I still want one

A grand cheaper here and 2000 less miles :)

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It's nearly banger money that isn't it?

It'd only work as a commuter hack though, I mean, it's got a big engine and

4wd, but it's not that powerful really and it's a complete barge so it'll be about as inspiring as a Gordon Brown speech in corners. Bet it's comfy though!

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It's all about the torque.

And B5.5s don't handle badly at all.

I really want to try a W8 - the only B5.5 I've driven was a 2.5TDI Highline (ISTR it was Highline, but could have been SEL)

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Big engined cars are coming dirt cheap now, ive just bought a 10 year old,

35,000 miles, FSH, leather, air con, cruise blah blah for for £1450! its big but its nice and worth the monye, Ford Explorer 4x4. Its not even run in!!

cambelt on one of these must be a pig of a job?

OTOH how cool :)

Aren't they chains?

Even so, it's a much easier job to work on B5.5s than you'd think as VW designed the front end to hinge out of the way for easy access.

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SteveF? Is that you?

That mileage is really low! No chance it's clocked? Or has it just been used to move horses from time to time or something?

Anyway, assuming you're not car sharing with Mr Firth then it seems the worlds most statistically improbable event has occured, and there is now two Ford Explorer owners in this, rather small, group...

Well yea, but it's got 8 cylindars in a 'W' formation hehe! It's just not gonna be easy to work on is it :-)

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Unless it's affected by the extra weight of the lump over that in mine, I'm sure it'll be fine on handling.

I love the handling on mine as it goes - very surefooted, even in the wet.

Well, you know SteveF was saying he was considering a replacement? He just clocked it a bit before selling the old one on :-)

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ISTR they're really heavy - but I haven't Googled it.

Ok I have just Googled it, and clicked the first link which says 1902kg -

- I was sure that I'd heard once that it really was a fat bastard.

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Nope not Steve F, Simon W :)

Yeh has full stamped service history from Ford main dealer in Bristol, bought it from a guy that works at Ford dealer in Bristol, he picks a few part ex's up that the they get it but dont want. I called the one owner the week after i got it and he only used it as a second car and his wife used it when they had snow in the winter! Never had a tow bar fitted, back seats have never been sat in, apart from the MPG its a lot of car for the money, having said that, most of my milage is motorway and sat at 70 MPH on cruise i get 27 to the gallon out of it which i didnt think was bad at all.

Careful with the sometimes-play-doh timing gear on these! I speak from bitter experience....

Tim..

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It's a 4-Motion though, which will help it hustle through bends.

The main thing I hope is that they've beefed the brakes right up compared to mine... which work very well for the first few heavy prods of the pedal but which then fade if you're continually on and off them when tackling a particularly twisty bit of road.

Something I intend to address soon, as it's the only thing that holds you back really. :-)

Insurance group 18, yikes!

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Which engine is it as a matter of interest? Or is the 4.0 V6 the only option...?

bah groups mean f*ck all, my MR2 turbo was group 20

The Vee was 20B - not sure what the 'B' means...

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Its the 4.0 V6 cheers