Future family man still wanting a fun sanctuary

[sUnit]

Hello everyone!

I've owned GMs for the majority of my car owning days. I've had a pretty wide range of cars - '93 Chevy Lumina APV, 6cyl Dodge Intrepid, '00 Corvette, 4cyl Pontiac G6, 4cyl Chevy Malibu, '07 Corvette, '97 6cyl Mustang, '16 Buick Verano Turbo, and now '09 Caddy CTS.

My wife and I will be starting our family in the very near future, so I'm looking to get into an SUV, but I'd still like to have some fun. I was looking at the GMC Acadia (my father had the Saturn Outlook and now GMC Acadia), so I'm very familiar with driving them.

I'd like something a bit sporty though, so when I saw the 2020 Explorer ST I was intrigued! A 3-row with 400hp and AWD and an interior that looks modern? For under $60k? Sounds great!

I do have a few questions:

1. Will they have the ambient lighting options Fords have recently where you can change the interior ambient lighting colors?

2. I heard that Ford's EcoBoost engines can use regular gas ... can this one? Not that it makes a difference from a financial standpoint, but it just seemed interesting since most high performance vehicles I'm used to using premium.

3. Has anyone used adaptive cruise control in heavy stop-and-go highway traffic? I commute 30 miles (about 60 minutes +/- 10) one-way every day and it's very stop-and-go on the DC beltway. I'm curious if adaptive cruise control might help my ankle. That's the one thing that's unfortunate is that my ankles hurt because you either leave space, get cut off and end up breaking hard anyways, or you try to roughly keep pace and then it's constant stop-and-go anyways. Anyone else have experience with this?

Thanks for having me here!

 

[Napalm]

any one of the ford products drives more sporty than the GM SUV's. I guess with the exception of the Enclave touring model. They all wallow in turns more and I used to be a GM person.

But to your question. The ecoboost engines tolerate 87 octane, but they will make rated power with premium. I find it runs fine on the 87 most of the year. I trade to 93 when the OAT crosses 90F. So about 3 months out of the year for me. and by doing so my MPG goes up some 2-3 mpg.

Due to the heat and the knock retard protection and others things. The ECU likes having the 93 octane when it's hot. below 90 - 87 octane runs great.

I know it doesn't make rated power on 87 - but it makes most of it which is good for most of my drive.

If I was to tow or haul alot of something with it - and the temps were higher - I would put 93 in it.

 

[Napalm]

Oh the adaptive cruise - you need to test drive one - like the current gen fusion. I had one for a rental in chicago and it works pretty well. it leaves alot of space though. or more than I would typically.

So you get cut infront of a good bit - and it reacts alot. but you can leave it be if you wanted to. OH and they now do slow to stop also. SO it will come to a complete stop when traffic does - automatically. I tried it - it's unnerving at first - but it works pretty smooth actually.

 

[peterk9]

On the pre-2020 models the adaptive cruise could not be used if travelling under 16 mph. Are you saying that no longer holds true for the 2020 model? Thanks.

Peter

 

[Napalm]

Well it looks like they will get that new system that the fusion and edge have with cruise to stop feature - and as far as I know that's becoming the new standard.

Adaptive cruise with Stop and Go.

and lane keeping I think will also be standard on all

 

[Forddealz]

Oh the adaptive cruise - you need to test drive one - like the current gen fusion. I had one for a rental in chicago and it works pretty well. it leaves alot of space though. or more than I would typically.

So you get cut infront of a good bit - and it reacts alot. but you can leave it be if you wanted to. OH and they now do slow to stop also. SO it will come to a complete stop when traffic does - automatically. I tried it - it's unnerving at first - but it works pretty smooth actually.

Yeah, the adaptive cruise is ok but I would hate cars cutting in front of me, I cant imagine myself using it much. I want to control my own speed most of the times.

Can we drive the new 2020 ST on a highway...will it help steer itself in the lane? Keep the car in the lane? Or just make a warning sound... I know it parks by iteself by just pressing a button. The Russian will be able to come out with an Explorer that would park itself with a remote control. If you can do it just by pressing 1 button in the car, you can park it with a remote. Remember, you don't have to be pressing gas, brake pedals or don't need to touch steering wheel.
It will be interesting to see with this new tech and new modding.

