Here are my facts from ownership. My wife and I have owned 7 AWD/4WD vehicles in the past. The Explorer replaced an AWD Enclave.
We purchased in Mar, so ours didnt see snow until Jan of the next year. My wife came home asking me how to put the Explorer into 4WD mode after a 2in snow. I told her its AWD so no reason to change anything for such a small snow (powdery snow, not wet). She moved the dial to "snow" mode at one point and made no difference - the Explorer slid all over the place. I didnt believe her since every AWD vehicle we've owned has never done that.
Next snow I was out of town - she claims the same loss of control in snow.
3rd snow is about 3" and Im in town. Its not 100% powdery but not totally wet. I take the Explorer out and get stuck at a stop sign. It cannot gain traction and is basically swerving into the side of the road no matter the setting. Im speechless..............
Fast forward one more year. 32k miles and we're almost at the wear bars. No way Im going into another winter with these tires. Put new tires on.
First snow - no sweat. Explorer performed flawlessly. 2nd snow 32 inches. We didnt go out - my 4WD Wrangler chokes over 17 inches
.
After a quick plow we still have 2 inches of slick snow covering our road. Took the Explorer out and NO problem. stop/go/turn/etc....My wife finally trusts the car again.
Only change - tires.
The Hancocks were great on dry pavement and very quiet - totally sucked in snow. New tires are not as quiet but 10x better in snow/wet traction.
Those are my "facts"