Ford Explorer Sport, and Sport Trac ?

Spimothy Leary

Spimothy Leary

Well-Known Member
I'm actively shopping for a replacement vehicle for my Daughter, her beloved Mustang GT was way too problematic to continue with it so we let it go.

In addition to some 4 dr sedans that are under consideration, We've been looking for a Tacoma or RX300 but for a college kid they are just still a little to pricey...

Any opinions on Ford Explorer Sports or Sport Trac's ?

(we've also looked at Durango's because they are dirt cheap, but I own one already so I've formed my opinions on that)

As of yet I haven't really looked at Chevy alternatives, I tend to look at ford first just based on personal experience.

Half the price of the Japanese counterparts, so even if they become a mechanical nuisance, we have about 3K in wiggle room since we'll be looking at a starting point of 4K-5K instead of 7K +.

Just thought before I made a commitment in that direction that I might benefit from some feedback.

Any thoughts or input is appreciated.
 
I'm on my second chevy Trailblazer. Leased one in 2001 and then bought a 2008 used one in may of 2012.
I like them. GMC Envoy is almost the same but maybe a tad nicer inside.
 
If you're looking for a bargain look at a Saab 9-7x. I bought one for pennies on the dollar when Saab went belly up. They're nothing more than a rebadged Chevy Trailblazer and most parts are readily available for cheap. Some body panels may be a little hard to find but as long as you don't make a habit of running into stuff you'll be fine.
 
I have owned two of the Sport Trac models. Loved them both. Not fantastic on mileage, but a very user friendly vehicle. The bed is small but worked fine for me. I had the OEM rear cover in both cases and STRONGLY recommend that you have one if you buy a port Trac.

In 02 there was an early version and a later version. Do NOT buy an early version. It is kind of like buying a DI Seadoo. Great when all is well but hard to fix and the parts are expensive. They didn't make an 06. There is two body style changes from the 02 to the 05 years, skipped the 06 year and did a MAJOR body and mechanical change for the 07 and newer Tracs.

There is a VERY good site I can steer you to that is dedicated to Tracs. It is kind of like this site for Seadoo's, no place is better.

I can probably answer any question you have pertaining to the Tracs. So post away if you have questions.

I'd buy another in a heart beat if I needed that style of vehicle. I replaced it with a Lexus RX 350.
 
its enough to get me started, thanks for the tip on the 02's, i'll research that, since there were a couple of 02's that I was looking at.

much appreciated
 
my girl drives a 02 explorer sport the two door with lockers and 3.73 gear from factory is not a bad vehicle we traded her 2000 blazer sport thing for it best thing we could do better quality than the chev It rattled in every panel and door drove me nutty they had the same millage on them the ford was a little better on fuel and I think more power "could have been a lemon chev though cant all be as bad as that one or they wouldn't have sold so many"
 
Did the sports and sport trac models have the transmission issues that the regular explorer had?

I had 2 '02 explorers. One with the 4.0 and one with the 4.6 v8. The 4.0 killed two transmissions. One at 39k and the other at 71k. The 4.6 killed one at 88k and was getting ready to kill it again at 155k.

Other than that, I was always really happy with the explorers. Mileage wasn't great, but I didn't expect it to be.
 
Seems like what you're looking for is all over the map, BUT I went through something semi recently. Test drove and looked at the fords since they are SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than the Tacos. While they look great the higher mileage ones I was driving felt like they were on the verge of falling apart. I personally ended up with a Honda Ridgeline after driving every truck under the sun. I couldn't find a 4wd quad cab Taco within 200 miles of me that didn't have 200K miles and they still wanted $20+ for it.
 
well, I drove one this morning.... and honestly it didn't impress me that much, and was bigger than I thought, but sure was a pretty truck....but IMO it didn't handle as nice as my dodge, and had more road noise than my truck by far, just didn't make me go "wow" .

