Bravo Sir. Keep er going just think how great it is to truly know your ride & save big $$$ compared to your friends who know nothing but the slavery of "car payment life" We drive & enjoy: 1997 (!) Dodge Ram Cummins 4x4 2000 MB e320 wagon 2002 MB ML500 AWD 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer All in perfect running & looking condition- totally paid for !
In my country, I have a 97 and it is just great, unfortunately its previous owners neglected it a lot and now I am fixing every fault it shows, with 290K miles I just repaired its engine, and I will keep fixing it because I want to have it forever.
I have one at 284,00 currently. Looks exactly like the one in the video, except it's an American model, so the steering is on the other side. Unlike what the video says, it actually came with a third row seat.
Prediction of the Explorer turning into a mom-mobile at 3:13 ended up being spot-on. It went from a truck-based off roader to a cop car and a karen krossover
tmmsplace yeah mine leaks collant. Almost overheated once last week. Hot summers are old cars worst enemy. :( Be careful and check coolant weekly in summers.
i had those bad Firestone tires which blew-out in the rain, causing the vehicle fish-tailed across the highway at 65MPH and came to a stop when the passenger side rear quarter smacked into a light post. The light post came down across I-95. An 18-wheeler hit the brakes, and an Isuzu Trooper II to smash into the back end of it. Only can guess how many other chain reaction incidents ensued.
tmmsplace Yeah I’ve heard of those stories. You gotta have new tires with a lot of tread. You can’t buy cheap tires for a heavy SUV like an explorers. However I think that Ford also badly designed the axle for the explorer. The explorer is tall, thin, heavy, and high center of gravity. Literally a recipe for disaster. That’s why when I drive in curvy backroads, I drive 5-10 miles below the speed limit. Because my explorer feels like it might tip over if I do a sharp corner while going over 35 mph. And it understeers when it rains. Just be careful when driving body on frame SUVs, and you’ll be fine. Explorer is my first car and I like it. Lots of visibility and was dirt cheap (1k dollars).
The Ford Explorer is a vehicle designed for Australian roads and off-beaten tracks. It's appearance suited the designer at the place where it was conceived. That was at my place but theft happened and Ford soon manufactured the Explorer as I had designed and named it. It is just one of many vehicles I designed from the ground up, including features as the addition of a Schrader valve, as found on tubes, to allow fuel-pressure tests to be done from under the hood. The Explorer is a great offroader and goes well on LPG.
Did you design the first gen as well? The 91-94 is by far my favorite body style explorer. The second gen I feel lost some of its brawniness Edit: Bob Aikins designed the second gen Ford Explorer.
It was designed by Ford USA for American roads and tastes at the time, the fact that it was also adapted to Australia and Europe (less successfully) is but a footnote in the model's history!. This Explorer was basically a complete sheetmetal revision - with new dashboard, engines and transmissions - of the original '91 Explorer, itself based off the Bronco II SUV and Ranger pickup which had been around since the early 1980s. I can't imagine driving this in the UK, it would have been terrible on twisty B-roads! And parking? No thanks... car park spaces are barely big enough for a Fiesta in most of the UK.
@@RoadCone411 I get by on the lanes of rural Wales! I can't go as fast as I did in my old Saab 9-3, but then, I can carry a load more stuff in it, so swings and roundabouts. Parking can be a pain on the road, often have to pass up spaces I would have got my Saab into, but rarely have a problem in car parks.
I grew up with these. Did many, many happy miles in an explorer and even managed a trip to Paris with mum & dad in one. Review seemed a little harsh, They're Great !!
Mr Moff Lack of character? That line hurt me alot. I guess brits dont understand the interesting history and culture of the explorer like we americans do?
@@angelgjr1999 As an American, I think this is easily one of the most bland and tasteless vehicles ever made. It is incredibly ambiguous in terms of styling, and just has an "alright ish" V6 pulled straight out of a budget pickup truck. It was only had a manual optional for the first couple years, and came with a 4 speed automatic like every other truck, SUV, and car had available at that time. I currently own Suburban, and it's not much better, but at least it has the LS based V8 going for it.
My parents used to have a 1998 Ford Explorer. It was a nice SUV. I even drove it a couple times once with my father and in a hospital parking lot after my mother had a blood test that bleed a lot. I didn’t drive it long distances since I got my first car the following year which was a 1998 Ford Contour.
Awesome video! I remember when the Ford Explorer looked like this. At the time, I didn't find it very attractive. I thought the change in grille made the front end look hideous. However, the more Ford changed the appearance to what it looks like today, the more I like this old-school look Explorer.
