Four Wheel drive is a blessing in hard rain or snow, especially on grades. Most comfort points such as the rear air, electronic compass, sunroof, and the sound system are great to have for everyday driving.

The worst points are definately the unending string of recalls and minor repairs . The rear wiper motor always fails one month after its repair, the engine squeaks when the temperature is about 25F or colder. The drivers window does not go back up if water leaks in (like everytime it is raining). And about 5 or 6 factory recalls for defective accelerator plates and hood latches, electronic, and more.

I have had to bring the 98 Explorer Sport to the dealer for repairs six times. For recalls like the hood latch problem, or the accelerator sticking I didn't mind becuase it was a preventive measure, but for things like the rear wiper motor and the leaking sunroof, I hate having to go back again and again for service.

The first six monthes I had the car I loved it, until all the problems started happening one after another. I still love the four wheel drive which has allowed us to get through some pretty bad weather, where other cars have been left by the wayside. The car is dependable in that it'll start and get you where you want to go, I just wish that it didn't have so many little headaches which make you second guess having paid so much for the car. I would have prefered to have gotten a bigger model for the price, or at least to not have had to spend so much time and energy on it.

Also, I didn't appreciate the service that Loman Ford in Avenel New Jersey provided. Even though I had given them nearly 30,000 dollars and was spending my time waiting for them to fix the car they sold me, they acted as though they were doing me a favor.

I like SUVs and I would recommend them, but the 98 Ford Explorer Sport has turned out to be a series of headaches.

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Runs great, solid: Someone totaled there car hiting my left rear corner. Almost no damage to my car!!

Brakes. They need to be replaced every two years. I wish that there were after market high performace vented brakes available for it!!!

Good vehicle if treated with respect.

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5 speed auto trans, dash layout, real frame(not unibody), spare underneath not taking up valuble cargo space, flip out glass. power sunroof.

ride quality(needs shocks to even things out)door panels look cheap.

So far I like it. It rides a bit rougher then the Jeep Grand Cherokee it replaces but I can live with it. I'll be replacing the stock shocks(if you can call them that) with Bilsteins all aorund in the near future.
I also plan on replacing the cheap GoodYear tires with the BFG A/Ts that are on the Jeep. Much better tire.
Ford still is cheap on the knobs/switchs and they date the vehcile thats only 4 years old.
This Explorer booked out at $19K but we got it for a deal with only 46.8K on the ticker. it needs the 00M12 recall for the cam tensioners as it ticks quite loudly upon startup as well as after a warm start. luckily this is covered by Ford.
I plan on keeping the trans fluid changed oFTEN since the trans arent the strongest point on the X.

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1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee, V8 ,AWD

Nice looking vehicle, excellent sound system, sits high so you can see fairly well.

Hard ride, very stiff, lousy tires, noisy engine, poor gas mileage, air leaks around doors, wiper controls were bad when I bought it, oil presure sensor was bad and gave bad reading. Ford didn't want it changed. The door handles are hard to get at if you need to get out quickly. The sport model doesn't have much luggage room behind the back seat. There is no place to store anything in the back of the car such as I used to do with my old '73 Chevy wagon.

Until Ford motor company gets things together and improves the gas mileage and comfort in their SUV's, we'll always have problems with them. I bought the two door sport because my neighbor is a salesman and got it at dealers cost. I couldn't afford the price of the 4 door which is what I really needed. I am stuck with it for another 3 years, then I'll unload it and go back to General Motors.

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I would rather have a Chevy Tahoe, but then I have to deal with gas mileage again. By the time I'm ready to trade, GM will have repaired the milage problem, but I really doubt Ford will have done anything.

This has been a comfortable SUV for moving the family around. The interior held up quite well through years of abuse from the kids (food fights, scavenger hunts and car sickness). The V6 had enough power for my needs since I wasn't towing anything.

I bought this Explorer new in 1994 and had two relatively major problems. First, an intermittent electrical problem surfaced early and was fixed under warranty (engine management computer), but required a month at the dealer under diagnostics. Second, the transmission locked up and had to be replaced at 100k miles (never towed anything, just hauled the family around). Roof racks need to accomodate more weight ... I can stuff an awful lot inside that Thule carrier (yeah, I could supplement with additional racks).

Overall my experience was favorable. I did not find that the transmission or electrical problems I encountered were also typical of others owners experiences, so I assume I had a bit of a lemon. Regardless, I chose to replace this with a 2001 Toyota Seqouia several months ago.

