i love my explorer... suits me just fine...
but i understand the comments on the interior...
i'm about 5'10 185lbs... i think rather average in size...
in the driver seat it looks big and does feel big... because you have that width where you cant really drop your left arms and rest your elbow on the door when driving... it's too far left. you learn to use the armrest in the middle
. and if you try to roll your window to reach for a gate pad or gate ticket at the airport... you have to practically lift your butt off the seat, unbuckle, and stick half your body out to reach it. or just get out of the car and use the key pad. i find you really have to reach out further than any other car when at the mcdonalds drive thru when they hand you the food.
spaceous up top but yes cramped in the leg area.
in my honda ody, i use to be able to park my car at the gym parking lot and in my seat remove my warm up pants and just have my shorts underneath and put on shoes before going into the gym all in the drivers area (i know weird but that's what i did). i noticed with the explorer when i drove to gym... no way i can do that even though the ****pit is so airy it looks like you have the room. front passenger seat too... try putting a small bag on the floor next to your feet... you see how much space you really have... compareable to a compact car when you are sitting in a bigger suv/cuv.
second row, the seats look great and they are comfortable. but you really dont have a lot of leg room and cramped if you fit three.
but it works for me. but i can see there is a major compromise for putting 3 rows.
come on... the MFT does suck... such a unpolished product for a nice vehicle in other areas.
the ecoboost engine is a fail where it must really hurt driving experience in the explorer and probably really shows the cars weight and only gets an extra mile or two per gallon... for a $900 option! should have been the base no charge option for the econo freak. and the v6 the $900 option.
i have to add in the end i do understand the criticism... but i agree the MT article did go over the deep and sound like he was bashing it. he hated the vehicle... guess he was trying to come off funny or something. eh.
You're right about MT dislking the Ex, but it seems over the top. I like hearing the other side of things and many of their comments echoed comments in this forum (albeit MT stated them in an "over the top" fashion).
I was surprised about their comments on the interior being unergonomic, and not having much space? I test drove, but didn't sit in the back seats (my wife did, but she didn't complain?)
This comment bothered me somewhat - "deceptively small amount of interior space, among other problems. You can imagine what happens then if you stretch and repurpose a five-passenger sedan into a seven-seater SUV. Compromise, and lots of it"
I like the Explorer's styling, so this comment just made me laugh - "Looks like the Range Rover Evoque’s older, fatter, balding middle-aged brother." . I didn't like the Evoque that much, and being compared to Range Rovers isn't bad.