Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

2013 Ford Explorer Limited AWD

Gallery:
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog....1347290131.jpg


The popularity of crossovers and SUVs as daily transportation often eludes me, but it's tough to argue with their functionality if you've got a sizable brood and a vacation ahead of you. I drove this 2013 Ford Explorer Limited from the greater Detroit area to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with a quick stop in Cleveland to pick up additional family. Overall impression? After driving 1,900+ miles in a single week, it's hard to imagine there are many vehicles better suited to the task than this Ford.

Travel Notes:
I drove 11+ hours straight twice in one week, with absolutely zero backaches to report from anyone – impressive.

Interior fit-and-finish and material choices shade those of most rivals, and options like cooled seats, second-row seatbelt airbags and power-folding third row are impressive.

Loaded with four people and a cargo hold full of beach gear, the 3.5-liter V6 had enough muscle (290 horsepower, 255 pound-feet of torque) through the mountains of Pennsylvania, but I can't help but wonder how it'd feel if we were towing something.

Ride and handling balance is very well judged, electric power steering accurate

MyFord Touch is powerful and offers serious configurability, but a slow touchscreen and overly complex interface hurts usability.

Kodiak Brown paint is great – very rich. Can look black or root beer depending on light.

Terrain Management is killer – when it works. We bombed around in Sand Mode along the Atlantic ocean dunes full-up with seven people for over an hour (we were one of the only unibodies we saw out of perhaps a hundred vehicles). Then the all-wheel-drive system unexpectedly turned itself off and we ground to a halt, nearly axle-deep. No sign of overheating, the system simply displayed that all-wheel drive was off, and rotating the **** wouldn't coax it back on. After turning the Explorer off and letting it sit for a few minutes, I restarted it and we were back in business. It never malfunctioned again.

Sand gets everywhere – even atop the engine and caked in the door sills. Two hours of cleaning and all is well.

Aside from the Honda Odyssey, the Ford Explorer appears to be the Outer Banks' Official Family Vacation Vehicle. They're everywhere.

Overall fuel efficiency for 1,900+ miles was 20.2 miles per gallon – bang on with what the cluster display indicated. EPA ratings call for 17 city/23 highway/19 combined. Considering a full load, PA's mountains, traffic, a couple of hours throwing sand around and the fact that the driver gave absolutely zero consideration to efficiency, we were quite pleased.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/09/10/2...r-limited-awd/

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

me likey (no surprise). about the travel notes on zero backaches in seats... my current (06) explorer is the same... by FAR the most comfortable vehicle seats i've ever had on long drives. no back pain or tightness at all. quite remarkable.

Brian@Vossen

Explorer love.. 20" CV7 and 22" CV1

hypervish

20 mpg is pretty pathetic. I can get 22 mpg minimum going about 80-85 mph, sometimes I can manage 23 mpg. I can easily do 24 mpg going slower at around 65-72 mph. I'd rather take my RX300. LOL

spwolf

whats worst, 4cly turbo gets same mpg in tests... FTW Ecoboost!

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

No AWD with EcoBoost 4 though

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

And your 12 yr old rx doesn't seat 7 or have 10 or so airbags, a sophisticated audio/comm system or as much room in general, and their testing was with 4 people on board too.

MPLexus301

iTrader: (3)

Ford has come a long way in the last few years, but after my family's experience with our Explorer, the blue oval will never be welcome in our driveway again.

Hope the new one is better (than ours) long term.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

What year was that?

My 06 has been trouble free except one service bulletin item in first year and the cd player broke and was replaced under warranty.

Now I finally got an iPod interface installed I plan to keep it a while

blacksc400

iTrader: (4)

47K!! Do they offer 3.5 Ecoboost for the Explorer?

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

The Explorer Sport

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/car...16-22-mpg.html

<VENOM>

47k the new 32k

spwolf

wait, so it gets same mpg, without awd? :-)

hypervish

That first part in bold is true, but my mpg was based on my RX with 5 people and full luggage. Damn good if you ask me. I think I'd feel safer in my Lexus versus a FORD.

Does it have Microsoft (FORD) sync? Because in that case, my RX300 has a better system than that.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

not knocking your rx at all - i had one around that time! rock solid reliable.