Before moving to Col I had a '97 Exp. Traded it for a 2000 when we came here, then sold my wife's '97 STS and bought her a 2004 as our road from the hwy to home wasn't suited for her Cadillac. That Exp now has just over a hundred K on it and other than an expensive tuneup a few months ago hasn't cost a dime that I can recall beyond routine maintenance. I have to say, we drive over five miles of bad rocky, washboard road both leaving and coming back home, and that Ford is as tight today as when we bought it. Only problem is what I think is a minor electrical gremlin that might show air bag not on today, then Advance Trac the next, her heated seat didn't work for a while, then began again. That kind of stuff, which is why I joined this forum, to get some ideas on a fix. I'll post for that. I hope everyone could have as much good luck with these cars as we have with our three. The only real problem was a failing transmission on the 2000 that occurred with about a hundred miles left on the warranty. What a break. I drove into the dealership and they noted the problem, sent me home to return the following week. As we live a hundred mile round trip from the nearest dealership, we were actually over the 36,000 mile limit when we returned it for the new free tranny. 
