Off Road Video

[Prosecutor]

My wife would kill me if I ever took our new '11 Explorer off road (despite the fact that we have 4wd), so this Youtube video is the closest I'll ever get.



Despite the unibody frame and lower ground clearance, the new Explorer is still very off road capable.

 

[Holligl]

I have tried a little with mixed results. Especially with the 20" Hankooks, on rutted dirt roads, you can't keep it out of ruts and the front spoiler will get knocked off. Drug it off again in a grassy ditch. Good thing it does snap back on with relative ease. Hill was descent pretty cool. While the video had some good hills, it appeared pretty smooth. Hankooks definitely not intended for off road.

 

[Prosecutor]

Best description of the Terrain Management System settings so far:

• Truck mode
• Railroad tracks and spaceships
• Cactus proximity
• Large snowflakes

Originally from The Truth About Cars.

 

[vulnox]

That's not too bad for a unibody vehicle I think.

I have been wishing I could find some just general ORV trails to take my Explorer on. Nothing major, no huge hills with huge ruts and that, just some general driving-through-the-woods stuff. But I don't know how much of that I will find in Kansas. Maybe when I go back to visit my family in Michigan in a month.

 

[Holligl]

That's not too bad for a unibody vehicle I think.

I have been wishing I could find some just general ORV trails to take my Explorer on. Nothing major, no huge hills with huge ruts and that, just some general driving-through-the-woods stuff. But I don't know how much of that I will find in Kansas. Maybe when I go back to visit my family in Michigan in a month.

I remember some washboard gravel roads in the UP that rattled my I-Pass right off the window in my Pilot.

 

[unclemeat]

I do not know of anyone who has been able to make a vehicle more offroadable without making it less streetable. Every modification favors one terrain or the other. If is is good on the street it is bad on the dirt and vise versa.

 

[esandye]

My wife would kill me if I ever took our new '11 Explorer off road (despite the fact that we have 4wd), so this Youtube video is the closest I'll ever get.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHZlANlGJ1U

Despite the unibody frame and lower ground clearance, the new Explorer is still very off road capable.[/QUOTE

Looks like the black EX in the video is a limited with XLT wheels and tires. The 20" aren't recommended for off road according to the manual!

 

[JDraper]

I still wanna see one "really" offroad. I'd like to see them go up the rock slope that they went past at about 1:40 into the video .

One of these fine days I may have to take mine out behind my house up into the shale pit..

I'd gladly volunteer to drive one in a true offroading area...as long as it's not my vehicle and they let me give it a full workout. I'm just not ready to bang my Explorer up yet.

 

[1995E]

Does it really matter if it's unibody or not? I just don't understand the difference. I know one has a frame where the body sits on. Is it just because a unibody frame can't withstand as much stress and will bend and break more easily?

I feel like this is a true SUV despite its drivetrain and unibody construction. I even did circles with it in the sand to show off to my friend in his Highlander. Plus I smoked him on the streets with this Explorer. Max I pushed this Explorer is 5k RPM. Not hitting any higher than that. Just being as soft with it as I can. *cough*

 

[unclemeat]

Unibody does not mean anything. Cherokees are unibody. I had a 74 VW bus, unibody, I wheeled the hell out of it, for a 2-wheel drive. The real shortcomings are the lack of a low range, limited suspension articulation, and low clearance.

 

[RandyH2]

I suppose this qualifies as "Off-Road" to some folks, but that was all really mild stuff and the only challenges of any sort that I saw were the inital turn onto the downhill and the turn off of the longer uphill.

What I would like to see:
1) A stretch of very muddy road- like I might find after 4 inches of rain.
2) A sand pit like I might find at the bottom of a dirt road hill.
3) An 8" deep pothole.
4) A 4-6" log or water bar.

Anyone? Bueller?

 

[2011EX]

If you see billboards your not off road....you are on a non-paved road. These tracks are designed for the explorer and nothing like what a normal owner will encounter in the real world.

 

[1995E]

If you see billboards your not off road....you are on a non-paved road. These tracks are designed for the explorer and nothing like what a normal owner will encounter in the real world.

If you ask me, that is some rugged terrain based on a person who lives in the city. Most people will never even see that much off-road terrain at all. The Expedition is still BOF. I think Ford made it up to people when they built the SVT Raptor.

 

[Spengracin]

That's equal to my driveway, off road! Good video!

 

[Nebucks]

I suppose this qualifies as "Off-Road" to some folks, but that was all really mild stuff and the only challenges of any sort that I saw were the inital turn onto the downhill and the turn off of the longer uphill.

What I would like to see:
1) A stretch of very muddy road- like I might find after 4 inches of rain.
2) A sand pit like I might find at the bottom of a dirt road hill.
3) An 8" deep pothole.
4) A 4-6" log or water bar.

Anyone? Bueller?

Agreed! Around here we call that going to get the mail. Put it through a real test and then I might consider it something other than a car pretending to be an SUV.

 

[RandyH2]

Agreed! Around here we call that going to get the mail. Put it through a real test and then I might consider it something other than a car pretending to be an SUV.

Hehe. That said, It has all of the off-road capability I need from it. Something about the idea of crawling in a shiney, straight, $40k+ new SUV makes me cringe.

Give me a Rover or a Jeep and the scuffs and scratches become badges.

It will be fun to see what folks are doing with the Explorer in 5 years. I wonder if anyone has installed a lift kit on one yet. Heck- I don't even know if you can put a lift kit on somethng without a set of rails.

 

[Elessar65]

I am going to have to agree with JDraper, see if it will go up the rocks. I would like to see how the terrain management system does in situations where 1 or more wheels is lifted. Will it divert the power to the ones with traction, or become an open diff 1 or 2 wheel wonder? The rest of that is what I would call an "unimproved road", not offroading. Although the most extreme offroad action most X's see is driving over a curb into the yard to get washed.

I encourage people to go find the limits of their vehicles offroad. Remember, trail rash is sexy, and if you aren't breaking stuff, you aren't trying hard enough