Would you rather get a low-mile 2024 Ford Explorer Limited OR a 2021 Ford Expedition Max that was a rental with 70,000 miles?

Selling my minivan to get a 4WD. I’m used to the room of the van with a family of 5 who often has friends ride with us. So I really wanted to go with the Expedition, but a low-mile Expedition is out of our price range (max $30k ish). What are your thoughts? I don’t know much about cars, so I’m not sure what I should consider when shopping around or what to look out for. Appreciate any help.

Edit to add: Okay, the rental is out! I want a 4WD (not AWD) because we live where it snows a bunch, and we go rockhounding, which can lead us into some muddy situations. Some of these minimum maintenance roads are not made for an AWD minivan.

Rental cars are beat to shit—that’s all I can say here…

Jamie said:
Rental cars are beat to shit—that’s all I can say here…

Fastest cars in the world.

70k is a lot of miles for a rental. How many miles are on the Explorer? I’d be inclined to buy the much newer and lower mileage Explorer.

I have had good experiences with rental cars.

Merrick said:
I have had good experiences with rental cars.

Was a fleet manager for a major rental company for years.

First thing I ask: what’s the fastest car on the road?… it’s the rental. It’s always the rental.

Generally speaking, don’t buy fleet cars.

@Dakota
That depends much on the maintenance manager and if they were neglected in terms of maintenance.

Merrick said:
@Dakota
That depends much on the maintenance manager and if they were neglected in terms of maintenance.

Everyone who works for rental companies neglects those cars. They’ve never known the words ‘good maintenance.’ There is no such thing as a well-treated fleet vehicle. There are just fleets less abused than others. But even the best-case scenario for a fleet vehicle is a vehicle that’s been abused more than most owners abuse their cars.

Explorer for the win.

Not looking for an AWD. I want a 4WD because we live in a snowy area and we like going rockhounding, which leaves us in some muddy situations sometimes.

Devon said:
Not looking for an AWD. I want a 4WD because we live in a snowy area and we like going rockhounding, which leaves us in some muddy situations sometimes.

How hairy are we talking in terms of muddy/off-road conditions? The Explorer has been a pretty light-duty off-roader the last two generations, but if we’re just talking muddy gravel roads, it’s more than adequate.

Devon said:
Not looking for an AWD. I want a 4WD because we live in a snowy area and we like going rockhounding, which leaves us in some muddy situations sometimes.

Explorer isn’t really a true 4WD; it’s closer to AWD. I’ve had my Explorer up in Yankee Boy Basin (twin falls is as high as it would go). It had trouble and struggled (EDIT: no low gearing). I had a Rubicon rental this year, no problem whatsoever on the same trail.

EDIT2: https://funtreks.com/off-road-trails/yankee-boy-basin/

Explorer is 7 seats. An Expedition is 8 seats. I would get a 2015 to 2017 Expedition. Fewer problems than the 2021 Expedition that was built during COVID with pissed-off employees.

The 10-speed transmission has lots of issues and was fixed in late 2022. The 3.5L engine has cam phaser issues that are fixed in late 2022. Both issues require $3k to fix each.

The older Expedition has a stable 6-speed transmission.

I would steer clear of a rental. What about a Platinum/ST Explorer that’s in your price range?

You’re comparing a mid-size to a full-size extended SUV with a drastically different motor too. The Platinum/ST will be close to the Expedition in terms of power, and they are nicely specced out too.

Never ever buy a rental; they’re beaten into the ground. I’ve heard from multiple people who’ve worked at rental car agencies—not only are the cars thrashed, but the rental companies don’t maintain them at all. I was told these rental companies will often go 15,000-20,000 miles without changing the oil, sometimes longer. If that sounds hard to believe, keep in mind some clients will put thousands of miles on the car just during their time with it.

I’d actually say get a brand new base model Explorer. That’s what we did with our 2017. Instead of spending 30 grand on some 70k-mile EcoBoost Limited Explorer that would probably have issues down the line, we bought a base with the generally indestructible 3.5 Duratec. Best decision we ever made.

I’ve rented a lot of vehicles. From my experience, those who rent Expeditions and Suburbans aren’t driving them like the ones who rent smaller cars. If you were considering an Explorer or Expedition that were BOTH rentals, I’d go with the Expedition. But now that you’ve ruled out the rental purchase, you have to think about the Explorer’s capabilities. They usually don’t have a low range (transfer case), so your off-road abilities are much lower. I’d look at the full-size Bronco or get an F-150 and put a shell on it.