ExplorerTom
Full Access Members
I know I’ve said I’d never get rid of it, but the time has come to get rid of my 2000 Eddie Bauer. If you haven’t seen it, you can follow along with my history of it here:
https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/my-2000-5-4l-eddie-bauer-4x4.26810/
Ultimately, I was going through radiators too quickly. It was frustrating. I know it was a 20 year old vehicle with 262k miles and wasn’t going to be perfect, but it was annoying to see a small puddle under it in the parking lot.
I set a budget of under $20k and under 100k miles for myself. I even looked at other brands: Chevy/GMC Tahoe/Yukon and even Toyota Sequoia. But I didn’t like what I was finding. The 3rd gen Tahoe/Yukon were in my target price range but their interiors seemed to be lagging that of the 3rd gen Expedition: no fold flat 3rd row, dashboards that are known to crack, HVAC buttons that would wear through and of course transmissions that aren’t super reliable. The Toyota Tax on the Sequoia was just too much. I had to break my “under 100k mile” rule and even then I was looking at 2003 models. I’m not spending that much money to get a 3 year newer vehicle.
As you can imagine, I was already predisposed to the Expedition. So my search began. I found the perfect 2012 King Ranch with 74k miles on it for $18,500 about an hour north of me. It had been on their lot for a little over a month. I talked to the salesman and he told me he’d have it ready for me. I couldn’t get up to see it until Saturday morning. About 45 minutes from home, I get a text from the salesman. It sold the night before. I was crushed.
Return home and go look at the local inventory. There’s nothing that measures up. Widen my search a little and I find almost the exact same truck- except XLT about 30 minutes farther than where my King Ranch was.
Head up Monday and buy it. It’s a 2014 with 92k miles and just about all the same options as the King Ranch except for the saddle leather seats and nav radio. It came from North Dakota and I believe it was used in the oil fields somehow. The center console has holes in it (plugged) and the carpet is cut- like it had some kind of work pedestal mounted to it. The backseats are clean like they’ve never been used. The underside has lots of dirt it in. Pretty sure it had some kind of grille guard because the tow hooks were missing yet there is paint worn off the bumper cover coming off where the tow hooks attach.
So anyway...... blabity bla, here are some quick driveway pics.
https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/my-2000-5-4l-eddie-bauer-4x4.26810/
Ultimately, I was going through radiators too quickly. It was frustrating. I know it was a 20 year old vehicle with 262k miles and wasn’t going to be perfect, but it was annoying to see a small puddle under it in the parking lot.
I set a budget of under $20k and under 100k miles for myself. I even looked at other brands: Chevy/GMC Tahoe/Yukon and even Toyota Sequoia. But I didn’t like what I was finding. The 3rd gen Tahoe/Yukon were in my target price range but their interiors seemed to be lagging that of the 3rd gen Expedition: no fold flat 3rd row, dashboards that are known to crack, HVAC buttons that would wear through and of course transmissions that aren’t super reliable. The Toyota Tax on the Sequoia was just too much. I had to break my “under 100k mile” rule and even then I was looking at 2003 models. I’m not spending that much money to get a 3 year newer vehicle.
As you can imagine, I was already predisposed to the Expedition. So my search began. I found the perfect 2012 King Ranch with 74k miles on it for $18,500 about an hour north of me. It had been on their lot for a little over a month. I talked to the salesman and he told me he’d have it ready for me. I couldn’t get up to see it until Saturday morning. About 45 minutes from home, I get a text from the salesman. It sold the night before. I was crushed.
Return home and go look at the local inventory. There’s nothing that measures up. Widen my search a little and I find almost the exact same truck- except XLT about 30 minutes farther than where my King Ranch was.
Head up Monday and buy it. It’s a 2014 with 92k miles and just about all the same options as the King Ranch except for the saddle leather seats and nav radio. It came from North Dakota and I believe it was used in the oil fields somehow. The center console has holes in it (plugged) and the carpet is cut- like it had some kind of work pedestal mounted to it. The backseats are clean like they’ve never been used. The underside has lots of dirt it in. Pretty sure it had some kind of grille guard because the tow hooks were missing yet there is paint worn off the bumper cover coming off where the tow hooks attach.
So anyway...... blabity bla, here are some quick driveway pics.
