Ford Explorer Depreciation & Resale Value

The 2022 Explorer is our best all-around pick in the current dataset. Its median asking price is $28,075, about $3,281 more than the 2021, while average mileage is roughly 17,767 miles lower, and it is a settled sixth-generation build year past the 2020 redesign. That does not make every 2022 better than every 2021: trim, drivetrain, options, mileage, condition, service history, and local price should decide between two specific vehicles. Compare at least three configuration-matched examples and negotiate from the cleanest comparable one, not the national median alone. A well-kept 2021 bought at the right price can still be the better buy.

Start with a 2016 Explorer XLT. Its current median ask is $12,390, and it gives you the fifth-generation, front-wheel-drive-based Explorer without newer-vehicle pricing. The tradeoff is mileage: these listings average 120,756 miles, so buy the best-documented vehicle rather than the cheapest one. Confirm maintenance history, inspect the cooling system, drivetrain, suspension, and any corrosion, scan for stored fault codes, and pay for an independent pre-purchase inspection. Keep part of the budget for age-related service instead of spending every dollar on the purchase itself, because deferred maintenance on a three-row SUV erases the savings quickly.

It can be. In this snapshot the 2023 median ask is $30,969, about $3,593 less than the 2024, and both are sixth-generation Explorers, so the earlier year can be the cheaper way into recent inventory. But the two samples are not identical: the 2023 listings carry more average miles and lean toward a different trim and MSRP mix, so a lower median is not automatically the better deal. Compare the exact trim, drivetrain, equipment, mileage, and warranty start date, then weigh a discounted new 2024 or 2025 with incentives against an overpriced used one. Verify whether a low-mileage listing was a rental, loaner, or demo before treating low age as low use.

The 2020 Explorer was an all-new sixth generation, redesigned from the ground up. Ford moved it from the fifth generation's front-wheel-drive-based unibody to a new rear-wheel-drive-based architecture with available intelligent four-wheel drive, added more powerful and efficient EcoBoost engines, introduced a Terrain Management System, and made Ford Co-Pilot360 driver-assist technology standard. The redesign also brought a performance-tuned ST and a hybrid model to the lineup. For a used shopper, that means the 2020-and-newer vehicles are a genuinely different product from the 2015-2019 cars, so compare within a generation and read cross-generation price gaps as reflecting architecture and equipment, not age alone.

26.4% of Explorers in our listing sample already have more than 100,000 miles, and about 3.9% have crossed 150,000, with high-mileage examples asking a median around $11,242. That shows an active high-mileage market, not a guarantee that any individual vehicle has remaining life. A high-mileage Explorer can make sense when the service history is complete, wear items are priced into the deal, the drivetrain and cooling system check out, and an independent inspection is clean. Ask the inspector to separate normal wear from deferred repairs and to price each near-term item, because on a three-row SUV those costs add up fast and can erase the purchase-price savings.

Our mileage-adjusted fitted curve estimates that a Ford Explorer loses about 45.9% of its original value after five years, retaining roughly 54.1%. That is based on 2,911 listings across multiple model years, with asking prices adjusted toward an estimated sale price. It is a nameplate-level trajectory, not a quote for a specific VIN, and it runs steeper than the Pilot and Highlander curves in our catalog. Your purchase price, trim, drivetrain, mileage, condition, options, and the new-vehicle market at resale can move the result materially. For a real purchase, calculate the dollar loss from the price you negotiate on a configuration-matched Explorer, not from an abstract national MSRP.

Use the count as a prompt to investigate, not as an automatic rejection. NHTSA complaint totals are not failure rates: older years have had more time to accumulate reports, high-volume years put more vehicles on the road, and a single issue can generate many similar complaints. Open the model-year page, read the complaint categories, check open recalls by VIN, and ask whether documented repairs were completed. Separate a safety recall with a defined remedy from an unverified owner complaint, because they carry different evidence and next steps. The specific vehicle's inspection and history matter more than a raw count reported without a sales or exposure denominator.