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This was more solid and road better than the similar year Nissan Pathfinder (I had one on lease in 1996/7).

-Roomy
-Sound system
-Safety(compared frontal,offset frontal, broadsides, and rollovers to most other suvs)

-high end power
-braking

I have to say I like my 94' Explorer a lot. The room inside and handling is actually better than what I thought it would be. Looking at and learning about explorers, I knew what things would happen, what would go out, etc. Reading, I found out about brakes. When I bought it, I learned the book was right. Stopping is slow, but what would you expect on vehicle with a notoriously poor braking system. It's nothing that slotted front discs and performance pads wouldn't fix.
Yes, like MOST suvs, it rides like a truck. People don't excpect that when they buy an suv? Those poeple need to go to minivans then.

I've read some of the above statments and found some on fixing problems to be rather odd. If one dealership can't find a problem, try taking it to another dealership or mechanic. Odds are someone WILL find the problem. Some of the people above didn't do that. Not couldn't, but didn't. If they couldn't, I'd understand. But they just didn't. I've had good luck with my ute so far. I've had one problem with it though it's no biggie to me since it has over 100k CITY miles on it.

A ford dealership off madison (for those who know where in California I'm talking about) screwed me on the explorer purchase when I traded off my pickup that I had bought (at a ford dealership in Stockton).

My Advise: BE CAREFUL ON DEALERSHIPS. Some are in it for customer satisfaction and some are in it for money. The dealership I bought my explorer from wanted the sale-that was it. When I confronted them no one would listen. Their service was Terrible. They were in it for money.

The dealership in Stockton (from which I had originally purchased the pickup) was GREAT on sales service and get this, Servicing too. This dealer is in it for customer satisfaction. It is the ONLY dealer I get my explorer serviced at, and will be the ONLY ford dealership I would buy from.

Example: The only problem on the explorer was a clinking noise in the suspension. I looked around the car myself to hopefully save money and found out the clinking noise was a loose lug nut on the subframe. The service department at the ford dealership in Stockton re-alligned the sub frame and tightened it at no charge, even though I didn't buy this ford from them. I along with most people thought that was pretty cool.

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-95' Blazer-the airbag didn't come out when a friend was in a 25 mph frontal collision-Airbags weren't recalled when they should have been.

The leather seats are nice, power everything including sunroof, keyless entry, message center, running boards, JBL sound system is nice, but since I'm such a hard core gangsta, I'll be taking out the 6 1/2" sub and be putting in either one or two 12" subs for some earth shattering bass. People tell me explorers are slow, but I've smoked several pathfinders, 4-Runners and even some V8 Jeep Grand Cherrokees.

Still could be faster and it could come with a 12" sub in the back instead of the little one, but it still produces some nice bass.

Anybody who is going to be buying a new or used explorer, I highly recommend getting the premium sound system, and power sunroof.

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My exlporer is badass, and once I get my subs, everyone will be able to see and hear how badass it is too!

Styling, Engine reliability, Cheap parts, Features

Transmission, body, tires, recalls

Automatic Transmission failed at 38,000 miles, after warranty expired. Very expensive fix. Recalled Firestone Tires, recalled front sway bar links. Aftermarket running boards from dealer falling apart. Sufficient power for on road, tows fine. Engine has been rock solid reliable, even though the tran failed. Since it only seats five and has small cargo area, not sure what recommends this vehicle.

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Jeep Cherokee, Chevy Blazer

Price on these looks pretty attractive. They are good on the street for picking up kids and thats about it.

They have no power when it comes to making it up a hard 4X4 trail. I have traveled with many of these on many different trails and they always have the most problems. The ground clearnace is a joke and the pumkin is almost the size of the axel which designed to make it heavy duty. It actually just catches rocks and makes life on the trail hard. The fact that the engines have no toque doesn't help either.

I would never buy one of these unless it is to go to the store and back. If you want to get off pavement at all buy a Toyota or Jeep.

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Jeep cherokees, wranglers (TJ, YJ), Toyota 4 Runners, Toyota Land Cruisers FJ model.

Price. Easy to get parts. Handles good for SUV.

Poor Reliability. Me too looks. Fuel Economy.

One word describes this SUV, "Exploder". If it weren't for the frequent reliability issues, it would be an o.k. SUV. I also think the Explorer looks bland compared to others in this class. Overall though, the Explorer is a good value and I guess that's why it's still selling well.

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Isuzu Trooper, Ford Escape, Durango, Mitsubushi MonteroSport, Toyota 4-Runner