Have the 02 stock struts suck change them with 4 inch lift new tires goes anywhere. Plus 223000 miles not a singles light no not one ever. I love it . Sometimes I get out and just lick the muffler to show it who's boss👅🤪🤪
matthew hull Ford only sold those here in the states. You could special order an Excursion overseas but it was only available in Left-Hand-Drive. To my knowledge there has never been a right-hand-drive Excursion or Expedition
I had a 97 Explorer Limited. 2WD V8. Black with a gray leather interior. It was a great SUV that did me well for a few months. Traveled around the southeast of the US with it. It had 175K on it and sold it last year at tax time. The one thing I didn't care for was its propensity to tip over in an accident. That was one reason I let it go... I also had a 96 Explorer Eddie Bauer AWD V8. Also a beast, it oddly rode better than my 97? You could tell it was trimmed out a bit nicer - the materials changed between 95/6, 97/8 and again for 99. My 2000 Mountaineer V8 I had was not having the same grade of carpet, leather, or plastics as my 96, nor my 97. I raced a guy with a new Grand Cherokee V6 with my 97 Explorer V8, and beat him to 60 from a stop light! Most entertaining race I've ever had. Not a fair comparison but what a difference 20 years made - a V6 GC can almost outrun an old V8 Explorer. Anyways they were a decent, reliable platform that sold well and looked good. And they did ride alright for being an SUV based on a Ranger.
They show off those Firestone Wilderness tires multiple times, even though they led to many deaths from explosion, but I guess that they did not know at the time. Oh well...
@@jamesritter9360 Even on non-Ford vehicles, the Wilderness tires where unsafe at high temps and high speeds and still experienced tread separation, and were one of the most unsafe radial tires sold to the market.
We have an 08 explorer with 248 and just did timing chains and general maint, thats it and amountaineer awd with 178k and that had a transfer case replacement haha
I have a 93 Mazda Navajo. It's about the same thing as the Explorer it just says Mazda instead of Ford the back hatch and the steering wheel and the grill. The headlights and the grill is different from the Explorer also. Mine only has 150k on the clock and it runs excellent. Idk why it gets such crummy gas mileage? It's an automatic transmission. Mine gets about 13 city/19/highway. My S10 p/u has a bigger engine and it gets way better mileage. The Chevy gets 17 city/24 highway. It might even get a little better than that on the highway. It is a bit lighter and has a higher rear gear ratio the Mazda has 3.73 track loc. The Chevy has 3.08 open differential. The Chevy has a 5speed manual transmission.
No icon for pictures, on my fourth explorer, all see off road to our deer camp. Two even had a deer in the back, room for them. Happy Sunday, the Lords blessings, 🙏 🇨🇦 amen
Easy on the pocketbook. Got mine for free. But it is a 2-door, so pretty ackward for passengers and storage. Also rots out like a Ford. Lucky mine came from AZ.
Maybe you just suck at driving and have a bad racing line? Lol. If you are going to proceed swiftly through a corner in anything, you better know what you are doing!
I’m genuinely curious, what makes the Explorer so Australian? The Rover and Cherokee comparisons, I understand, sure. But I can’t say I know enough about Australia to understand the third bit.
Nina Simone was American. The Explorer is American. Simone's singing about "new" things. The Explorer was new to Britain. Simone sang about having fun, etc. Not a hard syllogism to follow. LOL at "Chicago music."
2020 and i still drive one, a 99. thats all you need to know about the old explorers. i test drove a 2019, its horrible, its an overweight sedan. ford redeemed themselves with the bronco, but the prices are a joke. 5 years. lol
M That being he case, this comment is even more wrong. I thought it was the grand but they just called it the Cherokee because there was no other here.
Absolutely..in the mid-late 90s the Ford Exploder, as they say in LA.. was the most popular SUV for the young 20-30 douche bags.. along with the 4 Runner.. the young hollywood workers were all leasing these trucks 🤩.. eh.. the 4runner is a real off road car and worth it.. the Exploder was just trash, as it’s popularity meant to many poorly built vehicles..too generic really.. I think the Jeep was better..
My neighbor’s son came home for Thanksgiving in one of these Explorers because his car has been in the body shop for three months because of COVID shipping issues. ..it was towed the next morning because neighbors/cops mistook it as an abandoned vehicle. Meanwhile, my other neighbor’s ‘98 4Runner has never suffered a similar embarrassment. 😏Not say’n, jus say’n😂 (Cough) (cough) *SHITBOX!* (cough) (cough)
Wow. You came to a vintage age to talk shit about a vehicle? If it was in the body shop it might've had different colored panels stick. That's pathetic.
No it is not. Mazda had a version in the US called the Navajo (3-door only) but it may be the most forgotten badge-engineered model ever. The original Explorer was actually developed from the Bronco II SUVs of the 1980s, themselves a ute-version of the Ranger pickup truck. Insanely popular in the US, you don't see many Explorers from this era now...I guess this was 23 years ago.
