I lived in Charlotte, NC for a few years, and now I live on the Virginia Peninsula (Williamsburg, Newport News, Hampton, Norfolk, VA Beach) with tunnels connecting one side of the water to the other...

Shifting got old, QUICK.

 

Ya the highway downshifting problem happens when trying to accelerate quickly. Like pushing the pedal to the floor. I usually use J-Gate 90% of the time. I also rev match all my downshifts so the car doesn't jerk during downshifts.

And now my brakes are going. Last few days its been taking me farther to stop than normal. So those have to be checked out to see if I just need pads or rotors too.

 

It's alright. I'm kind of sick of the mpg! When I drive it to finish all the last testing I have for the PD I get around 18mpg or more. Without headwind the trip says around 22mpg but quickly falls. With the normal driving we do we get a little over 10mpg overall.

Did you get the v8 or the v6? I wanted the aviator but couldn't find one for cheap. Mine is a 2003 though so it doesn't have the nice interior like the newer one's. Although I think the exterior of mine looks better than the newer mountaineers. If you got the v8 look into the k&n FIPK, I promise you wont be disappointed! Here are some vids of how it sounds...

This one is the sound from engine bay and tail pipes. I didn't take a before vid which would show you how much different the sound is from the engine bay and tail pipe. (pretty boring video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0czsiC7zKuA

This one is accelerating
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ewrg_RelM

This pic shows 20's vs. 17" and spoiler vs. no spoiler. Personally I like the spoiler, normally I hate stuff like that but it adds a little character.



Shows most badges off vs. badges on. I personally like my exhaust tips too.



I normally park in the middle of nowhere so nobody is next to me but I had to. I didn't even notice the black 05-newer mounty next to the pearl one! This shows the things I don't like about the newer mounty. I'd like to tint my lights a little but don't have the funds to buy new if I screw up so I haven't touched them.



Unfortunately all I have is the stock 8" sub in the rear which is useless. My goal (before I even bought the thing) was to build a special panel in the rear pass. side where the stock sub sits. I haven't had the time nor money to do anything yet. Another thing I wanted to do was add a 50 series muffler which combined with the intake is supposed to be pretty nice.

 

The shuddering while in various gears has been happening a lot yesterday and today. Happens when you get on the gas while cruising (car should accelerate smoothly since i'm not downshifting. But it just jerks forward and back and then resumes accelerating), and while getting off the gas, it shudders again back and forth. everytime u touch or remove your foot from the gas the car shakes. It seems like a tranny or transfer case problem.

 

I bought the V8 and consistently get 17-18 MPG around town and 21 on the highway. 10 MPG seems pretty low for the pre 06 4.6L. If you're not doing this already, only use regular gas. Premium gas will absolutely kill your mileage. We were getting 12 MPG when we used 93 octane. Once we switched back to regular the very next tank, back to 17 MPG again.

The sub is indeed useless. My wife tends to leave earlier than me in the morning, and therefore she grabs the Explorer first. She won't let me put a sub in it at all. I managed to get the Solo Baric in the Milan before she got a chance to say no.

 

Haha! LOL

My wife hates bass too!

We live in Dallas so the car is only stop and go. If I lived in MI I'd surely get better gas mileage as the average trip is at least 15 miles to pretty much get anywhere. To my parents house from our previous house was approx. 30+ miles one way. Here in Dallas we have about 4-5 malls within 15miles. We are stuck in the crap of it down here. I've never put premium in it as it isn't necessary. We averaged around 17mpg for our trip to and from MI and back while the wife was on maternity leave. We had the car loaded floor to ceiling with a hitch cargo hauler. We also averaged around 75-80 mph the entire trip so it isn't too bad while driving straight. Without weight and keeping the speed down it would be easy to see 20mpg out of it but we don't do that hardly at all. I'd say 75% city (pure stop and go with lights every block) and 25% freeway (all of which usually has 10 mins of stoppages for every trip, the only difference betweem freeway and city is there aren't any lights to stop people!)