I am trying to decide between buying a used Escape or Explorer for a 2nd vehicle. My wife drives an '08 Escape, and right now I currently have an '04 FX4 that's for sale. I'm looking for something in the under $10,000 range since it won't be driven more than a few times in 2 weeks and I want out of my truck payment since it sits more than I use it. I work at home on the farm, and I need it to get from point a to b and occasionally 60 miles away to point c. I was looking at used Escapes, but then I looked at some Explorers. I noticed not much price difference between the two once you compared the mileage and the year. Sometimes the Explorers were cheaper than the Escapes.

Now to cut to the chase... There are about 50 2002 Explorers on craigslist in my area, I'd say about 1/4th of all are 2002's. What years should I be looking for to get a good one. I'm sort of looking in the 02-06 range with near 100,000 miles on it. I normally only put around 5,000 miles on my personal vehicle in a year, maybe a few more with something my wife and 2 year old can get in and out of easier. Also, what are some known problems in these years I need to look out for when shopping?

Thanks