas should be still less than 1.30 dollars per gallon,its the corruption&greed of corporate America that makes us to pay over 4 bucks a gallon for gas.someone(some people)are making zillions here.about that explorer great&capable truck.
Care to indulge in a bit of fact checking before you make an obviously off-base statement like that? In August of 1998, oil was $10.20 a barrel.
The tire debacle lives on. To this day, UHaul has a corporate policy not to rent trailers for Explorers of any generation, even the newer IRS ones.
And in UHaul’s infinite “wisdom” that prohibition does not extend to Mercury Mountaineers or Lincoln Aviators.
Correct. Because more often than not it was people who were looking to stage a claim…they knew of the model names but not of identical, differently-branded products.
AND…because these restrictions come down from attorneys – by fiat. No negotiations.
FWIW…I found that Y’all-Haul wouldn’t rent me a trailer to be towed with my Jeep YJ Wrangler – because it had a canvas top. Now, it had the full roll cage – no matter. AND…the “hard” top was just a fiberglass cockleshell – any five-year-old could put her fist through the top, no effort at all.
Yet, with a top, they’d rent me a trailer. With a canvas top, no sale.
This is what happens when these kinds of decisions are left to liability attorneys, instead of owners and agents and others who know what they’re doing.
All of our “Exploders” at Dulles Intl Airport ran perfectly. At one point I ran up to Baltimore once a week on I-95. No problem. Of course, the maintenance department at the airport took care of all scheduled maintenance. All were V6s. All were boring as hell. Would I ever buy one? Are you crazy?
God I hated those trucks with a passion. I had the misfortune to be working at a Firestone as a tire changer/oil jockey while in college during those tire recalls. I worked at that place for 1 year and must have changed out about 600 tires on them in that space of time. In that time I never saw any tread separating from those tires BUT I did see several that had had been run low on air and ruined the sidewalls of the tires. This whole recall came about due to the following
1. A few bad tires got out from the Illinois plant they were made in
2. Ford made an unstable vehicle(it flipped over just as easy as the Bronco II it replaced) and placed a 26PSI tire pressure sticker on it
3. Stupid owners who did not realize that the truck they bought for a high seating on the road also had a different center of gravity and thus would flip over at an abrupt change of direction
I believe all three of these factors caused that tire issue.
At the same time I had a set of Wilderness AT tires on my GMC Jimmy and nothing happened at all to the truck. In fact the only truck that had Firestone tire issues was the Exploder. There was nothing about Blazer/Jimmy/ Trooper/4 Runner etc only the FoMoCo trucks
Keep in mind the OE tires are built for a specific vehicle and to a specific price. For example the BFG Long Trail TA they put on later Fords came from the factory with 13/32″ of tread the standard for an AT tire while that same model on a Toyota came with 8/32″. Same name on the sidewall and same tread pattern but different tread compounds and tread depth. Fords would regularly get 80K or more out of them while Toyotas would get 20~30K.
We got the Explorer new here from 1997, in RHD wheel-arch-flared 5-door floor-auto-selector V6 ‘XLT’ format only. We did get the V8 in the gen 4 though – but again only in 5-door format.
I remember being quite excited when Ford announced they were importing the Explorer, as it was the first uniquely US designed and built vehicle we’d had in years! So I raced down to the local dealer the minute the first one arrived!
All ours had the flared wheel-arches which made the wheels look too narrow, but I still loved the exterior looks. But the interior was a huge disappointment. The plastic was hard and cheap feeling, and I remember the cutouts in the dash plastic for the vent control-wheel and in the door trim for the handle and the buttons were poorly done – the edges weren’t finished.
I’d be interested to know where the Explorer pricing was set at in the US market at the time (late 90s). They were expensive here when new – dearer than the rest of the Ford lineup, from memory, excluding the Australian Fairlane and LTD sedans. The interior was non-competitive at that pricepoint. The gen 4 interior was a great improvement though, and the Explorer kept ticking along until its demise when the LHD-only gen 5 came out.
My 1995 5 door XLT stickered at 28,000 US. Brother-in-law bought it for 22,000 out the door as a lightly used Demonstrator/wrong special ordered vehicle.
