Ping Steve Firth. Ford Explorer info.

[David Paste]

So you have a collection of Fords, presumably?

[David Paste]

Or maybe an easy excuse for avoiding the harpy at home?!

[The Natural Philosopher]

I did it a year ago.

[js.b1]

Definately a high ground clearance 4x4 rather than say a 4x4 Audi Avant... was there an Audi A6 Quattro Avant?

Is the Grand a V8? A V8 other than recent German tends to be thirsty, even on LPG.

All vehicles rust - inside to outside. Beware the illusion of it looking ok. When you can see 1" of rust on the outside whatever is rusting will be about 36x2" or 6x6" and no I am not kidding. German, Japan, USA, anyone. Mercedes suffered endemic rot, one Mark (V?) of the Golf is near perforating in under 4yrs, so beware assumptions and it will cripple resale if buying high.

There are a range of options here...

- Subaru Forrester, I think that is the right name, is a well regarded

4x4 without the loony fuel economy & turbo (2.2I4 & 2.5V6 probably available?)

- Audi Avant Quattro is big enough for anything, A6, the later big- tank etc

- Nissan Quashedit

- BMW X3 X4? X5

- Kia Sportage is a proper 4x4

Cherokee is unique amongst 4x4 re more car than truck. Most 4x4 ride on the easier truck crash / fuel economy / reliability data than direct competitors in the USA market.

Is the person going proper 4x4 off-road or wet weather car tyres for wet tarmac use? If it is just 4x4 for a district nurse then 1) snow tyres will run rings around a plain 4x4 and 2) car 4x4 will do fine.

Audi Quattro do fine all over snow bound Europe in miserable conditions with real snow tyres, but realise a good non-main-dealer mechanic is important (as in =A345/hr labour rather than =A3100/hr+ labour which is just silly for a thick laptop & TSB reading & parts changing monkey which sadly most are).

[Jules Richardson]

I once had one for a while in the aussie outback - but that was ten years ago now and I don't know if they've been through a billion iterations since then! It really was excellent, though. Handled the serious stuff quite capably, yet still sure-footed even at 70 or 80 on the dirt roads.

cheers

Jules

[David Paste]

Dunno, but he's looking for cheap & easy to fix with a hammer.

Yup.

Hmm, maybe, but might not have the junk-capacity needed.

Too small, really, not to mention probably a bit pricey.

I've had experience of those, the first gen, I think. Not really what was in mind.

It'll be used off-road on the hills where wild haggis roam, and also need to be able to cope with the snow. He has chains though, so no great shakes.

[robgraham]

Subaru Forrester is expensive maintenance and has to be done by Subaru is my understanding.

[Mike P]

No, the Forrester has poor fuel economy and is only available with a flat-4 petrol motor (some turbocharged, but not powerful) in the older versions. There is a flat-4 diesel motor available in later versions, but it's s**te and rough as a bag of spanners.

[Mike P]

There are plenty of non-dealer specialists around that are helpful and friendly. Most jobs can be done by any garage anyway, there's only the engine and 'box jobs that might befuddle them.

[Doctor Drivel]

Well you clearly do. Henry Ford was Nazi as well. The whole outfit is rotten to the core.

[Scott M]

To keep my uncle's Morris Oxford on the road?

Scott

[David Paste]

Yeah, good comeback mate.

[David Paste]

I thought this was supposed to be the creme de la creme of diesels?! What are it's issues then? (I don't know much about this particular engine at all, but was interested to see how it'd do when it was released to great PR-fanfare.)

[John Rumm]

Can't think why... plenty of third party specialists about. There was a time that Subaru UK were sniffy about selling parts for use on grey imports, but eventually they realised it was daft turning money away when it was on offer.

[Jules Richardson]

It stops grease monkeys from squeaking.

[Doctor Drivel]

Fords do not come back. They al;wasy break down. Fix Or Repair Daily. Found On Road Dead.

[charles]

they might do now, but my Cortina Mk3 ran for 13 years without any major failures.

[Chris Whelan]

[...]

Not according to those who actually know what they are talking about:

[Duncan Wood]

Or slightly more up to date

[grimly4]

Biggest load of crap I've read from you and that's saying something. I've had many several Fords in the past couple of decades and they've been just as good/bad as anything else.