Right SUV for the right time
New 2.3L turbo gives Explorer a decided edge
‘I’d rather be lucky than good,” claimed Lefty Gomez, star New York Yankees pitcher in the 1930s who was known as much for his gift of the gab as his earned-run average. Of course, like all great successes, his fame and fortune owed much to talent, namely a fastball that confounded even the likes of Pepper Martin and Mel Ott. What Gomez might have said, if he’d be angling for profundity rather than being merely glib, is that it is better to be lucky and good.
Like Gomez, good fortune and good planning seem to be smiling on Ford’s revisedfor-2016 Explorer. The reasoned analysis portion of the Explorer’s redesign is Ford’s decision to move the Explorer upscale. Why? The plain truth is that expensive trim levels are easier to sell, not to mention more profitable, than base models. So while the price of a base 3.5L V6 Explorer has increased fairly modestly ($31,899 to $32,899), the big news is that Ford has added an even more luxurious Platinum trim level above the current range-topping Sport ($50,399), its $58,399 not a deterrent to the 20 per cent of Sport buyers who Ford claims are migrating to the Explorer from a luxury brand. Platinum-ing has only enhanced the sales of the company’s F-150 and Expedition, Ford convinced that “buyers want more.”
And part of that “more” is increased power, Ford’s engineers having the impossibly good fortune of introducing the Explorer’s new, more powerful 2.3L EcoBoost four at last December’s Los Angeles Auto Show just as worldwide oil pricing collapsed. Fortuitous it may have been, but with 40 more horsepower and 40 more pound-feet of torque (280 hp and 310 lb.-ft. in all) than the 2.0-litre it’s replacing, the four-cylinder Explorer is no longer underpowered and slow off the mark.
Indeed, unlike the previous 2.0L EcoBoost, the 2.3L version may be the Explorer driver’s engine of choice. Smoother, quieter and more frugal — Ford is claiming a 1.3 L/100 km advantage compared with the base V6 — the 2.3L EcoBoost is the perfect powerplant for a mid-priced Explorer. Boosted by that steroidal turbocharger, the 2.3L actually has more low-end grunt and better passing acceleration than the larger V6, which has to spin harder and higher to keep up. It is also, at low rpm at least, smoother than the V6, making Ford of Canada’s $1,000 asking a nobrainer upgrade for the base, XLT and Limited models.
Greg Watkins, Ford of Canada’s product marketing manager for the Explorer, sees the take rate for the EcoBoost four increasing dramatically, rising from the paltry 2 per cent of Canadian Explorer sales the 2.0L now accounts for to as much as 20 per cent of the fullsized SUVs’ total. Of course, the 2.3L’s popularity will be aided by the fact that, unlike the previous 2.0L, the little EcoBoost for is now available with all-wheel-drive, not to mention Class II towing good for 1,363 kilograms.
And although it is no more powerful — at 365 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque, it doesn’t need to be — the range-topping 3.5L EcoBoost V6 will also prove more popular. Previously only standard in the Sport, the big, twinturbo V6 also powers the Platinum, which, says Watkins, means the powerful V6 will now account for 25 per cent of Explorer sales. I suspect those will be easy sales, even the shortest of test drives in one of the new Platinum’s likely to leave prospective buyers very impressed with its passing power.
As will the Platinum’s much upgraded interior, which is now almost Land Roverish in its appointments. Unlike previous Explorers, for instance, the Platinum’s ash wood trim is, well, real swirl ash. Ditto the wood-rimmed steering wheel, which is also leather-wrapped and heated. The brushed aluminum trim bits sprinkled throughout the cabin are, again, real aluminum rather than burnished plastic. Even the blinged-out Ford logo in the middle of the Platinum’s steering wheel, a feature that cost-conscious Dearborn would normally Cheap Charlie, is the real (metal) deal. Throw in the rotary-knobbed Terrain Management all-wheel-drive selector and the Hill Descent Control and you have an interior more than vaguely reminiscent of a Range Rover Sport.
But the top-of-the-range Platinum has technological wizardry in its own right. Thanks to the wonders of the oft-maligned electric power steering, Ford’s Active Park Assist system will now park itself into a perpendicular shopping mall spot as well as parallel its way into a streetside space. Oh, you still have to work the gas and the brake but the miracle of the microchip does all the tedious steering stuff, even, if the space you’re trying to squeeze into is particularly tight, performing a quick three-point minuet.
Other useful nanny-isms abound. The hands-free liftgate is a boon to anyone loaded down with groceries, though Ford’s wave-your-footunder-the-rear-bumper isn’t as convenient as Kia’s juststand-there-and-the-hatchOpen-Sesame system. And lo and behold Ford ingeniously enhanced the Explorer’s front and rear parking cameras with … washer units; no more getting out of the car in winter’s deep freeze to squeegee salt and sand from blocked lenses. Kudos to Ford for being the first in this segment to add real convenience to its high tech.
My favourite improvement to the Explorer’s interior, though, might actually be construed as a step backward, at least if you’re a tech junky. Ford, responding to criticism second only to Sync, has done away with those infuriating capacitive touchsensitive switches that never worked, the solution a return to the normal press/turn/slide switchgear that never needed replacing. All told, however, the Explorer’s interior, especially in Platinum guise, is a major step forward, not only more elegant but also more practical.
As for the rest of the Explorer, it is, for better and worse, pretty much what it has always been. The styling — the No. 1 reason consumers buy Explorers, says Ford — has been enhanced for 2016 with an even more aggressive front grille and LED headlights.
Less appreciated will be that the new Explorer, despite its visual and powertrain upgrades, still rides on a very old platform. The basic framework remains unchanged since the 2011 redesign, which, in turn, is a ripoff of the Volvo P2 platform that underpinned the S80 and the XC90 as long ago as 1999. It’s starting to feel its age.
Unlike more modern SUVs that drive smaller than they are, behind the wheel the Explorer feels large and a little ponderous. Ford’s chassis engineers have futzed with the suspension and handling characteristics to render it both more responsive than the outgoing model, but comportment is still the Explorer’s weakest attribute. While the steering is less vague and overboosted compared with the outgoing model, even the base model is too stiffly suspended and the Sport’s ride is decidedly rough, feeling more truckish than a unibodied SUV should. If you’re looking for both sporty handling and a compliant ride, Mazda’s CX9 and even Buick’s Enclave make better compromises.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a stylish SUV, one with a seriously upgraded interior and two powerful turbocharged engines — the 2.3L and 3.5L EcoBoosts — look no further. Be it blind luck or perfect planning, the new Explorer is once again the right SUV for the right time.
(Post script: When asked if it was “true that you’d throw at your own mother?” the glib Lefty Gomez, known for brushing back batters, replied, “You’re damn right I would. She’s a good hitter!”)