Faults:

At 89,850 miles the gearbox went.

About 200 miles later the timing chain went belly up.

I sold the car for some one-tenth of the price I paid for it - after only six months.

General Comments:

I loved it, I simply loved it. It was big, brash and, in this country, rather rare. It was a comfy drive and driving on LPG was nice and cheap.

Lots of people seemed to hate it, and that just made me like it even more.

However, despite oil level checks/change, the big beauty decided two weeks ago to go downhill rapidly, leaving it cheaper to scrap than keep - I loved it, but am not sorry to see it go.

Faults:

Nothing Significant.

General Comments:

Fantastic car. Had it now almost a year and been impressed with everything it has shown me. Well mannered in all road conditions whether in a jam or cruising at high speed. Ceaseless power on tap and a lovely roar from the engine. Well equipped and everything continues to work. Loads of space and very comfortable. Costly on petrol, but well worth it for the level of comfort and quality of drive. Even after a year it still fells like a special occasion every time I go out! Buy one and never regret it - from my experience.

Faults:

Bit of a squeal from handbrake, but went away. needs very hard pull to apply handbrake.

General Comments:

Very comfortable, but a bit bumpy at times. lovely smooth v6 engine, loads of torque, lovely sound, but very juicy!

Love the car. Great trim and equipment. fuel economy is the only drawback, but not much worse than my galaxy - last car - a 2.3 petrol.

Faults:

There was a fault with the engine management system, but the dealer I bought it from (Non Ford) has replaced all four O2 sensors, and the MAF sensor, free of charge and now the fault is cured.

General Comments:

I bought the car as a replacement for my Volvo to tow a caravan. It is seriously powerful when towing, and sometimes you have to remind yourself that there is a caravan on the back.

I have had the car converted to LPG, which is half the price of petrol in the UK, and have been very impressed with the resultant drop in running costs. I should get my money back on the conversion within 12 months.

I am not happy with the driving lights on the spoiler, as they do not have an independent switch.

When driving slowly around car parks and the like, there are a lot of transmission thuds, which alarms my wife, but I have told her that this always happens on this type of car!!

Faults:

Nothing yet.

General Comments:

The Explorer has served me well. Always starts and runs flawlessly.

It seems to be generally very well constructed and is a comfortable and practical car to own. It makes at great family vehicle as there is ample space for kids and luggage.

The engine is quite a powerhouse and makes the Explorer fairly swift for such a large heavy vehicle. It is heavy on fuel though: I get 20mpg.

Lots of standard equipment including air conditioning (very welcome!), and it is a real looker with chrome alloy wheels and beautiful dark green paint finish. The North Face version has a body coloured grille and bumpers also, so looks less gaudy than the chrome trimmed XLT. It looks better for it in my opinion.

Very surefooted in bad road conditions. It's great in the snow and is a fantastic vehicle for towing.

A much better car than the old Spanish built Maverick 4x4.

Faults:

Cruise control only worked intermittently. As is typical with intermittent faults, it worked fine when I took it back to my local dealer (Hendy Ford of Portsmouth) to be looked at, and they never found the cause of the fault.

Nothing else went wrong with this car.

General Comments:

This 4x4 is as tough as old boots. The Americans certainly know how to build a solid car.

Mine was full UK spec in RHD.

The engine is very reliable and provides great performance for such a heavy car, although fuel consumption is a bit excessive at 22mpg in my hands.

It is ideal for towing and great off-road. It is also very spacious and practical, making it great for families.

The Explorer's handling qualities leave something to be desired.

I recently sold it to make way for a new Ford Ranger pick-up. I miss the power and refinement, but not the fuel bills. Don't let that put you off if you can afford to run one though!