2016 Limited or Sport

[thebullwinkle]

I have already ordered a 2016 Limited with the 301A and tow package. My dealer advised me that they can locate a 2016 Sport model with the 401A and that it will be very similar. I have some concerns and I thought other explorer members could help with.

The explorer with replace our Town and Country that was just totaled. This is our first venture into a SUV since having 3 kids. There are the differences I noticed but hopefully you can help me uncover others. The major advantage of the Sport is that I do not have to wait 6-8weeks and since we are down to a sedan it is really appealing.

1) Sport tune suspension- Is this for better towing or is it going to a more rough ride? Is it noticeably different.

2) 3.5 Ecoboost- Based on the website this does not get as the MPG that the regular 3.5 gets. That's seems backwards to me but wanted your input on the matter

3) Badging/Wheels- I like the Sport look better than the Limited.

I don't see any options lost when going to the sport but there are a lot of options so I may be missing something.

Thanks for your help,

Joe

 

[Napalm]

so

the sport motor is ecoboost and significantly more power and torque than the base 3.5 ti-vct V6 or the 2.3L 4 cylinder turbo ecoboost.

because racewagon

it is faster, it is quicker, thus it has more brakes too.

the suspension is indeed stiffer so it can turn better at speed. Think tall taurus sho wagon - that is what a explorer sport is.

it is also a FWD biased, AWD device - but you can get the others in AWD as well.

It might tow more - only because more power and more brakes.


IF economy is your goal you need to look toward the limited with the ecoboost 2.3.


Unless you just need the features I'd tell you to re-look at the XLT with leather seats - because that's what I talked myself into.


IF I can recall correctly you can get a limted with everything you can get on the sport minus some of the appearance stuffs and of course the engine, brakes and suspension - which I doubt you really want.


again option wise - since I didn't really want the BLIS and the lane departure and adaptive cruse etc etc. and the extra more expensive radio didn't sound that much better to me either - I talked myself into an XLT with leather and the I think 201a package or some such. (remote start, power liftgate, 2nd row buckets, no 2nd row console, premium radio and touchscreen)

 

[thebullwinkle]

Napalm,

Thanks for the quick reply!! We will be possibly towing a 2500-3000lb boat at times which has me intrigued about the sport. Fuel Economy is not a priority and we order the regular 3.5.

Another option I noticed the sport may not have is the enhanced parking assist. I do not see that in any of the optional equipment(but I may have overlooked it.)

We plan to go with the Limited or possibly the sport. We really like some of the packages on the Limited because they were comparable to what we already had on the Town and Country.

Any other thoughts would be great!

JOe

 

[KarmanExplorer]

I have a Limited. I like the V-6 engine w/o turbo's. I don't tow much so didn't want the extra maint. of the turbos. Straight V-6 I figured would be less hassle in long run. But if you are towing, then the extra power may be what you need. When we bought our's the sport didn't have the interior color choices that the wife liked over the limited. So check out the interior color choices between the 2 options.

 

[veloduffer]

I chose the Limited over the Sport because I'll use the amenities the Limited has more often performance of the Sport. The Sport would be great if I had a lot of open roads and significant driving commute. Instead, the features of the Limited like HID lights, parking assist, heated/cooled seats were more important for my driving.

Don't readily dismiss the parking assist feature as a nicety. The Ex drives very big and its when you park the car it is noticeable. Having coming from a Sienna and previously a Honda Odyssey, the Ex feels much bigger to drive than those mini-vans. Living in NJ, most parking areas/garages have narrow spaces. Also, the Ex doors open fairly wide as well and are heavy and high.

 

[thebullwinkle]

Veloduffer,

According to the build sheet the Sport with the 401a package comes with the heated and cooled seats too. Both are listed with " Headlamps, Bi-Functional Projector-Beam Halogen" but I cannot find HID in the option descriptions.

