insite or feedback on explorer sport trac?

[WEJEEKEYTJ]

thanks to all for looking, i am looking at a 2003 explorer sport trac with a 5 speed manual trans (prefered).. i was curious if anyone had first hand experiance with the sport trac and had any feedback., we have looked at a few smaller quad cab trucks and i keep coming back to the sport trac due to larger interior room. i realize the size of bed is rather small, although i often move engines, landscape material, bricks, blocks etc. we need to be able to haul 2 kids, 1 in a rear facing seat and one in a booster.

maintenance issues?
gas milage?
frequently worn parts?
any feedback is appriciated.

[somedaycj]

My work vehicle used to be an '03. I liked the fact that it was roomy inside, but you still had the ability to haul stuff without getting the inside dirty. (Like hauling branches in a true SUV sucks.) Definately the worst handling vehicle I have ever driven. The rear-end doesn't have enough weight or something, but you could seriously roll that vehicle real easy if you're not really paying attention. An example is hitting railroad tracks on a road with a slight curve at 40 mph, the rear-end really wants to jump to the side. I also had to constantly put it in 4-wheel drive to look at jobs west of Boulder - we're talking driveways with front-wheel drive cars zooming up and down.
I would much rather have my CJ7 on a wash-board road than that Sportrack.

[Steve]

We had an '01 until several months ago. It was the wife's car. We loved it. Not much more to say beyond that.

[forum]

I had a '02 for a while. I liked the truck overall. Kinda short on head/leg room for taller people.

the sohc 4.0 is pretty anemic, if you plan on doing any sort of towing I would think of something else vehicle wise. It was ok around town with a small trailer + motorcycle, but slightly larger trailer +3 atvs and it barely moved.

I had some issues with the spark plugs when I went to change them. They obviously hadn't been changed in a very long time(the gap was soo far off I'm surprised it ran), so when I went to pull them out I actually had one break off in the head.

Other than that I never had any issues and I put ~20k miles on it. It did awesome in the snow last year with some mild tires on it in stock size. I really wouldn't mind having another one, but with a v8 in it. Sold it with ~115k on it so it was fairly high mileage as well. Also if you do happen to buy one, I have the factory 6-disc in dash changer(gray in color, specific ot the sport/sport trac) and a bed extender + hardware I would be willing to let go pretty cheap :)

[Norco]

Trouble free for the most part. Upper/ lower ball joints tend to wear. Outside door handle springs get soft eventually, occasionally the 4.0 serp belt tensioner will get screwy and go out of line causing chirping. I know you said manual trans, but with an auto if the check engine light comes on, run by AutoZone or similar for the free scan- and if it's a P07xx code get the transmission looked at immediately. A couple hundred dollar valve body recalibration can turn into a transmission replacement over a weekend.

[WEJEEKEYTJ]

thanks for the insite!

forum,
i may be in touch if i buy it!

[Barf Bag]

my mom has an 01 (i think) and she loves it. the bed is just big enough for her to put gardening and small improvement stuff in. it has decent power for normal driving, goes alright down the highway, etc. her only complaint is that it wont fit all the grandkids (baby factory at my house)

my brother drives an 04. he got it after his mustang met a jersey barrier. it is a very practical vehicle for him, way gayer than the mustang, but i dont worry about him as much now.

[WEJEEKEYTJ]

i dont plan on towing anything although i would be traveling up and down 70 to breckenridge and back to some family cabins.

i have to ask about the handling.. so does it handle any worse than a typical solid axle pickup / ranger?

i have years of driving a cj5 under my belt so i drive pretty alert.. i am guessing the sport track could feel like a lincoln in comparison.

[Steve]

It actually rides better than a standard Explorer because that's what it is, but with a longer wheelbase (at least that was the case with the '01 we had.) It rode and handled as well as, if not better than, a standard Explorer.

[forum]

On road handling is good, coming from a sporty car to that didn't bother me one bit. On bad washboard in 2wd the back end had a tendancy to want to pass me which wasn't too comforting but putting it in 4wd that goes away completely.

I should mention at one point I did have 2 kids seats in the back, and it wasn't an issue.