I am thinking of looking for an older V8 durango,had a 2000 AWD 5.0 Explorer and really liked it but why not expand my search. The truck I buy will get the hell run out of it back roading here in Minnesota so reliable is what I need,not pretty. Any thoughts?

We had the exact same explorer several years ago, sold it due to high mileage and all the upcoming repairs I foresaw coming down the pipeline. It was a great vehicle, I did absolutely nothing to it other than change the fluids and a few brake jobs. We bought a trailblazer as a replacement, and the front end has not held up very well at all. The wheel bearings are junk, to say the least. We are seriously considering ditching it in favor of another low mileage 2-3 yr old explorer, probably one with 3rd row seating and a v6 this time around for slightly better mpg. A durango has crossed my mind, but I really dont know of anybody whose had them to compare them to.

I still have a 94 explorer but would like a V8,the explorers to stay away from are the second gen (95-2001) with the sohc 4.0,motor and trans are junk. But if you want a much newer you would be looking at a 4th gen at least.I see a lot of the old style Durango's around for $1500-1800 with the 5.2 and 5.9,just wondered what the weak spots are on them.

By far the best off road wheeling rigs I have been around are the late 90's Olds Bravadas with the Smart track system. Very reliable built tough and unless you high center it or sink it in mud they are about the most capable 4 wheeler ever next to the factory renegade or power wagons.

Have you ever considered a 4runner from that era? Not trying to discourage you from anything else, but anything Toyota is virtually bullet proof. Thats all I drove for many years, until I out grew them and needed a larger truck. Ive owned the older model pickups, tacomas, and owned a 95 4runner as well. They were all high mileage vehicles and had no issues with any of them. The front ends are very resilient, I bought my 4runner with 65k miles on it and it went another 200k before I had to replace the ball joints. The biggest issue with the older models is the bodies tend to fall off and the frames were notoriously weak right behindthe cabs of the pickups, but if you can find one with a solid body and frame, you cant go wrong with one. No, they dont have v8 power like your looking for, but the 3.0 and 3.4 v6 will run forever as long as you keep up with the timing belts every 125k miles. The late 90s up until 02 I think still had steel bodies, full frames, and steel bumpers. They changed up after that (went cheaper) and went to a not so attractive body style in my opinion.Like I said, not trying to dissuade you from anything else, just throwing an option out there.