2011 Ford Explorer, an AW Flash Drive

What is it?


It's all-new, and this time, they ain't kidding.
While earlier generations of the Explorer were more truck than car, this one shares most of its unibody platform componentry with the Taurus and the Flex, the goal being best-in-class quietness as well as class-leading ride and handling. When it goes on sale next month, there will be only one engine, a 290-hp, 3.5-liter V6. And no, it's not an EcoBoost V6.
There are no turbos on this one, but it does have variable timing on all four camshafts, broadening the range of power and torque into which you can dip. At some vague point in 2011, Ford will add a 237-hp 2.0-liter EcoBoost I4. There was no mention of any V8 model in the ute's future.
This version comes in front- or all-wheel-drive, though the coming four-banger will be front-drive only. The first V6 will be mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.
There is room for seven to sit in three rows of seats and the styling is handsome and upscale, with more than a hint of a reminder that Ford and Land Rover were once in partnership.

How's it drive?
We took it on many miles of moderately twisting, semimountainous two-lane roads and were surprised at how well it tracked through turns. Previous Explorers had elicited complaints about excessive body roll, which you won't find in this model. It's no BMW X5 or Porsche Cayenne, but it's not a soft, wallowing floater, either. It carves through corners like a marketing exec avoids questions about when the EcoBoost is coming or what this model's 0-to-60 time is, which is very smoothly.

We took it off-road, too. Ford said only 17 percent of Explorer customers ever go off-road, and of those, none ever go rock crawling. So there is no low-range transfer case. A simple knob allows you to choose four modes of traction control, from normal to mud, to sand, to snow. Sand was fun, especially since we got to flail about in real sand. On a short off-road course we found more than adequate approach, departure and breakover angles. When the going got really steep, the rear axle eventually kicked in and got the Explorer up the hill, though it seemed to take a while to do so. For downhill runs there is a Ford version of Land Rover's push-button Hill Descent Control, which grabs individual disc brakes to ease you down the steepest slopes.
We didn't tow anything but Ford said that the Explorer will haul up to 5,000 pounds, which covers the needs of something like 99-point-something-something percent of Explorer owners' towing needs.

Do I want it?

This new car-based Explorer is far more realistic about what SUV/CUV buyers really want: something roomy inside with excellent on-road manners and very little road noise or wind noise. Ford made lots of claims about best-in-class this and competition-stomping that. We think they may mean it. The 2011 Explorer is large enough for the heftiest suburban housewife (or husband) and all their kids plus Grandma and Grandpa in the third row of seats. Ford also beat us over the head with the Explorer's 25-mpg highway figure (city is 17 mpg).

We have not had tremendous luck operating the Sync system. During our time with the new Explorer we sat through two demos from Nuance and Telenav representatives who could not get Sync to do what they kept telling it to do. Voice recognition still has a long way to go. A Nuance voice recognition rep said that typically the accuracy rates are in the upper 90 percent. So there.

But the rest of the Explorer is in fine shape, at or near the head of its class. Base price is listed at $28,190. We drove two models, a loaded-up XLT 4WD that stickered for $38,355 and a totally loaded Limited 4WD for $45,805. So the Explorer covers a wide swath of crossover utilities with a solid truck in a solid lineup.

2011 Ford Explorer
On Sale: January
Base Price: $28,995
Drivetrain: 290-hp, 255-lb-ft normally aspirated 3.5-liter V6; FWD, six-speed automatic
0-60 MPH: 7.5 sec (AW est)
Curb Weight: 4,695 lb (XLT 4WD)
Fuel Economy: 17 city/25 hwy mpg (mfr est)