2007 ST bad repair history in Consumer Reports. Why?

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Dan Jones

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I am planning to buy a Sport Trac. I see the 2007 model year gets poor maintenance and repair marks from Consumer Reports. 2008 and 2010 look good. Is there a problem with one of the engine/transmission combinations in the 2007 model that was corrected in '08? Seems there are plenty of '07s on the market, but far fewer of the '08s. should I hold out for an '08, and is there anything I should look out for in either the V6 or the V8 drivetrain?



thanks.
 
Consumer Reports have trashed the Sport Trac ever since it came on the market in 2000. One of their so-called automotive expert could not understand the versatility of a 4 door truck with such a small bed. He said that it was neither a truck or and SUV...Duh? That was the whole point It worked well as a family sedan, a fold down rear seat for the dog or covered storage like and SUV...and if you had to bring home a dozen bags of Mulch, you had a pickup truck. They did not get that point and always compared the Sport Trac to a full-sized pickup truck. Of course it did not have the bed capacity of a full-size truck so it always came in last.



A few years later, they started to notice that the Sport Trac was in a different class from the regular pickup truck and it got better ratings.



In 2007 model year Ford introduce the Gen-2 Sport Trac with the V8 engine and like most new, redesigned vehicles, there were some bugs. Consumer Reports likes to zero in on new car bugs and probably why they gave the 2007 ST poor marks on reliability or for excessive repairs?



...Rich

 
I've had my '07 v8 6 1/2 years and it was one of the first ones off the line in '06. I'll admit that I only have 46,000 mi. but have had no major problems. Still using the factory brakes. I don't personally know anyone else who has that model but I have no complaints.



Jim
 
I agree with Richard L. I've had two Sport Tracs (2001 and 2008) and by far they are the best vehicles I've ever owned my entire 59 years. My brother bought a 2008 after seeing my 2008 Adrenalin and he says the same thing.



Consumer reports bashed the 2007 because of new car issues since the Gen2's are really very different vehicles than Gen 1. Cannot even compare them they are so different. CR never went back as far as I can tell and do another full review so of course all the years later got only minor improvement marks. Regardless, like Richard said they never understood the vehicle and it bogles my mind when they give high marks to the Honda Ridgeline instead. I think they are the fug-liest truck around.



I now tend to ignore CR as I lost respect for their evaluations.
 
I agree with Richard L. I've had two Sport Tracs (2001 and 2008) and by far they are the best vehicles I've ever owned my entire 59 years. My brother bought a 2008 after seeing my 2008 Adrenalin and he says the same thing.



Consumer reports bashed the 2007 because of new car issues since the Gen2's are really very different vehicles than Gen 1. Cannot even compare them they are so different. CR never went back as far as I can tell and do another full review so of course all the years later got only minor improvement marks. Regardless, like Richard said they never understood the vehicle and it bogles my mind when they give high marks to the Honda Ridgeline instead. I think they are the fug-liest truck around.



I now tend to ignore CR as I lost respect for their evaluations.
 
I agree with Richard L. I've had two Sport Tracs (2001 and 2008) and by far they are the best vehicles I've ever owned my entire 59 years. My brother bought a 2008 after seeing my 2008 Adrenalin and he says the same thing.



Consumer reports bashed the 2007 because of new car issues since the Gen2's are really very different vehicles than Gen 1. Cannot even compare them they are so different. CR never went back as far as I can tell and do another full review so of course all the years later got only minor improvement marks. Regardless, like Richard said they never understood the vehicle and it bogles my mind when they give high marks to the Honda Ridgeline instead. I think they are the fug-liest truck around.



I now tend to ignore CR as I lost respect for their evaluations.
 
I agree with Richard L. I've had two Sport Tracs (2001 and 2008) and by far they are the best vehicles I've ever owned my entire 59 years. My brother bought a 2008 after seeing my 2008 Adrenalin and he says the same thing.



Consumer reports bashed the 2007 because of new car issues since the Gen2's are really very different vehicles than Gen 1. Cannot even compare them they are so different. CR never went back as far as I can tell and do another full review so of course all the years later got only minor improvement marks. Regardless, like Richard said they never understood the vehicle and it bogles my mind when they give high marks to the Honda Ridgeline instead. I think they are the fug-liest truck around.



I now tend to ignore CR as I lost respect for their evaluations.
 
I agree with Richard L. I've had two Sport Tracs (2001 and 2008) and by far they are the best vehicles I've ever owned my entire 59 years. My brother bought a 2008 after seeing my 2008 Adrenalin and he says the same thing.



Consumer reports bashed the 2007 because of new car issues since the Gen2's are really very different vehicles than Gen 1. Cannot even compare them they are so different. CR never went back as far as I can tell and do another full review so of course all the years later got only minor improvement marks. Regardless, like Richard said they never understood the vehicle and it bogles my mind when they give high marks to the Honda Ridgeline instead. I think they are the fug-liest truck around.



I now tend to ignore CR as I lost respect for their evaluations.
 
I agree with Richard L. I've had two Sport Tracs (2001 and 2008) and by far they are the best vehicles I've ever owned my entire 59 years. My brother bought a 2008 after seeing my 2008 Adrenalin and he says the same thing.



Consumer reports bashed the 2007 because of new car issues since the Gen2's are really very different vehicles than Gen 1. Cannot even compare them they are so different. CR never went back as far as I can tell and do another full review so of course all the years later got only minor improvement marks. Regardless, like Richard said they never understood the vehicle and it bogles my mind when they give high marks to the Honda Ridgeline instead. I think they are the fug-liest truck around.



I now tend to ignore CR as I lost respect for their evaluations.
 
I agree with Richard L. I've had two Sport Tracs (2001 and 2008) and by far they are the best vehicles I've ever owned my entire 59 years. My brother bought a 2008 after seeing my 2008 Adrenalin and he says the same thing.



Consumer reports bashed the 2007 because of new car issues since the Gen2's are really very different vehicles than Gen 1. Cannot even compare them they are so different. CR never went back as far as I can tell and do another full review so of course all the years later got only minor improvement marks. Regardless, like Richard said they never understood the vehicle and it bogles my mind when they give high marks to the Honda Ridgeline instead. I think they are the fug-liest truck around.



I now tend to ignore CR as I lost respect for their evaluations.
 
I agree with Richard L. I've had two Sport Tracs (2001 and 2008) and by far they are the best vehicles I've ever owned my entire 59 years. My brother bought a 2008 after seeing my 2008 Adrenalin and he says the same thing.



Consumer reports bashed the 2007 because of new car issues since the Gen2's are really very different vehicles than Gen 1. Cannot even compare them they are so different. CR never went back as far as I can tell and do another full review so of course all the years later got only minor improvement marks. Regardless, like Richard said they never understood the vehicle and it bogles my mind when they give high marks to the Honda Ridgeline instead. I think they are the fug-liest truck around.



I now tend to ignore CR as I lost respect for their evaluations.
 
I agree with Richard L. I've had two Sport Tracs (2001 and 2008) and by far they are the best vehicles I've ever owned my entire 59 years. My brother bought a 2008 after seeing my 2008 Adrenalin and he says the same thing.



Consumer reports bashed the 2007 because of new car issues since the Gen2's are really very different vehicles than Gen 1. Cannot even compare them they are so different. CR never went back as far as I can tell and do another full review so of course all the years later got only minor improvement marks. Regardless, like Richard said they never understood the vehicle and it bogles my mind when they give high marks to the Honda Ridgeline instead. I think they are the fug-liest truck around.



I now tend to ignore CR as I lost respect for their evaluations.
 
I agree with Richard L. I've had two Sport Tracs (2001 and 2008) and by far they are the best vehicles I've ever owned my entire 59 years. My brother bought a 2008 after seeing my 2008 Adrenalin and he says the same thing.



Consumer reports bashed the 2007 because of new car issues since the Gen2's are really very different vehicles than Gen 1. Cannot even compare them they are so different. CR never went back as far as I can tell and do another full review so of course all the years later got only minor improvement marks. Regardless, like Richard said they never understood the vehicle and it bogles my mind when they give high marks to the Honda Ridgeline instead. I think they are the fug-liest truck around.



I now tend to ignore CR as I lost respect for their evaluations.
 
I agree with Richard L. I've had two Sport Tracs (2001 and 2008) and by far they are the best vehicles I've ever owned my entire 59 years. My brother bought a 2008 after seeing my 2008 Adrenalin and he says the same thing.



Consumer reports bashed the 2007 because of new car issues since the Gen2's are really very different vehicles than Gen 1. Cannot even compare them they are so different. CR never went back as far as I can tell and do another full review so of course all the years later got only minor improvement marks. Regardless, like Richard said they never understood the vehicle and it bogles my mind when they give high marks to the Honda Ridgeline instead. I think they are the fug-liest truck around.



I now tend to ignore CR as I lost respect for their evaluations.
 
Although I love my S/T I have to say that I am not happy with some of the things Ford has ignored in the 2007 line of S/T's The bottom line is that it is a well known fact that the manifold bolts frequently crack and break and you have to have them replaced, a common problem with the V-8 S/T's I talked to the dealer recently because I was under the impression I was still under warranty for the repair and they flat out refused to do it. It ended up costing me 1200.00 to get it fixed to avoid the expensive cost of replacing the entire engine. As I said, the S/T is a great vehicle but there is a big problem with the manifolds that Ford is ignoring.
 
I have a 2007 with 100,000 miles. I can hear when I start my truck the exhaust is starting to leak but after 5 seconds it heats up, expands and it seals its self, the noise goes away. So the exhaust bolt issue is at my door step.

Other than that ( I did buy it with 40k miles) I've had no issues. I don't like vehicles that marry me to the dealer. I sell those real quick.
 
+1 on the Consumer Reports bashers. I love consumer reports; I just wish they'd get out of the business of reviewing cars as they are not car guys (and definitely not truck guys). Edmunds rates the 2007 ST as being reliable, and they have more of a pedigree and less of a track record of giving high or low rating based on really dumb things like CR does.



I'm not going to sit here and paint the v8 ST with rose-colored glasses either. I wish Ford would have put in a drain plug and filler tube on the transmission, and I wish I could turn off my Auto 4WD so I didn;t get whip lash when taking off with a little loose gravel on the road. Ford also dropped the ball on SYNC updates (dropped it, kicked it away from the field, picked it up and threw it in the trash) :btddhorse:



I'd also like a little more throttle response and better brakes, but those I can take care of to my liking with a couple weekend projects.



But you asked about reliability issues. I don't have any big issues, just piddly stuff. Mine is 2010, with 75K miles, mostly highway. No maintenance issues yet, other than a little transmission leak that comes and goes when it wants like a deadbeat uncle.
 
I had little to no trouble with my '07, other that two rear window motors that Ford replaced, I had absolutely no problems with my '07 when I traded it at 65k miles for a '10. I now have 40k on the '10 and no problems with it.
 
The first year for any new model is going to have some bugs. Other than front wheel bearings, no major and repeatable issues on my '08. My extended warranty is almost up though. Anybody want to buy a clean '08? :grin:
 
Thanks to all for the feedback. Edmunds does show all years of Gen 2 as above average reliability. Sounds like wheel bearings (all models) and manifold bolts on V8 are watch items. Maybe a few more issues with the '07 as it was the new model year? I am not seeing a lot of reasons to stay away from the '07 model year. thanks again.
 

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