RandyH2
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- March 28, 2011
- Messages
- 821
- Reaction score
- 22
- City, State
- MI
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '11 Limited AWD
When we first bought our Ex I thought I would love to have a bit more horsepower, if only because more is better. I know- it is a personal preference and not worth a discussion of the merits here.
Yesterday I made an aggressive passing maneuver on a 2 lane road. It was aggressive because the posted limit is 55, the car in front of me was going 45, and the passing zone was very short. I know the road well and thought I would have room for the pass, safely, but as it was my first such attempt in the Explorer I decided to be as quick about it as I could be, just in case.
I put the pedal to the floor, waited for the shift and surge of acceleration and then made my transition to the left lane. The Ex accelerated well and I was quickly passing the other vehicle. Just as I was about to change back to my lane, the Ex shifted gears and gave a significant tug of torque steer which combined with the just-initiated lane change was an unpleasant combination. No loss of control or anything terrible, but definitely not confidence building. Just a reminder that this SUV is a truck at heart and not a BMW X5 (which has no torque steer). If ihad another 50 hp on tap, things could have been interesting. Time to start making use of the manual mode for the transmission!
And, in case you are wondering, I would still like to have a little exhaust burble and some more HP.
Yesterday I made an aggressive passing maneuver on a 2 lane road. It was aggressive because the posted limit is 55, the car in front of me was going 45, and the passing zone was very short. I know the road well and thought I would have room for the pass, safely, but as it was my first such attempt in the Explorer I decided to be as quick about it as I could be, just in case.
I put the pedal to the floor, waited for the shift and surge of acceleration and then made my transition to the left lane. The Ex accelerated well and I was quickly passing the other vehicle. Just as I was about to change back to my lane, the Ex shifted gears and gave a significant tug of torque steer which combined with the just-initiated lane change was an unpleasant combination. No loss of control or anything terrible, but definitely not confidence building. Just a reminder that this SUV is a truck at heart and not a BMW X5 (which has no torque steer). If ihad another 50 hp on tap, things could have been interesting. Time to start making use of the manual mode for the transmission!
And, in case you are wondering, I would still like to have a little exhaust burble and some more HP.