 

[peterk9]

Yeah, the adaptive cruise is ok but I would hate cars cutting in front of me, I cant imagine myself using it much. I want to control my own speed most of the times.

Can we drive the new 2020 ST on a highway...will it help steer itself in the lane? Keep the car in the lane?

From what I've seen and heard about the Co-Pilot the answer would be YES. It apparently keeps you centered in your lane.

Peter

 

[Forddealz]

From what I've seen and heard about the Co-Pilot the answer would be YES. It apparently keeps you centered in your lane.

Peter

From what I've seen and heard about the Co-Pilot the answer would be YES. It apparently keeps you centered in your lane.

Peter

That is a big plus. I can finally drink a coffee and eat a donut for a few seconds at least without touching the steering wheel. Awesome feature to keep the truck in-lane. One day, we will be standing outside our Explorers and have them park by themselfs with a push of a remote button.

 

[RhinoQuartz]

That is a big plus. I can finally drink a coffee and eat a donut for a few seconds at least without touching the steering wheel. Awesome feature to keep the truck in-lane. One day, we will be standing outside our Explorers and have them park by themselfs with a push of a remote button.

That day is probably within the next year or 2.

 

[Napalm]

then why buy a car just uber or lyft everywhere.

 

[RhinoQuartz]

then why buy a car just uber or lyft everywhere.

Neither are available everywhere, besides which, their business practices are abhorrent and they treat their drivers like crap.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Why on earth would you want your car to park itself when you weren’t in it? I really don’t see the advantage of self parking. If you can’t bother to park, you shouldn’t be driving.

 

[Flying68]

Why on earth would you want your car to park itself when you weren’t in it? I really don’t see the advantage of self parking. If you can’t bother to park, you shouldn’t be driving.

Extremely tight spaces. If every car could self park, you could increase parking capacity by decreasing stall width. Other benefits for elderly and disabled people, they could get out at the door and the car parks itself.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Extremely tight spaces. If every car could self park, you could increase parking capacity by decreasing stall width. Other benefits for elderly and disabled people, they could get out at the door and the car parks itself.

There’s really no parking spaces “at the door”. It’s not like the car would drop you off, and then go find a space.

I really doubt it could outpark someone who has decent driving skills by any real margin. I can park in a very tight space with zero sensors or even a backup camera. Also, they can’t just shorten all the spaces because the cars can park tighter, since cars are still quite varied in length.

 

[Forddealz]

Why on earth would you want your car to park itself when you weren’t in it? I really don’t see the advantage of self parking. If you can’t bother to park, you shouldn’t be driving.

It could help in big cities with narrow parking spaces.

There’s really no parking spaces “at the door”. It’s not like the car would drop you off, and then go find a space.

I really doubt it could outpark someone who has decent driving skills by any real margin. I can park in a very tight space with zero sensors or even a backup camera. Also, they can’t just shorten all the spaces because the cars can park tighter, since cars are still quite varied in length.

Just imagine in the city like NY or LA, you see a parking spot so narrow that you cannot open your doors wide enough to exit. You can just exit, click on a remote control and let it park itself like BMW 5 series. It would save a lot of parking space and a lot of dings on the cars body.

 

[Napalm]

I get that - but then the other cars that are parked there probably won't have that - so their drivers will bang their door into my car - or they will bump and nudge my car to get out.

Like they do in france.

 

[Mbrooks420]

It could help in big cities with narrow parking spaces.


Just imagine in the city like NY or LA, you see a parking spot so narrow that you cannot open your doors wide enough to exit. You can just exit, click on a remote control and let it park itself like BMW 5 series. It would save a lot of parking space and a lot of dings on the cars body.

It could save on parking spaces IF every car had it. They’d have to add special auto car parking rows for this to be reasonable.

I can see this being used by jerks to fit into parking spaces they shouldn’t park in, and making it so regular car owners can’t get into their cars.