We drove from Va to Ga and back over the last six days. 1000 mile round trip mainly on I95.

The car is smooth, solid and heavy and feels great on the road. At 80 MPH the little 2.3L tachs at 2000 revs and delivered an average of 28 MPG's for the entire trip. She never felt short on power or needed more gears. The 10 speed and the 2.3L are a perfect mate for our use.

Some vehicles get uncomfortable to the point that they wear you out after a few hundred miles of driving, not this one. But, my 2004 Expedition also did very well with long drives in fact, both are better than my 2011 F-150 in that regard.

I still can't think of anything that I'd change but to be fair, i have no experience with the other vehicles in it's class.

 

A little off topic, but the Detroit Free Press just published a story about someone who drove his new Mach-E cross country. 2400+ miles. Said he got a little over 200 miles on a charge and that no charging session lasted more than 38 minutes. Total cost of electricity was $160.

A little quick math will tell you that he needed to make about 11 stops at say, 30 minutes a stop, so he spent about 5-1/2 hours charging.

That same trip at 28 mpg would have required 6 fuel stops, as say 15 minutes a stop. So about 1-1/2 hours fueling. At $2.50/gallon, fuel cost would have been about $210.

BTW - His Mach-E cost $58,000.

Also, the batteries wear out over time and take longer to charge and will not charge 100%.

 

Hey Tim, good to hear you are doing well in the Explorer. It's got a really long 119" wheelbase and that helps make it a limo

Although there is a macho "truck purist" in me that wants separate body/frame construction and a "real truck", today's crossovers are really comfy and nice. A mid-large size crossover is really today's ideal family car; they are safe and stable and the performance/gas mileage compromise is awesome considering the weight and comfort.

I'm guessing that if you had ended up in an Escape, it would have done the trip fine, but you would have felt bumps in the road a lot more.

May you and your wife enjoy many safe and happy miles with it.

 

George, thankyou so much. At 4600 pounds, it feels very nimble yet heavy if that makes sense. It's very well planted on the road and with that, I can easily see why the PD's are using them.

 

Oh no. Are you saying that is has "road hugging weight"?

 

BMW has used road hugging weight to advantage...the 2000 X5 weighed 4800 lbs, had a 4.4 liter V8 that made 282 hp on premium fuel, got EPA mileage of 12 city and 16 freeway. It raised the bar for Autobahn-worthy SUV's. And it was only 183" long, barely longer than an Escape.

By those metrics, the new Explorer does pretty well--in particular, the REALLY long wheelbase would require a really stiff structure to keep the chassis from twisting.

 

You have no sense of humor.

Much like Chrysler's "Rich Corithian Leather" tag line, Ford's trying to turn the portly nature of its cars into an advantage has been widely and universally mocked.

 

By that do you mean, "will it outperform a German luxury car"? Well, with the 3.0L eco and a stiffer suspension, the ST might but not my Limited. I am very happy with how it feels on the road.

 

Does no one remember the Ford ads from the 70s & 80s?

 

I spent the 80's mainly at sea and in the 70's I was in school and playing baseball. So nope, I don't remember Ford's ads.

 

OK. Here you go. A trip down memory lane.

 

If you have to explain a joke, it wasn't funny

Of course I know the term but the new Explorer, though heavy, weighs less than the much smaller X5, which was a revolutionary crossover SUV that used 2x the gas that the Explorer does...

The '77 Ford LTD ad is pretty silly looking back, since Ford was simply slow in downsizing their full sized cars which didn't hit until 1979. I had a huge 1978 LTD II ("mid sized") that was longer and larger than the 1979 downsized "big" LTD.

Speaking of "road hugging weight", how's that Challenger? I also owned a 1970 Hemi Cuda and a 1968 Hemi Roadrunner that were lighter than your 4300 lb "pony car" that weighs like a Clydesdale

 

Tim, Nice write up on the new to you ride. Sounds like a winner.

J, Not to date myself here but I was born in the 70s so I really don't remember them LoL. Interestingly enough that 77 2 door LTD looks like a 79 Tbird my parents had for a while in the 80s maybe like a year or so. That was one of the first cars I could remember my parents having. Dad also had a Merc Monarch for a several years in the 80s. I only remember it since it was bright yellow and he gave it to my Grandpa when his car was wrecked or died. Something to that effect.

 

No. Just too sophisticated for the audience.

Most modern cars weigh more than the oldies. PW/PD motors. Airbags. Insulated glass. Sound insulation. More rigid structure. Etc.

The "tanks" of the 50s are surprisingly light when compared to modern cars.

I had a 70 Coronet R/T. No PS. No PB. What a pain to keep on the road. My new Challenger is 50 years ahead in driveability.

 

It's all good. Thread should be about Tim's new Explorer and his reports; the contrast to something like a 2000 BMW X5 is amazing, with hugely more space, more power, and far more economy on regular gas. Drive safe and check in, Tim...

As a contrast, my DD for almost 3 yrs has been a Nissan Murano (which has the best seats in the universe for my horrible back) and it's a very nice ride. Gets 28 mpg on the road with the 3.5 (which is not a direct injection engine) and the CVT (which may or may not be a problem). So that's my yardstick. I love mid-sized SUV's for traveling and the Explorer has great cargo and passenger room with a really long wheelbase.

I see Explorers at the rate of 10 per mile now (Detroit burbs), with 2 of those being our local speed traps set up on the main drag. (One of our depts just got an F150 cop truck for the first time.) We go for 3-4 mile walks and see all the shiny new cars in driveways a few times a week. And the speed trap Explorers are almost all the new gen cars now, probably because they're mechanically healthier to chase speeders with.

I wish I could order a PI new, actually....I really like the stealthy look, but don't want the bodily fluid history that used cop cars have I'd like one minus the 3rd row, too, for a bit more cargo room.