• Pros

• Significantly improved handling over prior Explorers. Point it, and it goes—there’s no more leaning.
• Comfortable ride and seating, with plenty of shoulder room.
• Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) Engine is smooth, with plenty of acceleration. Transmission is very smooth.
• Better looks than in previous generations of boxy Explorers.

• Cons

• MyFord Touch touch-screen is complicated to use and requires a lot of distracting screen time. Would you get used to it? You might. Is it obvious how to use it, early on? No.
• Still feels big and heavy. It would be great if this car felt 500 pounds lighter.
• A wide vehicle, it’s hard to fit the Explorer into modest-sized garage spaces. Not a great car if you drive a lot in the city and need good maneuverability.
• Mediocre visibility, especially out the three-quarter view between the rear hatch and the back window on the driver’s side. As a result, the driver experiences a blind spot in the rear corner. Parking assist and rear camera help make up for this deficit.
• The third row of seats can be folded flat, but this makes for a high cargo floor height.
• Mileage is better—but still not great. We were hoping for a down-sized version of the previous Explorer, with the GDI engine and very good fuel efficiency. Instead, Ford made the Explorer bigger and improved efficiency only modestly.

We test drove the Ford Explorer Limited with Six-Cylinder GDI Engine.

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