Ford Explorer

[Pauleds]

Thinking of possibly selling the Surf and getting a Ford Explorer LPG converted.
They are a 200bhp 4.0 V6 Auto. Anyone driven one please or anyone got any experience of them.I think they are about the same size as the Surf with quite a lot more grunt than my 2.4.
Any advice gladly received.

Paul.

[dave.j.robbo]

Thinking of possibly selling the Surf and getting a Ford Explorer LPG converted.
They are a 200bhp 4.0 V6 Auto. Anyone driven one please or anyone got any experience of them.I think they are about the same size as the Surf with quite a lot more grunt than my 2.4.
Any advice gladly received.

Paul.

What!?!?!

You can't sell the Surf to get a Ford!!!!

Seriously tho, I like the sound of a 200 bhp V6!!

Buy it, and transplant the engine into your Surf!!!!

[phoebelala]

Whatever you do DONT buy an exploder. I had a 4 litre v6 auto S reg and the timing tensioner failed at 40K motorway miles. It was a ford recall but they only changed them if customers complained. Mine went a week after the recall program was finished and it was an engine out job to get to the back cam shaft chain. It was also the only engine I have ever seen that has no means of mechanically locking the cam shaft to its drive and this is done by friction created by a torque figure unknown by ford main dealers. Basically its a figure, wait a min then 90 degrees. Ford gave me the wrong figures. The engine was rebuilt and both heads s****ped when the cam drives both slipped. they refused to accept this was their fault but gave in in the end. I had to ring detroit to get the proper info in the end and built it myself as Ford could not do it.
Its the worst engine in the world. I know of 3 friends that have had explorers 2 of them in the states and all tell the same tale. THEY ARE BAD NEWS. one final point. mine was a UK car, built in Canada owned by my dad from new serviced by the book by ford (OH Dear!!!) and cleaned every weekend and the underneath was like a string vest at 4 years old.

DONT do it.

PS hope this helps
Al.

[Dog_Book]

Them Frontera's dont look to good around the chassis either do they?

[Pauleds]

i thought they were the best selling 4 x 4 in the world Al?

They can't all be rubbish surely,but thanks for the info anyway.

[phoebelala]

And while im on the subject, build quality is the pitts. my dad had the ford bods all over it to fix the air con, the cruise, the electric seats, the window washers (wipers were fine) the compass in the roof NEVER worked and was found to be unconnected from the factory as were the heated seats. The sunroof leaked, the dashboard had half the lights out, the carpets in the boot were too small. Old man was never bothered about MPG but i found it was about 24 on the Mway and 16 around town. This was a 32 grand car by the way

It also broke down a lot when left at retail parks with the key fobs always being to blame (by ford) It would be towed away to start instantly the next day at the dealer when we went to collect it. found out later that canadian built cars (like your intended) suffer from interference from european celltowers. Ford don't admit to this to this day but its a fact.

Anyway, ive ranted enough. BUY ONE if you want but I bet you a hundred quid that within 6 weeks you find yourself broken down or worse "with 2 s****ped 2 litre heads" and NO HOPE of getting it fixed at anywhere but an independant garage cos Fraud aint got a bluming clue mate believe me.

Oh but it was a nice colour........

Without a doubt one of the worst cars ever to issue forth from the badge that should never be mentioned.

At least if yout Toyota head goes its only one and easy to fix!

[phoebelala]

Them Frontera's dont look to good around the chassis either do they?

QUITE RIGHT, Only GM products worthy of a mention these days are Saab which are still miles better than the rest of the group despite sharing many of the groups platform.

Saab 93 and veccy for instance, same floorpan very different car.

Al.

[kiwihaggis]

No no no!

The best ever 4WD is the Surf's big bro! I found this beauty while surfing the net at work..... hope the boss doesn't read this.

http://www.toyota.com/tacoma/exterior.html

If only I lived in the States, I would buy two of these! Awesome vehicle, plenty of grunt and if there isn't, go the V8 Super-Charged Tundra.

Eat your heart out Dodge Ram.

[SSRX3.0TDLE]

Thinking of possibly selling the Surf and getting a Ford Explorer LPG converted.
They are a 200bhp 4.0 V6 Auto. Anyone driven one please or anyone got any experience of them.I think they are about the same size as the Surf with quite a lot more grunt than my 2.4.
Any advice gladly received.

Paul.

Go a step up and get yourself a Surf SSSRX 3.0 TD Limited like mine, plenty of grunt..

[SSRX3.0TDLE]

How about a nice Surf V8.??

CHECK THIS OUT.!!!

[SSRX3.0TDLE]

Or This one.!!

[BUSHWHACKER]

I know this truck, lives a couple of miles away from me, and sounds f****** awesome!

[Guest]

Actually driven quite a few Ford Explorers. They are nice beasts to drive on the road and quite handy off road if a bit large (not that I'm going to say much about this as I drive a Land Cruiser).

However as has been said, the build quality is pretty appaling and the engines while being really powerful are not as strong as the older American engines.

Buy a Brinco if you need to go for a ford. Now they are awsome beasts. One of the best American 4x4s ever built, strong, simple, really comfortable, great A/C and the best Ford engine ever. Enough Torque to pull down quite large housing estates and the engines never break.

Or a Chevy Blazer K5. Like the Bronco, strong, simple and very very comfortable.

Only problem is both are getting old now.

How about getting an LC 80 series, bit more expensive than an explorer but 10 times better and just as comfortable and easy to drive and not much less powerfull. If you get a petrol one then the fuel economy is no worse and you can get LPG converted ones. All the toys plus Toyota build quality.

[Koi]

Only seen one of them off road at devils pit.
Within two minutes of being there it snapped the steering rod on the soft green part of the course. When we looked at the rod it was about a thick as a match stick.
Keith (Hormygollop) towed it on to his trailer and out on to the main road so the guy could be recovered.

[TonyN]

Most of has been said, but they arn't the greatest of cars if you do a trawl of the net, but probably not the worst either. Its easy to the best selling SUV in the world when your home market is the millions of US buyers.

From a LPG point of view, its has to be a really well set up installation as they have a lot of plastic parts on the intake, and one good LPG backfire blows them to bits.