mmarshall

Rip-off? Maybe, maybe not. Don't forget, Ford itself owned Land Rover until fairly recently.

mmarshall

Base models start at under 30K

http://www.ford.com/suvs/explorer/

Big Andy

Yeah, but the design clues referenced (clamshell bonnet etc) pre-date Ford's ownership and are considered LR staples.

(Good to have you back btw. Hope the rehab is going well.)

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

fail. i have a 2006 explorer (v8, rwd Limited), which was first year of the last upgrade, and it's better in every way than the gens before it (it was a huge upgrade). it was the first to use the 'quiet steel' debuted in the '04 F-150 (an exceptionally quiet truck), and it's definitely bolted together extremely well. it came standard with excellent michelin tires (most lexus vehicles ship with crap tires), the nav is v. accurate and fast (that was another huge upgrade over the prior lousy nav). this new '11 explorer is definitely another HUGE upgrade, and i will definitely consider it when the time is right.

they're pretty different vehicles. ford also has the edge which is closer to (and cheaper than) the RX. not knocking the RX, which i think is Lexus' BEST vehicle in its class.

mdx maybe, but x5, only a stripped bottom of the line one.

qft.

nice to have choices at least.

and not everyone wants all those things on a loaded one including happy endings.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

plus i'll wait until gas is over $5 a gallon when the ford dealer might be more willing to negotiate.

GlobeCLK

iTrader: (5)

even a mini review from mike is very informative. Thanks!

mmarshall

Perhaps the biggest upgrade on the earlier models, as I pointed out in an earlier post, was the switch from the old Twin-I-Beam front suspension to a more contemporary design following the Ford-Firestone tire/rollover fiasco. That, IMO, was an even more significant move than the current switch from the truck-frame to car-based design. The Twin-I-Beam front-end was an ancient, archaic design that first debuted on the 1964 F-Series trucks.

mmarshall

Thanks. The sub-freezing temps, wind, my recovering from surgery, and the fact that they didn't have any Explorers inside the showroom kept me from actually doing more of a review/write-up than I was able to do yesterday. I do plan a full 2011 Explorer review/test-drive/write-up in a couple of weeks (after the D.C. Auto Show is over) and I don't think you will be disapppointed.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

looking forward to it!

TripleL

MM excellent mini review, thank you

I like what I see and think the move to unit body construction will impress the masses (although not hard core off roaders) when they take it for a test drive.

Also good for you for doing something you enjoy during your recovery. A few years ago a Dr wisely told me that the best way to feel like our normal selves is to do something we normally enjoy doing even if it's a throttled back version

<VENOM>

very nice review, glad to see your back and doing so well, the explorer upgrade you talk about, was that when they removed the shifter from behind the steering wheel and moved it down below

Fizzboy7

Can't agree. Compared to the average vehicle progression over time, the Explorer has not changed much since it's inception. A few facelifts, the updated suspension, the addition of thirsty V8's, and two interior redesigns. But overall, the same basic package has not changed since 1990. Read most car mag review the last ten years and the Explorer usually finishes last or with low marks and comments of "outdated this, outdated that." It's lagged and been beaten by the competition in almost every catagory, save maybe for towing or off-roading. Now that's not to say it has some good attributes, but to claim it's gone through transformations over the years that brought it up to decent standards is not accurate in my opinion.

oldcajun

Ford offers a lot of choices in this area. The Edge which has only 2 rows of seats is the better looking vehicle and offers a "Sport" version with 305 hp. The Flex which is a big box with lots of room, a smooth ride, and the option of the 355 hp Ecoboost engine which makes it very fast. The Explorer is sort of a Flex made to look like a normal SUV. It obviously offers better off-road capability than the other 2 but no high performance engine. For my purposes, I would choose either the Edge or Flex over the Explorer but I guess that is why Ford is offering so many choices in this market.

Ford has recently been offering a huge menu of options that can run the price up a lot. Their base prices are still reasonable, so the option of loading one up is OK with me.

I recently drove one of the new Lincoln MKX's (Lincoln version of Edge) and thought it compared very well with my RX350. If I were buying today, I would probably buy the MKX over the RX for the interior features and extra performance. If it were available with the Ecoboost engine, I would definately choose the Lincoln.

IS-SV

Cannot agree. 2006-2009 is 4th generation truck/SUV known as the Explorer. All this talk about 1st gen and I-beam suspension has nothing to do with the 4th gen Explorer (2006-2010 model years) or the last 2 generations of body-on-frame/truck versions. To be more specific the 4th gen shares nothing with first 2 gens except the old block of the 4.0L V6 engine (not head which was replaced with SOHC head). The V8's are 4.6L 3 valve SOHC (not pushrod 5.0L junk) and are matched with a modern 6 speed tranny. The unique frame of the 4th gen is stiffer and stronger and is not the same as 1st, 2nd or 3rd gen frame. Suspension is fully independent and tuned like the body-on-frame Range Rovers for decent ride/handling.

In short, the 4th gen Explorer V8/6speed is competitive with any of the truck-based body-on-frame SUVs out there. Of course, the reality of the market shows that most buyers don't need all that towing capacity and offroad capability and are better off with a unibody crossover.

mmarshall

Thanks. I'll finish the job in a couple of weeks with a full-review.

It will be interesting to see how the new level of ride comfort is with the car-based construction. One of the things that led to the famous roll-over/tire failure fiasco on older Explorers was customer-complaints about its rather stiff, truckish ride, and Ford's response by lowering the recommended tire-PSI levels to critical levels. This "fixed" the ride-comfort problem quickly and cheaply, but placed a potentially dangerous load on underinflated tires, particularly on overloaded vehicles. The next-generation Explorer (after the fiasco, and at a cost, of course) finally got rid of the old Twin-I-Beam front suspension that should have been dumped when the vehicle was first brought out in 1990. But even that redesigned model, still truck-based, was not the smoothest-riding SUV on the market....we'll see how the all-new 2011 model does.


I had to throttle-back quite a bit, considering the deep-freeze temps we've had the last few days and the fact that the shop didn't have any new Explorers indoors (so many people wanted test-drives that they kept them all outdoors and ready to go). I plan to look at several indoor floor models, though, when the D.C. Auto Show debuts at the end of the week.