Ford's rebirth has come as a result of the successful rollout of the redesigned Taurus large sedan and Fusion midsize sedan, but the brand hasn't found much success with its recent SUV and crossover strategy.
Instead of delivering a traditional crossover or minivan, Ford came out with the funky-looking Flex, which wowed journalists like us at Cars.com, but left buyers flat. Ford had to go back to the drawing board.
In hopes of delivering a successful three-row crossover, Ford has gutted its best-selling seven-seat SUV, the Explorer. The result is a very good crossover that looks and even feels a bit like an SUV.
The new Explorer will undoubtedly please SUV fans but it might leave families flat, thanks to a tight second row and high step-in height.
Performance
All Explorers feature the same 290-horsepower, 3.5-liter V-6, which is rated at 17/25 mpg city/highway with front-wheel drive and 17/23 mpg with all-wheel drive. That edges out the Chevy Traverse and Mazda CX-9 by 1 mpg on the highway. Over a few hundred miles in very cold Chicago-winter conditions, the Explorer's trip computer showed 14.7 mpg. That had plenty of highway and suburban driving mixed in, along with some cold morning warmups. A 237-hp, turbocharged four-cylinder will be offered for the 2012 model year. It will likely be available toward the end of 2011.
The mileage is palatable because the Explorer moves more capably than GM's crossovers, including the Traverse, despite having just a few more horses under the hood. There was always plenty of power on demand in the Explorer, and it didn't move like it was tugging 4,578 pounds.
In all other regards, though, the Explorer falls behind the Traverse and the great-performing CX-9, which are two of Cars.com's favorite crossovers.
The ride is firm and transfers bumps to all rows of passengers. When taking tight corners, like highway off-ramps, there's also body lean. If there's one SUV trait that drivers want less of, that’s it.
A lot has been made about the optional Terrain Management System, which includes modes for regular dry pavement, hills and snow. Being in arctic Chicago, I was able to test the snow mode. By turning a simple knob to the snow setting, power is shifted between the wheels to compensate for slipperier conditions. It worked well, but once out of the muck you need to turn it off in order to not feel bogged down.
Exterior
I had the Explorer in my driveway for a week and couldn't decide if I liked its looks or not. It has a handsome profile and a contemporary back end, but the snout is unsightly from many angles. Neither the body-colored grille, which is available on the top, Limited, trim level, nor the Sterling Gray paint job helped matters.
The styling is decidedly SUV-like, and I'm already noticing lots of new Explorers popping up around my suburb, like Girl Scouts pushing cookies. That suggests the styling I don't love probably won't slow sales like the Flex's slab-sided design did.
On a positive note, the Explorer is nearly 8 inches shorter than the Traverse and 3 inches shorter than the CX-9, so it may fit in more garages and parking spaces.
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