2006 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer Edition 4x2

In December of 2005, my wife, our two daughters, and I drove from Dallas, Texas to the small town of Weslaco in the Rio Grande Valley in our 1998 Plymouth Grand Caravan minivan. We went to visit my wife's parents who spend the winter down there to avoid the cold climate in their hometown of Sioux City, Iowa. While the Grand Caravan had served us well for many years, this trip made it clear that it was time to think about trading it in on a new vehicle.

My wife had been driving the minivan to work, and was getting tired of the soccer mom image that it projected. She began to picture herself in a rough and rugged SUV of some sort, so before long we were test driving various models. In the end, she liked the Ford Explorer Limited best. We ended up buying the Eddie Bauer Edition, however, because we were shopping during the last few days of "Employee Pricing" and there were no Limited models available. My wife was pleased, nonetheless. I don't remember the exact price, but it was somewhere in the high twenties. MSRP was $33,720. We've had it for three years, now, and it has had its ups and downs, but for the most part, it has been a pretty good vehicle.
 
I won't bore you with a complete list of equipment in the body of this review. If you're interested, I've included it at the bottom. Here, I'll just include the most relevant information.


Standard Features:

Mechanical: This SUV comes with a 4.0L SOHC 6-cylinder fuel-injected engine that produces 210 horsepower and 254 foot-pounds of torque. Linked to the engine is a 5-speed overdrive automatic transmission. In addition, it has independent rear suspension, front and rear ABS disc brakes, power steering, a max towing capacity of 7300 pounds, and a max payload of 1500 pounds. EPA fuel economy estimates are 15-mpg city and 21-mpg highway.

Safety: The Explorer has many safety features, perhaps due to the influence of Ford now owning Volvo. It comes standard with Roll Stability Control, front and side airbags, an air curtain setup for the back seats, passenger airbag cutoff capability, and child safety locks. It received five-star ratings in NHTSA front and side crash testing.

Exterior: The Eddie Bauer edition has a unique paint scheme, 3-bar chrome grille, 17" wheels and tires, power side mirrors, running boards, chrome roof rails, and remote keyless entry. The lift gate in back has a separate lift glass as the top half of the gate.

Interior: On the inside, the Eddie Bauer edition is very nice, with lots of simulated wood trim and leather. It has a 10-way adjustable power leather-trimmed driver's seat, manually adjustable leather-trimmed passenger seat, power adjustable pedals, power windows, power locks, air conditioning, an AM/FM/6-CD/MP3 player, an overhead console for map lights, garage door opener, and sunglasses. The second row 60/40 split bench seat and the third row seats are also leather trimmed. The third row seats have a powerfold feature. There are several 12-volt outlets and lots of cupholders placed throughout the vehicle.


Experience:

Right from the beginning, we liked the way the Explorer handled. It has a solid truck feel, since it has a body-on-frame chassis. It has a short turning radius for such a large SUV and is easy to park. On the highway, it tracks smoothly and has a very quiet ride with little road or wind noise coming through. The ride in the back seats is a bit bouncy, though. The seats are comfortable, with the driver's seat being adjustable in height, lumbar support, forward or backward, and tilt.
 
The front of the cabin is roomy and comfortable. The second row seats allow good head and leg room, although the third row seating is cramped. Altogether, this vehicle can seat seven passengers. The cargo area is not all that large, especially with the third row seats in the upright position.

Most of the controls are conveniently reached on the dash, the turn signal lever, or on the door panel. However, the door handles themselves are in an oddball location. You have to reach under the door control panel for them, and they are lower than normal. It takes a little getting used to.

Sitting in the driver's seat, there is good visibility all around, at least outside. One small issue I have with this vehicle is that it's hard to read part of the instrument cluster. The steering wheel and the turn signal lever block some of it so the driver has to crane his neck to see the fuel gauge in the lower left.

I'm very satisfied with the performance of the six-cylinder 4.0-L engine. It has plenty of acceleration when getting on the highway or passing other cars, and enough power to easily handle any roadway hills, even fully loaded. We've never had a reason to tow anything, so I can't comment on that. As far as fuel mileage, we've gotten about 17 mpg in the city and 20 mpg on the highway.

This is the first vehicle that we've owned that had the reverse sensor system. It has come in handy a few times, and does help when pulling out of a tight parking space.

One of the silliest features on this SUV, in my opinion, is the power folddown feature of the third row seats. Usually, when you want to fold seats down, there is a lever you release or a strap you pull. In a fraction of a second, the seat is down. With the power folddown you have to push a couple of buttons located on the wall of the rear cargo area, then a motor slowly lowers or raises the seats. It takes about four seconds to fully raise or lower the seats this way. I just don't see the point. My wife, however, likes the feature. She points out that if you have your hands full, it is easier to push a button than pull a lever, and the buttons are easier to reach than a lever or strap would be. I have to admit the logic of that, but I still think it's a bit of overkill with the power options.

The first problems we had with our Explorer occurred around 15,000 miles. The gearshift began to be hard to move out of park and gradually got worse. In addition, we noticed a rattling noise from the blower motor when the defroster was turned on high, and a part of the driver's door lower seal became loose. We took it to the dealer and all of the problems were addressed under warranty. However, the gearshift is still a little hard to move out of park from time to time.
 
At about 30,000 miles, the left rear passenger window would not roll down, and we felt the engine surge at times when cruising at steady highway speeds. These repairs were also addressed under warranty and we've had no further problems with these issues.

At about 31000 miles, and less than two years old, the battery died. We replaced it without going to the dealer because we needed it running right away.


Conclusion:

My wife still loves it! She likes the feeling of riding high and all the appointments and features that come with this Explorer. I think it's pretty good. I like the solid truck feel, the excellent handling, and the quiet ride, but I think the reliability should be better. If you need an SUV, I think the Ford Explorer is a pretty good choice, but be aware that there might be a few problems with it that will need repaired.



List of features:

Standard Equipment:
4.0L SOHC 6-cylinder fuel-injected engine
114" wheelbase
5-speed automatic transmission
Running boards
Air conditioning
Floor mats & carpet
17" aluminum wheels
3-bar chrome grille
Pueblo Gold bumpers/wheel lip molding/running board
Front fog lamps
Liftgate w/flip-up glass
Leather trimmed 10-way power driver seat
60/40 rear splitfold bench
Power door locks & windows
Power mirrors
Message center w/compass, temperature, trip computer
Leather steering wheel
Speed control/tilt steering wheel
Woodgrain trim accents
4-wheel independent suspension
Power brakes w/EBD
22.5 gallon fuel tank
Cargo management system
Overhead console12-volt power outlets
Rear window defroster
Advancetrac w/roll stability control (antilock braking system traction control/stab.
TechAdaptive saftey tech (driver, front passenger, and side seat airbags/ adaptive front seat belts, front passenger sensing system)
Tire pressure monitoring system
Full spare tire
Side impact door beams
Child seat tether anchor
Securilock passive anti-theft
Remote keyless entry w/keypad
24 hour roadside assistance
36/36 bumper-to-bumper warranty


Optional Equipment:

Eddie Bauer paint & trim
Roof rails
6-CD MP3 player
Automatic dimming rear view mirror
Power adjustable pedals with memory
Auxiliary climate control
Reverse sensing system
Powerfold third row seat