wwb
New Member
- Joined
- September 11, 2013
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- NJ
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2014 EX Sport
Just picked up my Ex Sport (Ingot Silver with 402A pkg) on Friday. Drove from NJ to Boston this evening and and wanted to share my initial impressions. Before I do that, I do want to give kudos to Crystal and other Ford reps that are on the forum. It's really great to see Ford actively participating in social media. I can tell you that I also considered the Jeep GC and spent time on Jeep Garage before my making my decision and you can hear more crickets there than Jeep people. So again, thanks to Crystal and others for being so involved and responsive!
For those of you in the market, I leased with 12k miles. Interest was .75 with 56% residual. For what it's worth....
On to my review:
The good:
The Ex Sport is awesome. Love it. Nice ride, comfy seats, quiet even at 85 mph, MFT works as it should, great power. Note, I came out of an Infiniti G37 and don't feel like I lost much in power, only handling, but what can you say, it is a bigger beast. Got lots of looks at pop warner football game over the weekend. Love the rims and other sport styling. Also, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that you can set the height that the lift gate raises - this helps if you garage it so it doesn't open too high to hit the garage door. Nice feature.
The better:
I've tried hard to replicate the over 4500 RPM burnt smell and just haven't gotten it. Granted it's early, but either I got a vehicle where it doesn't exist, or Ford fixed the issue in production, or it's too early to tell. Fingers crossed. Note, this was the one thing that made me really think about not getting the Explorer.
What could be better...
1 - not a lot of legroom in driver's seat to stretch legs on long ride. Brake is too close to left foot rest and prohibits really stretching out.
2 - I like to turn off of MFT display on long drives at night. Problem is once you touch system and comes back on, it doesn't "time out" and go back off. You have to manually turn it off again. Might be something Ford could include in an update....
3 - i think I read someone else mentioned the lack of storage in rear. I agree. Really, for a SUV, you would expect some type of storage compartment for rope, jumper cables, etc. But nothing. Shouldn't be that hard given the size of the car to include some space.
4 - the glove box is almost impossible to open with an adult sitting in front passenger seat.
5 - the emergency brake peddle is too far forward and I seem to always kick it with my left foot when getting out of the vehicle. Would seem like they could position it further back in the foot bed to alleviate that issue.
6 - ugh... have you tried accessing the fuse box? What a pain. To wire my radar detector I had to unbolt a plastic kick cover, lean over in a very awkward position with a flashlight in my mouth to access the fuse box. Finally got it connected. But never owned a car where the fuse box was so inaccessible.
7- not really a complaint because I knew it when I purchased the car, but... really, I have heated and cooled seats, remote start, etc. but no heated steering wheel. What up with that?
8 - finally, and being really picky on this one, but, the handle on the inside of the driver door has an open bottom, meaning you can't really put anything there without if falling through. Would be more useful it you could put things in there without them slipping through to the floor.
Only one issue so far and I'll get it fixed next time at the dealer. The end call button on my steering wheel doesn't work. The talk button works fine and I can initiate MFT instructions and calls, but can't disconnect a call unless I touch the MFT screen.
Overall, very satisfied thus far and would definitely recommend the Explorer to others. Knock on wood...
For those of you in the market, I leased with 12k miles. Interest was .75 with 56% residual. For what it's worth....
On to my review:
The good:
The Ex Sport is awesome. Love it. Nice ride, comfy seats, quiet even at 85 mph, MFT works as it should, great power. Note, I came out of an Infiniti G37 and don't feel like I lost much in power, only handling, but what can you say, it is a bigger beast. Got lots of looks at pop warner football game over the weekend. Love the rims and other sport styling. Also, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that you can set the height that the lift gate raises - this helps if you garage it so it doesn't open too high to hit the garage door. Nice feature.
The better:
I've tried hard to replicate the over 4500 RPM burnt smell and just haven't gotten it. Granted it's early, but either I got a vehicle where it doesn't exist, or Ford fixed the issue in production, or it's too early to tell. Fingers crossed. Note, this was the one thing that made me really think about not getting the Explorer.
What could be better...
1 - not a lot of legroom in driver's seat to stretch legs on long ride. Brake is too close to left foot rest and prohibits really stretching out.
2 - I like to turn off of MFT display on long drives at night. Problem is once you touch system and comes back on, it doesn't "time out" and go back off. You have to manually turn it off again. Might be something Ford could include in an update....
3 - i think I read someone else mentioned the lack of storage in rear. I agree. Really, for a SUV, you would expect some type of storage compartment for rope, jumper cables, etc. But nothing. Shouldn't be that hard given the size of the car to include some space.
4 - the glove box is almost impossible to open with an adult sitting in front passenger seat.
5 - the emergency brake peddle is too far forward and I seem to always kick it with my left foot when getting out of the vehicle. Would seem like they could position it further back in the foot bed to alleviate that issue.
6 - ugh... have you tried accessing the fuse box? What a pain. To wire my radar detector I had to unbolt a plastic kick cover, lean over in a very awkward position with a flashlight in my mouth to access the fuse box. Finally got it connected. But never owned a car where the fuse box was so inaccessible.
7- not really a complaint because I knew it when I purchased the car, but... really, I have heated and cooled seats, remote start, etc. but no heated steering wheel. What up with that?
8 - finally, and being really picky on this one, but, the handle on the inside of the driver door has an open bottom, meaning you can't really put anything there without if falling through. Would be more useful it you could put things in there without them slipping through to the floor.
Only one issue so far and I'll get it fixed next time at the dealer. The end call button on my steering wheel doesn't work. The talk button works fine and I can initiate MFT instructions and calls, but can't disconnect a call unless I touch the MFT screen.
Overall, very satisfied thus far and would definitely recommend the Explorer to others. Knock on wood...
