Originally Posted by dkf

I have to say the newer Taurus looks nice and can really move with the EB 6 but the price is up there.

Originally Posted by Mike-G

Ford is in business to make money and the bulk of people that buy explorers don't use them hard. With this economy, people are buying vehicles that more closely match their real lifestyle - not to impress the neighbors anymore. Tell you what - you buy 300,000 tradational SUV's every year and I'm pretty sure Ford will build a plant just for you. People that buy "tools" buy trucks. People that buy toys (motorcycles, snowmobiles, small boats ...) buy explorers. U-haul won't even rent you a trailer if you drive up in an explorer (thanks firestone!!!). As far as 300K miles ... pretty much no vehicle is expected to survive nearly 20 years through Michigan winters with our salt covered roads - not sure where you live. The new explorer doesn't match my lifestyle - my F150 and Focus are the best of both worlds - but it will certainly match more people's than the outgoing model has in the last 3 years. If it doesn't match your lifestyle, then quit whining and buy a truck.

Originally Posted by elemint

Well Ford should fire the entire marketing devision every 5 years then. Did Ford listen to people in the 70's that wanted smaller fuel efficent cars? No. Did they make crap for 2 decades? Yes. Did people want crap? No. The market has already spoken on the Explorer, the problem is Ford is too dumb to understand what they are saying. When sales go down they come to the conclusion that people want a lesser vehicle. What people want in the explorer is a 4x4 that is reliable and not a gas hog. If Ford had a clue they would have built a small diesel for the Explorer and left it a truck platform. For some reason Ford refuses to take the lead in anything automotive.