jimgoesfast

Rather than give up on one of the most useful features on the car, it's time to do some engineering. Time to buy a Tahoe?

I've literally held off buying a new explorer for the last 10 years waiting or the opening glass. (replacing my trusty old 1997 XLT V8, which is still running great) I've considered buying a used 2008-2010 to get the feature. No opening glass = no sale.

I would be happy with the old hing opening window. I'm not buying a new Explorer till that back window opens.

I find it disappointing that the last two generations of explorers don't support a separately opening rear glass hatch. I'm wondering why many of the mid-sized SUV's have eliminated this feature. This is kind of a deal breaker for me and i've held off for years buying a new explorer for that reason. I was hoping the 2020 would have addressed this. The Expedition is just too large for my needs. If I have my boat/trailer on the back I can't open the hatch but I could open the glass. If my trailer hitch mounted bike rack is on the back, then I can't open the hatch but I could open the glass. When packing the car to the gills, I load all the big stuff through the main hatch, then stuff the rest of the stuff through the glass hatch. Is there some sort of law prohibiting having a functional glass hatch? Is it a reliability issue, I know they had problems in the 2000-2010 series with the fiberglass rear hatch that would crack, but the glass seemed fine. Are they lightening the tailgate down to aid the electric opening mechanism? (I would much rather have the opening glass) Any ideas?