2025 Ford Explorer: Still pretty good after all these years

2025 Ford Explorer Platinum 4WD vs. 2025 Buick Enclave Avenir: Family adventure from the old American brands.

This week: Ford Explorer

Price: The Platinum trim level starts at $52,250

Conventional wisdom: Car and Driver likes the “brawny broad-shouldered styling, available hearty V-6, new 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen and software,” but not that the “base engine drones,” there’s a “tight third-row seat,” or that the “interior quality still trails competitors.”

Marketer’s pitch: Nothing particularly catchy on the website.

Reality: Nothing particularly catchy on the Explorer.

What’s new: Once upon a time I really liked the Explorer. It’s been nine years but I remember thinking it provided a nice ride, nice handling, and good performance. So the pressure was on — how would the new version match up?

For 2025, the SUV gets a sharper exterior look and interior updates.

Competition: In addition to the Enclave, tops among the rest of the segment include the Chevrolet Traverse, Honda Pilot, Hyundai Palisade, Kia Sorento, Mazda CX-90, Subaru Ascent, Toyota Highlander.

Up to speed: The 2.3-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine provides 300 horsepower. It should get the vehicle to 60 mph in about 6 seconds, according to a Car and Driver test of a 2022 model.

Motor Trend, on the other hand, recorded a 6.8-second 0-60 time. I rarely notice such a wide disparity so it seemed worth mentioning.

The four-cylinder turbo makes a cute little whine during acceleration, a sound I remember way back to the Fairmont, the sad, square sedan foisted on the buying public in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At least this version has some oomph.

There is an optional 400-horsepower 3.0-liter V-6 on the Platinum trim model, and it knocked the 0-60 time down to 5.1 seconds, says Car and Driver.

Back down again: This doesn’t often come up but the Explorer tested felt like it had some disappointing brakes. Car and Driver’s tests revealed just an extra two feet over the Toyota Highlander to get stopped from 70 mph (172 feet vs. 170), so not worth canceling your sale over. But see what you think before buying.

Shifty: The 10-speed automatic transmission does its thing fairly nicely, without much notice. That’s good, because there’s no real shiftability here, paddles or otherwise. That’s a minus over the 2016’s shiftable six-speed.

Ford has kept the dial-up shifter in the Explorer, probably my least favorite option for selecting directions. There’s no feel and you can just twist forever; twisting one way for Reverse and another for Drive like many other dials offers so much more feedback.

On the road: The handling is not bad for a three-row SUV with four-wheel drive, but it’s not exactly sporty. It keeps to the lane mostly, but there’s some wander in Normal and Eco modes, almost along the lines of the old Kia Sorento.

The Explorer offers an array of modes, and I mostly switched between Normal and Sport. These two had drastically different feels, as Sport was a little too jumpy for anything but curvy country roads, where it performed wonderfully. Normal does quite nicely on the highways and in town.

A rear-wheel-drive Explorer is also available.

Driver’s Seat: The Explorer retains one unusual feature — when I set the seat high enough to provide a clear view over the giant hood, I have to duck my head when getting in. The low roofline probably helps with handling, but it’s odd that I’m forced to do this in a family-sized SUV.

The speedometer is all digital so the numbers are clear. Setting up trip information or other data is easy as well.

The steering wheel buttons cover everything you need, so they’re a little on the small side, as Fords have been since my first-ever review of the then all-new 2011 Fiesta.

Friends and stuff: The second row in the model tested featured three individual seats. This makes for lots of configurations, but feels rather minivanlike or airplane like; it’s best for sitting upright and in your own personal space, like good soldiers. Perhaps it was designed by a parent who’d refereed one too many “He’s touching my side” wars.

Access to the rear row is about as challenging as any three-row SUV, but at least a power switch did the work in the test model. Once there, brace yourself as you sit down, because there’s a long plop till you reach the bottom. You’re way down now, like the old World Party tune goes, which seems kid-unfriendly.

Speaking of down, this seat really got me feeling down fast. It’s flat and straight and hard, and even with the middle row pushed up, your knees will rise to meet your chin.

Cargo space is 85.3 cubic feet behind first row, 46.0 behind the second, and 16.3 when all the seats are up. Towing maxes out at 5,000 pounds.

Play some tunes: The stereo plays delightfully. Sound is about an A, not the best I’ve heard but among the top tier.

Operation of the system features a volume dial and some buttons under the infotainment panel, but everything else is in the 13.2-inch screen, and Ford has come a long way since 2016. (Actually most of the changes came for 2025.)

Keeping warm and cool: The HVAC controls are all in the touchscreen, with small arrows to change temperature and fan speed and a small blower icon that expands to change that function.

Fuel economy: I averaged around 21 mpg in a shorter-than-usual Mr. Driver’s Seat range of driving. This is up 2 from 2016.

Where it’s built: Chicago

How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the Explorer’s reliability to be a 3 out of 5.

Next week: How does the Buick Enclave measure up?