I'm a long-time lurker and occasional poster with a '91 Eddie Bauer 4x4, purchased in '92 at 50K miles and now limping along at 180K. I don't know how I would have survived it without this newsgroup, Singleton's Explorer pages, and Dr. Bob, as just about anything that's mentioned as problematic with older explorers has happened to mine - everything from broken inside door latches and pulls and center consoles to rusted quarter panels and separated Firestones and a full trannie rebuild at 120K. It's going into the shop on Monday because my mileage has plummeted from 16 to 9, for reasons unknown. But the Explorer was my first SUV and I'm pretty much settled on driving SUVs for the foreseeable future - terrible mileage and you have to accept that you're in a truck, not a car, but it's been hit hard a couple of times and the kids in the back seat were no more than shaken up. For a married-with-children fortysomething like me, big and solid and safe and reliable is way better than small and sporty.
So I'm shopping for a replacement SUV (not too aggressively, it may be a year or more before I actually purchase one) and in all fairness should consider a new Explorer, so I'm asking this group to address the following questions - should I buy another Explorer instead of (insert competing SUV here), or should I buy (insert competing SUV here) instead of another Explorer? Or, as an alternate phrasing of the question - what SUVs should I consider, and which should I reject?
My needs: This will be my everyday commuter vehicle, so high reliability and decent gas mileage are desirable. I'm not a wealthy man and will be shopping in the relatively inexpensive price ranges. I don't do any serious off roading, but have some property in a rural area with dirt (read "mud") roads and sometimes drive on snow/ice so I need four wheel drive. I occasionally pull a trailer (my current Explorer has the optional trannie cooler) over the aforementioned mud roads. I haul lots of kids and their friends and their stuff, so I need four doors and plenty of cargo space. I have no US/foreign or Ford/GM/Dodge bias; any make or model is fine with me as long as it satisfies my needs. I will buy new if I can afford it; a one- or two-year-old vehicle otherwise.
Thanks in advance for your replies,