From what I can tell the major loss is the parking assist which I agree could be a very nice option. Can anyone confirm that this is not an option for the sport?

Also when we test drove a Limited we discover the "massage" seat option. The seats were the perforated option heated/cooled. The dealer didn't know it had the massage option. Is this standard on the Limited with the perforated seats? The only model I saw a mention of the massage was the platinum but we definitely drove a limited.

 

[sr71_1]

if you're going to tow,the sport is a great choice with 365ft/lb torque @ 3500rpm...

 

[Gatortailale]

Good luck with your choice. You don't mention (unless I missed) whether you ordered AWD (4wd) on the Limited or just FWD. The sport comes AWD. May also be a benefit if you live in a 4 season area.

I just jumped from a 2013 Limited 2.0 Ecoboost to a 2016 sport. The ride is slightly stiffer, but I don't I really notice or am not concerned about that - too excited with the sport power. I really like how much tighter the steering is on the sport, and the growl of the 3.5 ecoboost off the line is rather impressive to me. But you got to learn to be easy on the gas in city driving or your mpg is going to stink if you mash the gas to the floor and spin up the turbos.

The sport has front and rear sensors that help with parking/ backing out of spots; on the 2016 you can flip on the front camera too that helps with parking as well.

For towing - you may enjoy the extra power the sport will give you; but otherwise I believe they both are rated 5,000 or less.

 

[thebullwinkle]

Kevin,

Do you feel like you gave up too much "comfort" in the ride with the sport model? That is my main concern although I would like to confirm the park assist availability on the sport.

Joe

 

[thebullwinkle]

Craig,

I did order an AWD. My wife believes she will use the enhanced park assist option a lot, I'm not totally sold on it yet but I haven't dismissed it yet either.

Keep the thoughts coming guys, I appreciate the help!

Joe

 

[elindo]

I had a 2014 Sport and just traded it in for the 2016 Sport. I have been a BMW guy for many years and I have to tell you the Sport suspension setup with the twin turbos feels as taught and responsive to any non M BMW X5. We drove the 2015 BMW X5 and it was smaller inside and the seat leather wasn't any better than found in the Sport. At this price point, the sport gives you great if you choose your options wisely. It is a big vehilcle but the sport setup makes it feel well controlled.

 

[Gatortailale]

Craig,

I did order an AWD. My wife believes she will use the enhanced park assist option a lot, I'm not totally sold on it yet but I haven't dismissed it yet either.

Keep the thoughts coming guys, I appreciate the help!

Joe

My other thought on the park assist is to see if dealer has an Escape or other ford car that has that feature and see if you find it useful.

The front camera has 2 views, 2nd is 180 view and may help with her parking.

 

[peterk9]

Veloduffer,

According to the build sheet the Sport with the 401a package comes with the heated and cooled seats too. Both are listed with " Headlamps, Bi-Functional Projector-Beam Halogen" but I cannot find HID in the option descriptions.

From what I can tell the major loss is the parking assist which I agree could be a very nice option. Can anyone confirm that this is not an option for the sport?

Also when we test drove a Limited we discover the "massage" seat option. The seats were the perforated option heated/cooled. The dealer didn't know it had the massage option. Is this standard on the Limited with the perforated seats? The only model I saw a mention of the massage was the platinum but we definitely drove a limited.

Not sure if this Order Guide has been updated or not. Massage seats are available in the Limited.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=417701&highlight=order+guide

Never used the park assist but the adaptive cruise control was used almost daily.

Peter

 

[sr71_1]

Kevin,

Do you feel like you gave up too much "comfort" in the ride with the sport model? That is my main concern although I would like to confirm the park assist availability on the sport.

Joe

Caveat - the Sport is my wife's but I like to drive it - very comfortable for long rides and around town - absolutely no regrets. She has the 15 Sport which was not available with park assist.

