2009 Ford Explorer Sport Trac User Reviews

Pros

Comfortable, looks OK, easy to drive

Cons

Brakes could be better

Purchased As New

I like my Sportrac, I brought it because of my hobbies, building hotrods, whereas before I had a nice car & a old truck. Now I have both worlds, the lockable tonneau cover is great but is heavy to get off. I have the V8 & happy with that, worst mileage appears to be about 16 mpg & I get 21 mpg on trips. The brakes are a little weird, at a stop light you have to have a lot of pressure on the pedal or it will creep forward. I changed jobs recently & work close to another Ford dealer, they now service by vehicle & have been really good. Not a perfect vehicle but the price was right & it does the job....read morehide

Pros

Fun to drive, handles reasonably well for a truck, looks great

Cons

Questionable factory assembly, so-so gas mileage

Purchased As New

Bought my 2007 brand new and love the truck. But not even a year later the engine wiring harness had to be replaced becuase it was improperly installed at the factory (Did I get Friday one?). Also have noises coming from the timing belts and the engine tick that seems to be common in the 4.6L engine. Love the truck, but I'm cautious about how the construction of the vehicle will hold up over the next few years, especially after the factory warranty expires......read morehide

Pros

Reliable

Cons

gas hog

Purchased As Used

Pretty good truck have a 2001. So i had ALOT of maintenance to pull over 2500.00 worth in the less then 2 years i have had it. Has a computer glitch start truck go 2 blocks shut off then turn on agian it just keeps cranking. MUST push pedal TO FLOOR TO START AGAIN LIKE IT IS FLOODED but like i said it is a computer glitch
All in all I wouldnt buy another one though You do the same i hope.
Body falls apart like the entender bed and the inside of back seat plastic part completely cracked end to end terrible....read morehide

Pros

Excellent price, received incredible discounts

Cons

Dealership is no long there

Purchased As New

So now I have this truck with transmission problems and the nearest dealer is now 250 miles away. I called up Ford and they said I would have to pay for the tow the car 250 miles to the nearest dealer since they closed down most of the dealers around me. And because I did not buy the truck from them originally, they give me an attitude like they don't even want to see me or the truck. I don't know what I am going to do. I should have stuck to a Toyota or Honda, at least I know they will be around, God knows if Ford will shut down. Buy American and get screwed, NEVER AGAIN....read morehide

Pros

Good resale, comfortable, affordable, QUIET!

Cons

Chrome on the dash trim! WHY? Minor quality issues

Purchased As New

We purchased the vehicle new in May of 08 for about $21000. I would have preferred a tacoma, but couldn't justify the extra $4000 for an equivilant vehicle. We currently have about 19000 miles on the vehicle, and are mostly satisfied. The gas mileage is about 20 mpg if you baby it and the O2 sensors are good (I'll get into that later). The bed cover is suprisingly water resistant. The ride is smooth until you hit a pothole or speed bump, and if you do you better grab your coffee! I don't like the standard class II hitch. a class three is more common and almost the same price. I HATE the chrome trim on the dash! What idiot at Ford decided to put chrome in your line of sight while looking out the windshield. 80% of the time you're driving the sun will be peeking in from somewhere and reflecting off the trim and shining dirrectly into your eyes! If, by chance the sun can't hit the dash, never fear because another idiot dicided to put a chrome dome on the gearshift! If light can hit it, it's in your eyes. OK, enough about the stinkin chrome trim. The only other complains I have with design are the slight inaccessability of the oil filter and the lack of choices for the rear window poosition. A little more power for the V6 would be nice, but don't expect to get it from the V8. I drove both. The V6 has much better throttle response. The V8 has more torque. In real world driving I'll take the V6 and the extra 5 mpg, because the sluggish throttle response of the V8 makes it seem little different than the six. V8 only if you plan on using that torque for pulling something. As far as quality issues, there is only one small one, but it hasn't been fixed yet! I've scheduled maintenance 3 times at two different dealerships (one with 3 master technicians) for a bad O2 sensor that keeps killing the mileage. I think they're just cleaning it up and sticking it back in hoping the warranty will expire, because the light will go away for a couple weeks and then come back on. Well, hope this helps someone....read morehide

Pros

Overall appearance. Highway MPG. 20" rims. Good brakes.

Cons

Suspension, transmission, V6 lacks power

Purchased As New

Overall I am pretty happy with the versitility of my Limited Sport Track. 4 people and all their gear in the back can fit nicely and go on a 2-3 hour trip without becoming too uncomfortable. Although the bed might be smaller than many of the Sport Track's competitors, I have always had room for everything I've ever needed to take along. The tie downs on the outside and inside of the bed are very handy.

I bought my limited decently equiped with the crome pkg, sunroof, cargo bed extention etc for about 26k and change. I got a 1.79% interest rate with no money 72mo. loan at 438.00/mo. I'm sure you can get a much better deal now. I owned an '05 adrenaline and was happy with it, but I like the '07 and up body style much better.

Although the ride can be choppy at times, the 4 wheel independent suspension is better than in my '05 track. For a SUV I am also very happy with the stopping power the brakes provide. Highway MPG is decent. I average 21-21.5 with a K&N air filter and nitrogen in the tires at 70-75 MPH. I can get about 18 in the city with an overall combined MPG avg. of 19.5. The V6 provides decent power with one extra person and no gear. Load it with 4-5 people and gear and it can be sluggish. I got rid of the standard speakers and radio and put in some J&L audio speakers with a 4x400 J&L AMP and Kenwood faceplate. It sounds much better. The traction control is very good along with handling. It drives much better than my '05.

On the con side, I have had some trouble with my transmission shifting properly when I accelerate up a steep hill, especially when shifting from 2-3 gear. The truck will sometimes bounce because the transmission is shifting so hard. The wheels also make a weird clicking sound when I am turning or when I back up right after I start my truck. The Ford dealships I have taken my truck to have been unable/unwilling to look for or solve both of the above issues. Although these problems seem minor, the service the dealerships provide on their warranties is so poor, I will not purchase another domestic vehicle again. I have owned a total of 5 vehicles, 3 of which were new, and all of them Fords. The service has been poor on each vehicle.

In conclusion, the vehicle is very nice and I really like it. But as with seemingly all domestic vehicles, reliability is unreliable at best. A nice vehicle without good warranty service isn't worth it. I recommend purchasing a Toyota or Honda. My wife has an '05 Accord w/ 51k+ miles and we haven't had problem one out of it....read morehide

Relieable, fun to drive, great for hauling, pretty good on gas and carries what I need.