Faults:

First it started with the sensors. Had to replace 5 at one time. It would cut off in the rain going down the road.

Then it was little stuff here and there.

The last and most expensive problem was the transmission. It blew up on a trip to the beach. No warning.

Biggest piece of JUNK I have ever driven.

Faults:

The head gasket has been leaking coolant into cylinder number 3, even though this problem was 'fixed.' As a result the rad drains and the car heats up - we are lucky its been winter when this happens.

The performance off road and in snow has been good even with worn tires.

The engine light goes on and off every few weeks.

The door latches are held on by plastic clips and a few have had to be replaced.

There is rust around the door jams / hinges.

I have a 1993 Golf in mint condition that has never been garage kept - very poor paint quality on the Ford - chips easily.

General Comments:

Great in snow/ off road.

Unreliability makes it a liability.

Faults:

I must say there has been more pluses to my SUV than minuses. With that said, my rear windshield wiper has never worked properly. The previous owner, who originally bought the SUV, had the same problem.

I have leather interior and of course on hot days your skin sticks to the seats, making it painful at times to get up.

General Comments:

My SUV is very spacious. It seats a family of 5, and 3 of the members are 6ft tall and over 200 lbs. You name the piece of furniture we have used the SUV to move it. When you fold the back seats down you have enough room to put a full size air mattress back there for the night.

Considering it's a SUV, the ride is fairly smooth and handles very well in all types of weather. I love my Explorer!

Faults:

The day after I bought this car, there was that whole recall with the Firestone tires. Since my car was new, I held out until 2002 when the last month of the recall was allowed, and got 4 new Michelin tires out of the deal. I've had to replace the front and back brakes twice, the back windshield wiper doesn't "hit" the entire window anymore and there was a recall on the driver seat's bolt- which I had replaced for free, but didn't know the reason for the recall. No other troubles.

General Comments:

Surprised to find this has been a very good, reliable car. Never thought I'd make 100,000 miles without any real repairs needed. I owned a 1984 Ford Escort in which the old "Found On the Road Dead" or "Fixed Or Repaired Daily" were true quotes.

SUV is very roomy, cloth seats are soft, easy to clean, soaks up sweat whereas leather would make you slide. We've packed in one dog, 5 kids, 4 snowboards and full winter gear INSIDE the cabin before. Seats fold down to accommodate lots of items purchased for the home, such as lawnmower, snowblower, 42inch LCD TV, BBQ Grill, twin size mattresses and klick klack bed.

It is expensive to fill up the tank these days, but each full gas tank will carry us @260 miles. Sometimes that's $35, sometimes $40 at these prices. In the earlier years, it was only $20.

Faults:

Clutch fan needed replacing. When driving in hot (100+ degrees) weather, the temperature gauge goes to the high side of "normal" but not into the Red (Hot) zone. This still happens even after replacing the clutch fan and while driving with the AC off. Thermostat works fine, AC puts out 40 degree cold air at the vents, anti-freeze is fine, no leaks in radiator or water pump. After shutting down the engine, I can hear the antifreeze boiling in the overflow container.

Taking to my local Ford dealer to see if they can do something else to prevent running it hot. Maybe an electrical fan added to the radiator area would help. Who knows?

General Comments:

No other problems noted in the 6 months that I have owned the vehicle. Wish there was more leg room in the rear seat. When adults are in the rear seat, the driver and passenger seats have to move pretty far forward to provide a little leg room to rear seat occupants.