Thanks Ethan! Good to see ya post. It's an Explorer not Expedition by the way. I do find myself 'curious' about mods, but have no plans.

 

Bit,

my fiancee and I test drove an explorer a month back. The color you got is very nice! Thats the one I was asking the dealer to get here. At the time, they only had silver, white, and black. I really wanted one.. and especially cuz of the price too. But my fiancee is very set on getting the Nissan Armada or Lincoln Navigator/Aviator.

Actually, right now, i'm itching to buy a used beater. Either a 98-01 explorer or 99 SC400. again congrats on your purchase.

 

Thanks - glad you liked it. I don't expect much interest on this Lexus board.

The Armada/Navigator are nice but bigger than I wanted. The Aviator is a Lincoln version of the Explorer, right? Did it get the updates from the new Explorer already?

An Explorer or SC400 - such similar vehicles, LOL

 

Superchips it

 

Congragulations, Friend.

The Explorer may not quite have Lexus quality or its longer warranty, but it offers a lot of vehicle for the price.....you could have done a lot worse. The tipsy-topsy problems with the old suspension and Firestone Wilderness tires are pretty much history now....and this vehicle benefits from the new anti-roll stability system pioneered on the Volvo XC-90 ( Ford, as Volvo's owner, is of course free to use this technology on its own name-brand vehicles as well ). And the good news is that gas prices ( always a concern with mid-to-large SUV's ) seem to have peaked and are starting to head down slightly.
I'm sure by now you know the standard new-vehicle break-in rules, so I won't repeat them again. PM me with your name and mailing address and I'll send you a complementary bottle of SCRATCH-OUT to help keep that new paint looking new....my traditional new-vehicle gift. thumbup:

 

Check your Owner's Manual.....or just look at the shift lever. Many truck-based vehicles today designed for towing have what is called a " Tow-Haul-Mode " button that, when pressed, locks the transmission out of overdrive top gear ( or gears ). This not only helps prevent heat buildup in the tranny ( it will probably have a tranny oil cooler as well ) but also helps keep the engine from lugging with a heavy load......particularly on upgrades.....and the shorter gear ratio helps engine braking on downgrades and saves some of the load on the brakes.

Also ( and you probably know this ) ........it is best not to do any towing during the break-in period.
That is part of the standard break-in rules.

 

Congrats, Bit!

I just traded in my 10 year old 1996 Ford Explorer XLT 4WD when I bought my GX in January.

It was my first SUV, and my favorite vehicle I have ever owned. It was the only one that I kept to 70,000 miles, too. The quality was superb - nothing major wrong in all those years. I loved it even though it had the small underpowered 6 cylinder engine sold that year.

The seats back then were great - power side thigh adjusters and power adjustments every which way. The extra little touches like the combination door locks, remote trunk lock switch, rear window latch, etc. were nice, too.

I was pretty much planning on a new Explorer, but the ones I saw were disappointing. I think it was a letdown from my solidly built 96 to all the chinzy plastic they use now. Also, nobody around here even had any Limited editions - if they had, things might have turned out differently.

Enjoy your Explorer and I hope you love it as much as I did mine.

 

Hey nice new car.. Any future lexus vehicles?

 

Nice color, good pick up for you. I hope you enjoy it.

 

I just bought a commercial zero turn lawn mower off eBay that I plan to put a Lexus emblem on. Does that count? It should be delivered this week. Isn't it a beauty?

If I bought another vehicle it would probably be a sports car, and probably a Porsche, but that's just dreaming for now as I'm trying to get a new business going and also have endless stuff to do on our property here... and if I hit the lottery I'd buy an LS600h for grins too.

 

Another thing on the Explorer - my insurance went DOWN compared to my 6 yr old GS. I guess that's due to cost of repairs and likelihood of accidents. Interesting.

 

Nice buy! Yeah I've been really impressed by a lot of Ford's newer offerings. All they seriously need to do is get their 3.5L DOHC V6 "Cyclone" engine out the door to replace the Duratec30 and they will have top-notch offerings in a lot of their other cars and SUVs too.

 

Man, you and I are reading from the same hymn book.

Ford really is trying to make their cars more refined, more competitive (e.g., 6 speed autos before a lot of others were), and soon, more powerful with the new engine you mentioned which on paper at least sounds like a major improvement over the aged Duratec.

 

Thanks mmarshall. I'm enjoying it.

Thanks. On the warranty, I went for the 60month/60,000 extended bumper to bumper one just for insurance. Yes Ford's factory warranties should be longer though.

Yes, this one came with quality Michelin tires, a pressure monitoring system and independent suspension all around now.

Ford doesn't seem to have any break-in rules. Just bring it in for an oil change (I think they say 7500 mi. - haven't checked yet, but I never go more than 5K between oil changes).

Very kind of you, thanks, but I already have some! I've been a fan of it for years.

 

congrats on the new car paul, it's definitley very different from the gs huh? definitely stick around man