Gandalf
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- January 25, 2011
- Messages
- 214
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Southern California
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2011 Limited
Brought my 2011 Explorer to Yosemite National Park and thought I’d relate my experiences. Bottom line: my Ex performed extremely well in all areas, including MFT. I am very pleased.
The trip was with 3 adults and a young child. We had quite a bit of stuff and sticking it all in the Explorer proved quite a challenge, but, with some creative packing, everything fit, and I was still able to see out the back window.
The Explorer is a very well suited to long trips as it’s comfortable to sit in for long periods and the driving experience was solid. Smooth riding and plenty of power when needed for passing or climbing hills, even with the climate system on. A couple of places we got some strong crosswinds and the Ex was rock solid. I could barely feel the winds effects, something I cannot say for my 93 Ex.
Had the climate on Auto and set to 72 degrees the whole time and that’s where the temperature stayed. Cruising up the CA-99 in the San Joaquin valley with the cruise control set to 75, the outside temp read 95, we all stayed very comfortable and the car didn’t seem to break a sweat. The engine temperature gauge was rock solid at halfway between cold and hot the entire time we were on the road. True even in the Mojave Desert on the CA-14, where the temperature got to 100 degrees, again with the cruise control set to 75 mph.
Speaking of cruise control, the adaptive CC works great. I love the way it adjusts for other cars in your lane. You still need to be alert and pay attention, but it sure beats having to brake and later hit Resume all the time.
Going down the long grade from Tioga Pass to Mono Lake, I got to try out manual mode on the transmission. It has 6 different gears levels and I was able to minimize my use of the brake going down. I did smell burning brakes, but I can feel confident it was from one of the two cars ahead of me, since they were pretty much riding their brakes all the way down the mountain.
A-pillar rattle: I was listening for this, especially in the more windy areas. I think I may have heard some rattle in the high cross wind areas, but I am not sure. I wasn’t sure if it was rattle or just the noise of the wind buffeting the car. Whatever it was it was very intermittent, and nobody else in the car noticed it.
Rain Noise: Ha-ha! This is California dude! What’s rain?
No, seriously, we almost literally did not see a cloud the entire trip.
MFT: Mainly use the climate controls and the navigation. Did not make any phone calls and didn’t mess with the entertainment system, except for Sirius Travel Link for gas prices. Everything worked great, including the navigation, although I didn’t to try to exercise the whole system completely.
Navigation. I preprogrammed my destinations into favorites before starting out, so I didn’t have to add any addresses on the fly. The navigation was right on the whole time and got me where I needed to go without error. The only glitch was on the last day when I was cruising through one of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it towns on the US-395, and the system wanted me to take some side streets to get back to the highway. Still, one small error during a weeklong trip is not enough to bother me. I can also report that you can set a favorite as a destination from the touch screen, even when you are cruising along at 75 mph.
Used Sirius Travel Link to check fuel prices and it was spot on, even in those small towns you see here in the West. A couple of places were listed as NA, but I just figured that’s the gas stations doing, not Sirius. Most places were exactly right, while a few others were off by no more than 2-3 cents at most.
Finally, I can’t resist putting in a picture of my Ex in the Yosemite high country. Awesome car, awesome park!
The trip was with 3 adults and a young child. We had quite a bit of stuff and sticking it all in the Explorer proved quite a challenge, but, with some creative packing, everything fit, and I was still able to see out the back window.
The Explorer is a very well suited to long trips as it’s comfortable to sit in for long periods and the driving experience was solid. Smooth riding and plenty of power when needed for passing or climbing hills, even with the climate system on. A couple of places we got some strong crosswinds and the Ex was rock solid. I could barely feel the winds effects, something I cannot say for my 93 Ex.
Had the climate on Auto and set to 72 degrees the whole time and that’s where the temperature stayed. Cruising up the CA-99 in the San Joaquin valley with the cruise control set to 75, the outside temp read 95, we all stayed very comfortable and the car didn’t seem to break a sweat. The engine temperature gauge was rock solid at halfway between cold and hot the entire time we were on the road. True even in the Mojave Desert on the CA-14, where the temperature got to 100 degrees, again with the cruise control set to 75 mph.
Speaking of cruise control, the adaptive CC works great. I love the way it adjusts for other cars in your lane. You still need to be alert and pay attention, but it sure beats having to brake and later hit Resume all the time.
Going down the long grade from Tioga Pass to Mono Lake, I got to try out manual mode on the transmission. It has 6 different gears levels and I was able to minimize my use of the brake going down. I did smell burning brakes, but I can feel confident it was from one of the two cars ahead of me, since they were pretty much riding their brakes all the way down the mountain.
A-pillar rattle: I was listening for this, especially in the more windy areas. I think I may have heard some rattle in the high cross wind areas, but I am not sure. I wasn’t sure if it was rattle or just the noise of the wind buffeting the car. Whatever it was it was very intermittent, and nobody else in the car noticed it.
Rain Noise: Ha-ha! This is California dude! What’s rain?
No, seriously, we almost literally did not see a cloud the entire trip. MFT: Mainly use the climate controls and the navigation. Did not make any phone calls and didn’t mess with the entertainment system, except for Sirius Travel Link for gas prices. Everything worked great, including the navigation, although I didn’t to try to exercise the whole system completely.
Navigation. I preprogrammed my destinations into favorites before starting out, so I didn’t have to add any addresses on the fly. The navigation was right on the whole time and got me where I needed to go without error. The only glitch was on the last day when I was cruising through one of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it towns on the US-395, and the system wanted me to take some side streets to get back to the highway. Still, one small error during a weeklong trip is not enough to bother me. I can also report that you can set a favorite as a destination from the touch screen, even when you are cruising along at 75 mph.
Used Sirius Travel Link to check fuel prices and it was spot on, even in those small towns you see here in the West. A couple of places were listed as NA, but I just figured that’s the gas stations doing, not Sirius. Most places were exactly right, while a few others were off by no more than 2-3 cents at most.
Finally, I can’t resist putting in a picture of my Ex in the Yosemite high country. Awesome car, awesome park!