I think i'm going to veer away from the trac's for right now... heading now to go look at a Hyundai Sante Fe 3.5 (ya, the ones with the really really really expensive timing belts) but as far as SUV's go, they are considered generally reliable, and quite a bit smaller than the larger domestic counterparts.

The ridgelines were on my list as well, but they were a bit pricey for a kids college car, so a good fit for me, but not for a 20 yr old.

the taco's,,, well, ya, that's the issue, high miles and high prices for the right ones, I think that it makes more sense after she's out of school & working. I myself was shopping for Nothing but a Toyota Truck/SUV and had a 8-10K cash budget and found Nothing that really fit, then stumbled across my Durango 5.9 for $2500 and it was a no brainer, since I paid for it out of checking and it made ZERO dent in my savings account. I've had to drop a grand into some maintenance issues but i'm still 4K ahead of the game as far as my cost base, and with a 5.9 I can tow just about anything, as long as their is a gas station nearby.
 
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i have a few customers that own trail blazers that that are pretty happy with them on dependability and mileage.
 
Spimothy Leary said:
well, I drove one this morning.... and honestly it didn't impress me that much, and was bigger than I thought, but sure was a pretty truck....but IMO it didn't handle as nice as my dodge, and had more road noise than my truck by far, just didn't make me go "wow" .

I think i'm going to veer away from the trac's for right now... heading now to go look at a Hyundai Sante Fe 3.5 (ya, the ones with the really really really expensive timing belts) but as far as SUV's go, they are considered generally reliable, and quite a bit smaller than the larger domestic counterparts.

The ridgelines were on my list as well, but they were a bit pricey for a kids college car, so a good fit for me, but not for a 20 yr old.

the taco's,,, well, ya, that's the issue, high miles and high prices for the right ones, I think that it makes more sense after she's out of school & working. I myself was shopping for Nothing but a Toyota Truck/SUV and had a 8-10K cash budget and found Nothing that really fit, then stumbled across my Durango 5.9 for $2500 and it was a no brainer, since I paid for it out of checking and it made ZERO dent in my savings account. I've had to drop a grand into some maintenance issues but i'm still 4K ahead of the game as far as my cost base, and with a 5.9 I can tow just about anything, as long as their is a gas station nearby.
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Yeah I was in a similar boat as you. My ridgeline sits alot so I didn't want 20k to sit in my driveway and do nothing 90% of the time. So I picked up a higher mileage ridgeline in great condition. Had 101k on it when I bought it FULLY loaded( leather, heated seats/mirrors, nav, etc) and got it for 16k. That was far and away the best deal I could find. People just think trucks are made of gold I guess.


Had a buddy that's a mechanic pick up a durango on the cheap and put 2 trans in it the year or so he had it. LOL! He dumped it and picked up a tahoe recently.
 
I will be the third to jump on the trailblazer/envoy bandwagon. I have have put 60k on my envoy, got it at 80k, so I'm at 140k. Drives like the day it rolled off the showroom. Never had any major problems at all. Literally I I have done is fluid changes and tires. Not most gas friendly I will say tho, I average about 16-17
 
durango with 4.7 liter have a bad rap for blown head gaskets, while the 5.9 is a good motor, they are gas guzzlers.
 
jammin777 said:
durango with 4.7 liter have a bad rap for blown head gaskets, while the 5.9 is a good motor, they are gas guzzlers.
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ya, my last ski trip (With Matt braley) was a 4 hour drive each way, i burned 23 gallons up, 22 gallons down in the truck...45 gallons, only went through 41 gallons on both ski's... (quite an expensive day fuel wise lol, quite brutal actually)
 
Spimothy Leary said:
well, I drove one this morning.... and honestly it didn't impress me that much, and was bigger than I thought, but sure was a pretty truck....but IMO it didn't handle as nice as my dodge, and had more road noise than my truck by far, just didn't make me go "wow" .

I think i'm going to veer away from the trac's for right now... heading now to go look at a Hyundai Sante Fe 3.5 (ya, the ones with the really really really expensive timing belts) but as far as SUV's go, they are considered generally reliable, and quite a bit smaller than the larger domestic counterparts.