Mine had/has leather seats, power windows/locks, cruise, power seats, sunroof, tow package, a/c- with rear controls for a/c and radio, 6 disc CD changer, overhead compass/temp console.
The leather seats didn’t last, got baked too much, but the cloth seats I put in to replace them have lasted quite well.
The RHD conversion dashes don’t look like they are as well made as the LHD dashes, but yes, there is cheap nasty plastics in there, which has stood the test of 18 years sitting outside all the time, better than most other cars here have.
Yes, the RHD dashes did have a whiff of aftermarket conversion about them, but then again, the RHD dashes would have been quite low volume, so they may well have been made quite differently to the high-volume US LHD dash. At least the design of the dash was fine – and I still think the Explorer’s exterior design is great!
Then the Territory arrived on the market and Explorer sale sank to zero and early Explorers like these were no longer supported by Ford here, People who have them seem to keep them since they are almost unsaleable now, a friend has a nice 04 model but she cant get rid of it even Turners Auctions who advertise they will buy anything turned her down.
In 2002, I bought a used ’98 XLT with the V8 to tow my race car. I lowered it a couple of inches and added 17″ wheels from a Mustang Bullitt as well as a Flowmaster exhaust. What a great truck. The only problem was gas mileage in general and especially when towing – I doubt I got 10mpg with the trailer attached. That Explorer is right at the top of my “Why the hell did I sell that car?” list.
The Lexus RX biege-mobile is now the common ‘car’ seen at shopping malls. The new ones look just like 12 year old versions. Dull as dishwater, but owners think they are in a Benz.
Nice write up, Jim. In 2003 I bought a 98 Explorer XLT, All wheel drive with the 5.0. I bought it as I needed a tow vehicle for the back yard cabin cruiser boat that I was (and still am) building. I liked the idea of the 5.0 for the extra power in towing.
Worst vehicle I ever owned. As I type this, it sits outside, waiting for the call to the scrapper to come and get it. Issues? Completely rusted and holed steel brake lines including the rear line over the axle running to both rear calipers which required 2 new brake lines. Soon afterwards, the rack and pinion’s fixed steel lines rusted out. The steel EGR tube was holed, causing an exhaust leak. The fuel tank had signs of bad rust.
Since I got only about 12 to 14 mpg with the all wheel drive system, the truck sat more then it ran, which contributed to the rotted brake and power steering lines. When gas went over $2.50 a gallon, on it’s way to 3 dollars, I lost my zest for thinking I’ll just make the repairs and move on. Instead, I bought a used Chevy Colorado Crew Cab, which gives me 20 mpg with the 5 cylinder and a light foot.
A shame. The Ford had a nice interior and rode well down the highway. But whatever steel Ford was using in those days was dreadful. Critical steel lines under the chassis should not rust out just by sitting off the side of the driveway. It hasn’t in my Opel GT and it hasn’t in my New Beetle TDI. Quality was not Job 1 in this era of Ford, as far as I’m concerned!
Well where I lived people are too poor, too smart, anti-Detroit, or something else so these Fords were not all that common in Central New York. I recall seeing more GM and Chrysler SUVs and Trucks than these Explorers.
I am glad I graduated in 2008 from high school though, it gave me a chance to go to college and do other things with my life when jobs were really hard to locate. Trying to find a job right now is not all that easy either.
We had a 93 Explorer XLT 4L 5 door, 4×4 and a 97 as well. We thoroughly enjoyed these vehicles, especially the 93. That one we had for 9 years and aside from maintenance spent nothing on it for almost 300,000 kms. It felt very safe and negotiated many a Canadian snow storm and icy road. Of the best vehicles ever in my driveway.
I used to joke that having learned to drive on their parents’ examples of these were why early Millennials thought a Honda Civic was a sports car.
Now this has me thinking it’s been a while since I’ve seen one. Last spring I saw two in good shape on the same day, both from before the final 1998 facelift (butt-tuck?), both mint green, only some different stickers proving they were two different cars.
Most of the ’91-94s (by then rusty, taildragging beaters) went to Cash for Clunkers, but the late ones’ thinning out since this first ran tells me that 12-15 years with each subsequent owner giving it a harder, more “truck” use profile than the last, is about the natural lifespan for them anyway.
