Ford Explore recall.

dodge guy wrote:

troubledwaters wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Yep. And despite my screen name I have owned Fords all my life. I was a Mopar tech at a dealer for 20 years, hence the screen name. But the way Fords rot away and/or start to rot after 3 years has me in a Ram Megacab for my next truck!

I laughed so hard when I read your post I blew coffee out my nose. You're afraid of rot away so you're buying a Ram!.

Yep! I think you are thinking of mid 90's early 2000's Rams. The ones from the last 10 years seem to be holding up! I haven't seen any rust under those when they come in like the Fords do.
So yes.

Ever since RAM went independent from Dodge their QC has been really impressive (started a couple years before the split actually).

I have no dog in this fight, but I manage a restoration shop and have lots of experience with all vehicles (and came about a pen-stroke from buying a '14 RAM 1500 Laramie Longhorn).

They're definitely the most finely-tuned trucks out there, the approach to engineering and QC / long-term reliability / testing is very good. More like a higher-end lux car than a truck.

Too bad the nice ones are ~50k.

I really do love the IRS though - everyone thought they were crazy for introducing that a few years ago, now it's a major selling-point that others are copying. Plus it enabled them to use a modified version of the grand cherokee's active-level air suspension.

Anyways back on topic - I'm sure the explorer is a great vehicle, but I lost a lot of respect for them after copying jaguar / land rover designs almost consecutively with the explorer (range rover, range rover sport) edge (LR3 / lr4, range rover, including the lettering on the hood, signature LR "floating roof" blackout pillars, etc) and fusion (Aston Martin, Jag, headlights grill etc). I don't even think they're hiding it anymore. Maybe a little revenge for poor sales when Ford used to own jag / lr? ;)

I just don't like the car-like platform mostly. But for its current market segment and target audience, it's a great seller (always has been, always will be) and I'm sure people get a lot of bang-for-the-buck, especially with the ecoboost engine.