The ridgelines were on my list as well, but they were a bit pricey for a kids college car, so a good fit for me, but not for a 20 yr old.

the taco's,,, well, ya, that's the issue, high miles and high prices for the right ones, I think that it makes more sense after she's out of school & working. I myself was shopping for Nothing but a Toyota Truck/SUV and had a 8-10K cash budget and found Nothing that really fit, then stumbled across my Durango 5.9 for $2500 and it was a no brainer, since I paid for it out of checking and it made ZERO dent in my savings account. I've had to drop a grand into some maintenance issues but i'm still 4K ahead of the game as far as my cost base, and with a 5.9 I can tow just about anything, as long as their is a gas station nearby.
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There is an aftermarket rear anti-sway bar that solves the lean issues of the Trac. The initial one was from an Explorer and simply isn't stiff enough for the truck version. I want to say they are $249.00. And they are worth EVERY penny... Literally makes it a different vehicle...
 
Coastiejoe said:
There is an aftermarket rear anti-sway bar that solves the lean issues of the Trac. The initial one was from an Explorer and simply isn't stiff enough for the truck version. I want to say they are $249.00. And they are worth EVERY penny... Literally makes it a different vehicle...
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ya, most definitely something out of sorts there, that would make sense.

not that i'm a real car nut, but I know when it doesn't feel right, and It didn't feel right. Either way, its always interesting to test drive a different vehicle.

update:.... took another test drive on a different vehicle and threw a couple hondo's as a deposit on a cute little Hyundai Santa Fe, then went to the bank for some cash, barring something unexpected happening between now and 6pm, i'll be taking it home and start planning stereo mod's tonight :)

so, the search might be over. (finally) I was getting tired of checking CL every dam day and calling idiots to find out mileage, and important stuff that they always leave out. Its quite difficult to make a vehicle decision for somebody else.
 
Forgot to mention,,, the 05 and older models have the "wrong" shocks on them as well.. You need to remove them and replace with heavier duty shocks. Kind of like the mentality of the grey fuel lines, they are a MUST DO...
 
Coastiejoe said:
Forgot to mention,,, the 05 and older models have the "wrong" shocks on them as well.. You need to remove them and replace with heavier duty shocks. Kind of like the mentality of the grey fuel lines, they are a MUST DO...
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more thumbs up for Joe :)

fwiw, this is EXACTLY the kind of info I was hoping to dig up.
 
Spimothy Leary said:
more thumbs up for Joe :)

fwiw, this is EXACTLY the kind of info I was hoping to dig up.
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This was kind of an experimental vehicle for them. As such, they did as little as possible to create it but used existing parts to "build" it. Once they saw it was a success they didn't sell any 06's and worked on creating an entirely new body design literally from the frame up. NOTHING is the same from the 05 to the 07.
 
Look at the Ford Escape. My wife has an 08 with 120,000 on it. We have had ZERO problems with it. Just wear parts. Second set of rotors on front in 120,000. Nice driving vehicle, more car like then truck... Parts are not expensive. Brake replacement is fairly simple. Gets decent mileage. The fit and finish is good. She has the 3.0 engine runs like a top. Plenty of power, good brakes for it's size.
 
Mickirig1 said:
Look at the Ford Escape. My wife has an 08 with 120,000 on it. We have had ZERO problems with it. Just wear parts. Second set of rotors on front in 120,000. Nice driving vehicle, more car like then truck... Parts are not expensive. Brake replacement is fairly simple. Gets decent mileage. The fit and finish is good. She has the 3.0 engine runs like a top. Plenty of power, good brakes for it's size.
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We had a Mercury Mariner (Same as the escape). We bought it new in 2010. Put 50k miles on it. No problems except a somewhat clunky transmission and a few minor cosmetic issues. Very nice comfortable ride. It had a 4 cylinder and got 32 highway.
 
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