Back in the final years of the Bronco (’94-’96), Explorers were in tight supply on dealer lots. Ford was allocating additional Explorers based on Bronco deliveries. The net result of this was we were slamming Bronco’s out the door for significantly under cost, and transferring the “loss” to Explorer cost-of-sales. Actually, a new Bronco could be had for quite a bit less than an Explorer- not that most customers cared. Interesting times for the car biz.
I had always thought that OJ had given the Bronco a stay of execution, surely as old and fundamentally obsolete in concept as it was in 1994 they’d have dropped it only to return to full-size SUVs with an all-steel four door on the next generation truck chassis (That would’ve been) the Expedition.
Your info makes it even more puzzling. It seems like they could’ve canned the Bronco with the ’92 facelift and nobody (who bought new cars…) would’ve missed it.
Considering the late Broncos came from the 1980 redesign, it didn’t cost them much to build them. Strictly parts and labor. Ford was selling 30-35,000 units a year during that time-frame. That’s over 100,000 units they wouldn’t have sold if they had just pulled the plug, and that’s just in the last three model years. So they threw in rebates, dealer volume-based cash allowances, and tossed some extra Explorers the dealer’s way. At least those that took advantage of it.
Where we really came out was when the Expedition was introduced. They were allocated on prior model year Bronco deliveries. All that being said, all the domestic manufacturers had programs in place that may or may not have made business sense at the time.
My father in law passed away in 2005. A 2000 Ford Explorer like this featured one was the last car he bought. It was V8, metallic red, grey cloth, XLT too I’m pretty sure. It was a good vehicle for them, but about 2007, it emitted a loud POW under the hood when my mother in law and wife were going somewhere. After that, it ran rough, but ran.
I took it to the Ford dealer, who found a spark plug that had blown apart. The metal base was still screwed in the engine, but the ceramic part had blown out. It was all rusted and fused together. It took a blow torch to get the metal base out.
They called me and asked if I wanted them to do the other seven, as they were all rusted and stuck like the one that blew out. Since the labor tab was $300 for all the wrangling on the one, I told them to forget it.
The car only had about 40,000 miles on it, but I suggested my mother in law trade it before the next one blew. It was a bigger vehicle than she liked, so she traded it for a new 2007 CR-V, which she had until the 2012 CT200h I wrote up.
But as result of the Explorer experience, I have always heeded the TIME or MILEAGE spark plug intervals. 100,000 miles we see so often now is usually, in the fine print, “5 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first”.
A guy at the local tire shop told me that the Firestone/Explorer recall is the reason why allvehicles for the last 10 or so years have TPMS lights.
Some of these comments are funny. I routinely see these Explorers here, NW Oregon, with well over 300K on the clock. The 302 is the least of their problems. And stop calling them Windsors. There is only one Windsor, and that is the 351
I also had a 1998 Explorer – purchased used with 70,000 Kms on it for my (now) ex wife. We bought it in 2004 and it was a solid and reliable vehicle until she traded it somewhere around 2014. It was the same bright red as my 1995 F250 and it was the V6 Model and “High Country Edition” which gave it nearly nothing as far as I could tell, other than some decals and perhaps a skid plate package underneath. Firestones were long gone by the time we got it. Grey cloth interior which stood up well, and with a cargo liner in the back and a pet barrier it was good for transporting our 120 pound Rottweiller around.
No major issues with the vehicle – brakes and rotors, a set of ball joints around 150,000 kms and that was it – with the exception of transmission fault at 200K+ Kms which caused it to have no reverse. A very common failure according to the transmission shop as they had parts in stock and did it in a day or so for if I recall, about $1500 (Canadian dollars . . .) I recall finally changing the spark plugs when it would no longer start and found them worn to nothing. Amazing it even ran. The fuel pump made it to around 2008 or 2009 which in our area, was somewhat amazing.
It was pushing 300,000 kms on the clock when sold and for the last few years it towed a small travel trailer and I imagine it’s still ticking somewhere. Great vehicle overall and one of three Explorers in the family – 1994, 1996 and 1998.