High End Luxury SUV or '14 Ford Explorer Sport Loaded

[JohnBoyToo]

We went from a 2011 Audi Q5 with all the bells and whistles to the 2013 Sport and far and away we like the Sport MUCH better - granted the Audi dealers pamper you...

but my Ford dealer does just as well with loaners and care
(maybe because I've bought a car and two loaded trucks from the same salesmen in the last year !)

He even called me with an update while he was on a cruise in the Bahamas !

 

[marin77]

I have just ordered a new X-Sport and will be trading in a fully loaded BMW 335 xi.

As long as you are ready for (i) an interior likely a notch or two below comparable offerings from BMW, Lexus, etc ... and (ii) a service experience not as upscale, then I think you get a lot of car for the money. I think it drives really nicely and looks great for an SUV.

As far as reliability I plan to get an extended warranty covering the period / mileage during which I will own the car (same strategy I used for the BMW). Lots of stories from high end brands (especially German offerings) with reliability problems. From that standpoint I don't expect Ford to be any better or worse. It is my first domestic car purchase.

Good luck with the decision.

 

[Shodan]

I don't think that the interior of the Ford Explorer Sport is necessarily a notch or two below all luxury brands. I know certain Luxury brands are more about performance than true luxury. BMW being one of them. I was never impressed with the interiors of BMWs as they are great performance machines but their interiors often look like they are straight out of the 80's and even cheap IMHO.

However some luxury brands will look more upscale than the Explorer. The way I see it, the Explorer Sport has more of Sport feel to the interior than true Luxury and the interior looks perfectly fine for this type of vehicle.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee has a more luxury look and feel to to the interior with real wood portions of the steering wheel, real wood interior trim and leather wrapped dash board (kind of like my Genesis did), but the Explorer has its own style that fits it. I would not really call it cheap or a notch or two lower by any means.

Whatever you decide, good luck and enjoy your new ride. I love my new Explorer Sport.