BMan5150
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- January 12, 2005
- Messages
- 127
- Reaction score
- 3
- City, State
- O-HI-O
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2014 Ford Explorer Sport
We heavily considered the a Acura and dodge Durango before buying our ex sport. We liked the ex sport best overall followed closely by the Durango and a distant third was the Acura. Some thoughts:
-interior. Felt for the price the Acura was no nicer inside than the ex or Durango. The new touch screens in the Acura stink. Durango seemed to have the best touch screen system. Mfs was deemed far better than all the negative reviews we'd read about over the past few years. Leather was actually best in the ex!
-powertrain. Ex sport wins here. Durango easily had the best soundtrack though (hemi v8 sounded great). Really all three were pretty solid here. But I appreciated the flexibility, power, fuel mileage and drive ability of the ex sport the best. We get the same mileAge as our former n/a v6 powered 250 horsepower honda pilot but WAY more power! Good stuff Ford! The Acura wins the fuel mileage hands down but I tow a boat regularly, and the Durango rt and ex sport win there without a doubt.
Looks. Both the Durango rt and the ex sport look badass. The Acura looks didn't appeal to me in the least. Doesn't know what it wAnts to be. Wagon or an SUV?
Size. The Acura is perfectly sized IMHO. The Durango is a tad too long but we liked the smaller width. This is one area we felt the ford didn't win. It's about 3" too wide-slightly wider than our very wide 2011 pilot. Dings galore. I hope the next gen ex is a little more narrow.
Turning radius-another ding for the ex. It's got the worst tur in radius of the three. Makes getting the truck in/out of my side load garage a bit more cumbersome. The Durango had the best turning radius, which made it feel nimble in spite of its size. The Acuras radius was also not great but they downsized the mdx for 2014 so it still felt pretty nimble (they made it a bit more narrow and cut weight for the 2014 redesign)
Handling. Acura felt best likely due to it being the lightest vehicle. The ex sport felt slightly better than the Durango. Really all three felt pretty good but steering feedback felt notably better on the Durango rt.
Comfort/seating. All three were fine but the Acura seats felt flat and hard. We loved both the Durango and ex sport equally
Safety features. Only thing I wish all three had (or all SUVs had) were front parking sensors. Our 2011 honda pilot touring had it and they were super helpful pulling into parking spaces or garages.
NVH. Our pilot had nvh issues in spades-one of the reasons we got rid of it. The new Acura seemed fine on our test drive but I'm leary of their chattery torque converter and their multiple displacement system incorporated I it their 3.5l v6. It's a source of many complaints among Honda owners of cars wth that powertrain. Oddly enough, the hemi's MDS wAs transparent. Not a surprise to me though since I've driven severAl hemi powered vehicles and never could feel when MDS was activated. I do LOVE the fact the ex sport does not have or incorporate MDS. So far, the ex sport is a great place to pass highway miles.
In the end, we were really close to pulling the trigger on the Durango. In fact, had local dealers had the one we wanted we may have bought one instead of the ex sport. Glad we didn't though-we absolutely live the ex sport so far. No problems whatsoever in the first 1400 miles. I probably just jinxed us!
Would be interested in hearing other peoples thoughts related to these three vehicles.
-interior. Felt for the price the Acura was no nicer inside than the ex or Durango. The new touch screens in the Acura stink. Durango seemed to have the best touch screen system. Mfs was deemed far better than all the negative reviews we'd read about over the past few years. Leather was actually best in the ex!
-powertrain. Ex sport wins here. Durango easily had the best soundtrack though (hemi v8 sounded great). Really all three were pretty solid here. But I appreciated the flexibility, power, fuel mileage and drive ability of the ex sport the best. We get the same mileAge as our former n/a v6 powered 250 horsepower honda pilot but WAY more power! Good stuff Ford! The Acura wins the fuel mileage hands down but I tow a boat regularly, and the Durango rt and ex sport win there without a doubt.
Looks. Both the Durango rt and the ex sport look badass. The Acura looks didn't appeal to me in the least. Doesn't know what it wAnts to be. Wagon or an SUV?
Size. The Acura is perfectly sized IMHO. The Durango is a tad too long but we liked the smaller width. This is one area we felt the ford didn't win. It's about 3" too wide-slightly wider than our very wide 2011 pilot. Dings galore. I hope the next gen ex is a little more narrow.
Turning radius-another ding for the ex. It's got the worst tur in radius of the three. Makes getting the truck in/out of my side load garage a bit more cumbersome. The Durango had the best turning radius, which made it feel nimble in spite of its size. The Acuras radius was also not great but they downsized the mdx for 2014 so it still felt pretty nimble (they made it a bit more narrow and cut weight for the 2014 redesign)
Handling. Acura felt best likely due to it being the lightest vehicle. The ex sport felt slightly better than the Durango. Really all three felt pretty good but steering feedback felt notably better on the Durango rt.
Comfort/seating. All three were fine but the Acura seats felt flat and hard. We loved both the Durango and ex sport equally
Safety features. Only thing I wish all three had (or all SUVs had) were front parking sensors. Our 2011 honda pilot touring had it and they were super helpful pulling into parking spaces or garages.
NVH. Our pilot had nvh issues in spades-one of the reasons we got rid of it. The new Acura seemed fine on our test drive but I'm leary of their chattery torque converter and their multiple displacement system incorporated I it their 3.5l v6. It's a source of many complaints among Honda owners of cars wth that powertrain. Oddly enough, the hemi's MDS wAs transparent. Not a surprise to me though since I've driven severAl hemi powered vehicles and never could feel when MDS was activated. I do LOVE the fact the ex sport does not have or incorporate MDS. So far, the ex sport is a great place to pass highway miles.
In the end, we were really close to pulling the trigger on the Durango. In fact, had local dealers had the one we wanted we may have bought one instead of the ex sport. Glad we didn't though-we absolutely live the ex sport so far. No problems whatsoever in the first 1400 miles. I probably just jinxed us!
Would be interested in hearing other peoples thoughts related to these three vehicles.
