I am leasing a 2017 Fusion Sport and a 2018 Explorer XLT AWD. Both cars have had a lot of issues as well as design flaws that can be rather catastrophic. Ford chooses to ignore its customer base and keep pushing out garbage. I wanted to get a 2021 Explorer ST, but seeing how much of a flop the 2020 Explorer/Aviator has been (leaving the factory without operational instrument panels, missing parking brake buttons, leaking transmissions, transmissions that fail left and right, engine oil pans that leak, owners that had a trans fail and then the loaner Explorer trans failed followed by their replaced trans failed), I am giving up on Ford. I've bought nothing but Fords over 30 years and really really really wish I had just kept my 2007 Mustang GT because it was problem-free. The newer Fords all seem to have a problem. My 2018 Explorer hood is already rusting (aluminum corrosion) at under 10k miles. The right rear door is misaligned due to stamping flaws, and the 3.5L N/A V6 has an internal water pump that can give up the ghost at 27k miles or 100k miles, and when it does there's a good chance it takes out the engine. Either $2000 repair or $8000 repair. A lot of the Explorer issues have to do with the Chicago Assembly plant, which has been notorious for producing garbage. My 2014 SHO had a lot of body alignment issues as well, and many many many Taurus's between 2013-2015 had the same alignment issues.It wasn't a one off problem.
How is the 2018-up Traverse? Has it been relatively problem-free? I've read issues with the 9-speed transaxle at least for the initial 2018 release. This is the 9-speed that was jointly developed by Ford/GM, and Ford took out 4th gear and made it into the 8-speed transaxle on the newer Edges. SUVs like the Equinox, Edge, and Blazer have too small of a fuel tank. The Traverse seems to have a good balance of highway MPG's (27 mpg at 75 mph according to Car and Driver) and fuel tank capacity (almost 22 gal) giving it a 540+ mile range. My girlfriend's 2015 Malibu 2.0 gets about 30 mpg on the highway and has a 18 gal tank and we were seeing about a 500 mile range during a cross country road trip. My 2018 Explorer barely gets over 300 miles before having to fill up. My Fusion Sport is much better at over 400 miles.
How is the 2018-up Traverse? Has it been relatively problem-free? I've read issues with the 9-speed transaxle at least for the initial 2018 release. This is the 9-speed that was jointly developed by Ford/GM, and Ford took out 4th gear and made it into the 8-speed transaxle on the newer Edges. SUVs like the Equinox, Edge, and Blazer have too small of a fuel tank. The Traverse seems to have a good balance of highway MPG's (27 mpg at 75 mph according to Car and Driver) and fuel tank capacity (almost 22 gal) giving it a 540+ mile range. My girlfriend's 2015 Malibu 2.0 gets about 30 mpg on the highway and has a 18 gal tank and we were seeing about a 500 mile range during a cross country road trip. My 2018 Explorer barely gets over 300 miles before having to fill up. My Fusion Sport is much better at over 400 miles.
Last edited: