I've been buying cars for a very long time. I tend to keep them a long time, too. My 2000 Subaru has 215,000 miles and I drive it every day. I had reservations about a Ford after experience with a 1982 Escort, but this was my wife's choice.

Bought a Ford Explorer in Jan 2014. My wife's choice and her car. Other than maintenance that has been a bit costlier than I would like (yes, I know...they all are), this has been a pleasant surprise. No failures of any kind, no rattles, no squeaks, no parts falling off, and we're approaching 40k miles. The 2x2x2 seating is a big hit with third row passengers, since they can pass easily between the 2nd row seats and not feel trapped behind a full width bench seat. Indeed, the grandchildren (8 yrs old when we bought the car) immediately chose the third row over the second.

My only complaint would be the nav system. Even with a passenger, you can't enter data with the car in motion, and the warning lecture before every nav trip got old fast. My biggest complaint, though, would be the cost of map updates and how old they are when you get them. $160 for maps that are a year old? My 7" Garmin is superior in every way to the Ford nav system, and it gets free updates every quarter for the life of the device. Good car. Bad nav system. I'll buy another Ford, I believe, but not with the factory nav.

My Explorer was made in Illinois. I believe subsequent models were to be made in Mexico. I hope Trump has convinced Ford to change that.

BTW, I read the CBS article on CO leaking into the Explorer. I put a CO detector in there, and in two weeks it's detected nothing. We do keep the A/C on fresh air, not recirculate.