We are looking for a used SUV for around 3,000. Everything available seems to be very high miles 150,00 and up and pre-2000.

Looking at the KBB reveiws the mountaineer has a higher rating at 4.6 out of 5 to the explorers 4.3 out of five. Anyone know why? After reading many of the reveiws, It seems the moutaineer does not have the tranny problems the explorer dose.

I asume used parts would be interchageable.

Thanks for any advice, Todd

 

I think a lot of the $3k Explorers met their demise in the Cash for Clunkers program so the herd is likely a bit thinner than it used to be.

The Mountaineer and Explorer are the same vehicle aside from body and interior parts, and if there are any diffs in survey results, it might be a direct result of the owner group of each vehicle. I imagine the Mountaineers are more likely to be owned by "luxury minded" folks whereas more kids and outdoorsy type folks who pull trailers, etc own Explorers and may tear them up just a bit more than a Mercury Mom dropping kids off at school.

George

 

Yah the cash for clunkers thing really cut down on the used vehicles in our price range. It worries me that it will be harder to find used parts for my f-150s.

I had not considered the owner group effect, that does make sence. A freind suggested the mercs only used more soid tried and true tranys and engines and did not try any of the newer ones. For example I do not believe the v-6 overhead cam was available in the merc.

 

IIRC the Mountin' Qu... Mountaineer was V8, AWD only. Thus, you avoid the pesky (in early years) OHC V6 and the double pesky 5 speed automatic.

In that price range, everything is a question mark, so you just have to find one that looks and drives good, and take your chances.

Good luck.

 

I have seem moutaineers for sale with a v-6. I was on my way to buy one but the sale fell through on my way there. I can not recall where I saw this but I read the v-6 with the overhead cam was never available for the merc. However they did make it available with the pushrod version.

For future referance what year if ever did the ohc work out the bugs? And what exactly were the bugs to look for? Thanks again, Todd

 

My son has an '04 Mountaineer with a V6 OHC and it's loaded. Little high mileage but he got it from a L/M dealer for about $5000 below KBB and he is a happy owner. He's has it for a little more than a year and the only problem was the transfer case (see my album or my post here for pics). It was covered in his ext. warrantee plan. No other problems and as I, said Happy.
Go to trader.com to look for V6 Mounties.

 

Yeah, the Mountaineer was available with the V6 and 5-speed, but the majority of them seem to be the V8 with the 4-speed tranny (pre-2002) and 5-speed auto in 2002 and newer. The V8s seem to have a better track record. Also, there were/are far fewer Mountaineers sold than Explorers which may contribute to a higher number of negative comments on the Explorer. Plus, as was mentioned above, the sometimes less expensive Explorers may have been more subjected to abuse and reduced maintenance.

-Rod

 

And that probably explains why U-Haul will not rent their trailers to be towed with a Explorer. They told me that it was due to the average age of the owner/operators of the Explorers and the crash data associated with them. Mountaineers are usually owned by more mature drivers. Then again it may have more to do with the high rate of tire failures and rollovers as well as the publicity associated with them.

 

Uhhh, I've must have been asleep since 1997, apparently the only year of V8 only.

ONLY the OHC V6 was offered, starting in '98.

The OHC V6 problems were resolved probably by 2004 or so, not sure. The 5 speed auto problems persisted quite a while.

As far as mpg, no difference in most cases/uses.

 

I found where I read the info on the v-6 in mercs, I rememberd incorectly.

"Production of the Mountaineer started with the debut of the second-generation Explorer for the 1997 model year. It was initially unique for only coming with Ford's 4.9-liter pushrod V8, the famous 5.0 Mustang motor whose gas-guzzling habits were downright offensive. Things improved when Mercury received the better of the Explorer's two V6s, a 210-hp 4.0-liter, as its standard engine the next year. Initially, buyers had a choice between 2WD and AWD, but in '98, Mercury added a third option, a dual-range 4WD system"

I assumed the better of the two v-6s was the push rod version. I missread and I do not know which one they used.

 

205 or 210 HP 4.0 V6s were OHC. The OHV was around 168 or so iirc.

 

my aunt owns a mountaineer and my brother owns an explorer it seems that the explorer is a bit more reliable my aunts mountaineer has been in the garage 5 times for off the wall problems since she got it.

 

my dad has a 96 explorer with the 4.0 and it has 260,000 miles on it ant the only real problem with it is the torque converter....

and my step mom has a 2000 explorer limited <--- i love it... it has the 5.0 and gets about 12-14mpgs..... the only bad part with it is rust on the bottom of the lift gate....

 

Thanks for all the info guys, as always it was very helpfull. I shoiuld have a vehicle by the end of the weekend I will let you know what I get.

Thanks Todd.

 

As an Explorer owner and u-haul employee i will answer that one. U-haul does not rent to Ford Explorer's due to the high cost of defending themselves in lawsuits. When Ford had the firestone tire issue and the explorers were flipping left and right, ford would refuse to take the blame and said it was the trailer's fault it a u-haul trailer was attached to it when it flipped. The only reason that u-haul rents to mountaineers and aviators is the fact that there were far fewer occurrences with these vehicles. Mountaineer is typically used less for DIY moving just cause of owner group. The policy was enacted 12/23/2003, so the aviator had been out for only a year, and probably had very minimal occurrences, if any as I think Ford had resolved the problem for the 2002 and up explorers, if i am wrong then so be it, but that is the official reason u-haul will not rent to an explorer.