 

[Dr. J]

by far limited with 4 wheel drive

 

[thebullwinkle]

Peter,

Is the massage seat something that is included with all of the Limited Explorers? When I "build and price" on ford.com it isn't an option to choose. I find it a insane that this is an option at all but the wife does like it. Also would the sport possibly have them too. The window sticker on the Limited we test drove doesn't show anything but ebony perforated seats. I think the wife is hung up on the park assist option and I cannot find any videos or reviews that aren't good about it.

Thanks again for your help,

Joe

 

[stevesmith1328]

Massage Feature

The massage feature is not standard on all the 2016 Explorer Limited. You have to choose the 301A package to get the massage seat feature which is the package that also includes all the driver assist features. The low end Limited comes with 300A package and that does not have massage seats.

I believe if you look at the online brochure for the Limited in the option package page it spells this out, but the online building tool doesn't list the massage feature (active motion) under that package as it should.

I only know this because we are thinking of ordering one and the one we test drove had the massage feature which my wife somehow found out of all the buttons in that car.

Equipment Group 301A – 1st-row multicontour
bucket seats with Active Motion®

Equipment Group 300A-1st-row heated and cooled, 10-way power bucket
seats (including power lumbar and recline) with
driver’s side memory feature

 

[Napalm]

I forget the check the tow rating on the base V6 and the ecoboost 4 - I think the base v6 will tolerate 5000 lbs. which sounds like your range. and thus would save you some money - however again I wouldn't tow with a explorer to start with but that's a whole other rant for another time.

on the options the sport will have all the things the limited as + some stuff sport related, IIRC. for about 4 minutes I thought about the limited 2.3 ecoboost that was on the lot next to the v6 XLT we ended up buying.

 

[Ronin559]

I forget the check the tow rating on the base V6 and the ecoboost 4 - I think the base v6 will tolerate 5000 lbs. which sounds like your range. and thus would save you some money - however again I wouldn't tow with a explorer to start with but that's a whole other rant for another time.

on the options the sport will have all the things the limited as + some stuff sport related, IIRC. for about 4 minutes I thought about the limited 2.3 ecoboost that was on the lot next to the v6 XLT we ended up buying.

Both the naturally aspirated and ecoboost V6s in the explorer can tow up to 5,000lbs if equipped with the factory tow package. The Sport will pull the trailer with a little more ease as it has a lot more power and torque. But you have to keep in mind that the natural V6 has a GCWR of 9,980lbs in the FWD and 10,160lbs 4WD/AWD compared to 10,400lb that the sport has. It will make a difference if you plan to load up the inside of the Explorer and tow a near the 5,000lbs limit, but with that said you should not have an issue if you are going with a <3,000lbs boat and 4-5 passengers.

I personally like the suspension in my 2014 Sport, I don’t find it too stiff at all, but one of the reasons the Sport might be getting lest MPG compared to the Limited could be because the Limited is 2WD opposed to the 4WD standard in the sport.

When I got mine I had to pick between getting the power fold 3rd row with the park assist or the turbo charged with dark exterior trim, I ultimately went with the looks and power. I have no problem parking with the rear view camera but if the park assist was available I would have gotten it. Maybe my next one will be the Platinum so I can have my cake and eat it too. lol

 

[s2upid]

Craig,

I did order an AWD. My wife believes she will use the enhanced park assist option a lot, I'm not totally sold on it yet but I haven't dismissed it yet either.

Keep the thoughts coming guys, I appreciate the help!

Joe

I ended up going with the 2016 Limited with the park assist for the lady... I use it all the time to be honest.. the biggest thing I kept hearing from people before I bought the explorer was that the park assist was gimicky and it is quicker to park it yourself.

Let me just say, they're dead wrong in regards to parallel parking. Backing into a stall, it's definitely a bit finicky and slow, but you have mirrors and the rear view to take care of that. Parallel with the active park assist does it WAY faster and cleaner then I could ever do it - even with the damn sensors helping me. I don't regret that option one bit, it's so nice.