Faults:

New battery every few years.

Front ball joints and tie-rods at 120,000 miles.

Brakes every 40,000 miles.

Rear windshield washer does not dispense fluid.

Tires every 50,000 miles.

New exhaust.

Spark plugs at 100,000 miles.

K&N air filter.

General Comments:

Rides like a pick up truck, but has great power!

You can really feel the horses. The AWD is great in the snow, and this is a very reliabe truck.

General Comments:

I'm a 16 year old kid, so I figure all you oldies out there will think I know absolutely nothing about cars. That's a load of crap. My parents gave me my truck about a year ago, it had 70,700 miles on it when I got it, I think oh great another truck. It had the 5.0 V8 AWD. I'm a fan of speed, I get in the car a hammer it, jerk back into my seat like I'm in NASCAR or something cool like that. The ABS plug is lose, I don't know if anyone is having problems with that (super glue fixes everything) the rear hatches rusted completely, had to fix those, big deal 20 bucks, did the labor myself. The bumper was a setback though that cost me 150 dollars, it was so rusted it looked like it was going to fall of. I love cars, I put a double exhaust on Bruno (that's my truck) With a max flow air intake, lift hit 6 inches, brush guard in the front gas shocks, couldest love this car anymore its golden, I LOVE Bruno, everyone that says you hate this car, its because your stupid... Go buy a kia.

Faults:

02 sensor.

Tire recall.

Spark plugs and wires (at the right miles)

General Comments:

The 5.0 litre gives poor gas mileage and poor pickup.

This SUV handles like a tractor; VERY SPONGY suspension; I honestly feel no control over the car when cornering or trying to maneuver in traffic.

The interior has held up pretty good, except for a leak in the sunroof. I would say the front seats are pretty comfortable, however the back seats aren't the best.

I feel in the long run that any american made SUV from this year and price range will probably be about the same. If you are looking to spend about the value of this car, look at a Nissan Pathfinder or Infiniti Qx4 (which I hear has much better gas mileage)

Faults:

2002: Original battery died, CD changer conked out -was told that it would be over $500 to replace... just went to Best Buy and picked up a new car stereo/CD player for $75.

2003: Timing belt replaced

2004: New tires and timing belt

2006: New tires and shocks

2007: Ball joints need to be replaced ($800-$1000)

Nothing all that devastating, just about all routine wear and tear.

The 6 CD changer that it came with died a bit earlier than expected... and the repair on would have been ridiculously high.

General Comments:

I really love this car!

The '97 Mountaineer came as standard with a hearty V8 5.0 liter engine, and All Wheel Drive as a permanent feature (you can't turn it on and off). And, as gas prices climb higher and higher, and with the current trend of trying to be 'green' - it's about time to sideline this baby.

With 215,000 miles on her, this car has been just about everywhere, and has never given me any headaches. Across the country 3 times, a three year commuting distance of 120 miles every day, and has pulled a lot of stranded vehicles out of the snow!

The sound system in this car also deserves mention. I still marvel at the audio quality when I'm listening to music. I've driven many BMW's that don't come near the audio quality in the Mountaineer.

Also, the keyless entry is a must for all of you who (like me) constantly lock your keys in the car. It's also great when I'm toting a bunch of grocery bags or whatever, and I can just plug in the code instead of fishing for my keys.

Oh yeah, and automatic headlights - very handy. Besides automatically coming on when it's dark, you can select on the rearview mirror just how long you want the lights to remain on when you turn the car off (think if you live in an area that's rural, you need light to walk to your door, etc).

To sum up: The '97-'01 generation of Mountaineers is where it's at. The comfort, audio, reliability, and POWER are all selling points.

My mom picked up a 2002 Mountaineer and sold me the '97. The '02's seating is much stiffer and uncomfortable, the rearview mirror is always way too dim (it has an annoying dimming feature that I just don't get), and it's just too large for my taste.

Being an American car, it's generally cheap to fix - just doing routine maintenance will extend the driving life of this car up past the 200,000 mile mark and beyond.

The one big flaw? The SHOCKS! If you have a desire to 'feel the road', then you'll be in automotive heaven. It'd be nice to not feel like I'm going to blow a tire with every pothole...