New Ford Explorer Sport: Fuel-Efficient, High-Performance SUV

[ltrcat]

Since I have bought my sport, I have installed the K&N cold air induction and changed out the mufflers to XLERATOR
stainless steel. I used the factory tips and painted the mufflers black. They sound really nice. Also, I have been in contact with Tasca Ford in Rhode Island. The Tasca "Mod Shop" has a lot of eco boost experience. They are a highly respected Shelby dealer that I have had great luck with. The possibility of 70 more horsepower and 100 pounds of tourque is enticing. The hand held comes with it.

 

[Bwana Bob]

Having owned a Explorer every two or three years since 1990, I was also very skepticle. This vehicle blows them all away in terms of performance handling and fuel economy. Utilizing the on board instant fuel economy graph and rpm performance economy curve, I average 18 to 20 mpg around town. I have also achieved 24 mpg on the highway on a three hundred mile trip. I have put 5K miles on it since October 2. This Explorer has its own personality. It is much like comparing the crown vic and the taurus. Two different vehicles and leaps and bounds ahead in technology. Two favorites before this; my 99 XLT with a 5.0 and my 03 Limited 4.6.
Last night we had 11 inches of snow. The sport was a bear in terrain management "snow mode".

When you say that it was a "bear", does that mean it was good in the 11 inches of snow? (Some people use "bear" in a negative way, like, "Putting my transfer case shift motor back together was a bear!") I'm very interested to learn about the snow performance of the new Explorer, because being able to handle real snow (i.e. unplowed and unsalted) is one of the reasons that I bought my 92 XLT. I often use 4X4 Low in snow for ascending or descending hills, or powering through mounds of snow. Not long ago I had to go on an urgent mission for cat food. Going up a snow-covered hill in 4WD the wheels started spinning and the truck bogged down. I stopped (which should be avoided on slippery hills) punched the 4LO, button, put the manual transmission in First, and proceeded to power on up the hill. Great fun. (The tires are Michelin LTX/MS). Likewise, I use lower gears in the manual shift to provide hill descent braking. Does the terrain management system approximate these modes and does it work as well as 4WD Low and manual shift? Did the front air dam hang up in the snow?

Thank you.

Bob

 

[ltrcat]

Bob,
The sport is great in the snow. This winter has put it to the test. Terrain management, paddle shifting and good judgement keeps you going. I am running the factory Hancook Optima tires. The sport tires offered must be useless. Just use caution with the front end height. The sport will go through most anything, but you can tear the front end off and not know it. You can feel the management system control the shifting. We just had another foot of snow yesterday and the storm before was 36 inches. I cannot say enough good about it.

 

[Tone-E]

knocking who buys a new car, if you can't afford it well dont knock who can..... there is nothing like driveing a new car what ever make it is you buy what you like and what youn can afford....... thats that but dont knock some one that can buy it !!!!! i drink coke you drink pepsi thats why a box of crayons has more than 200 colors pick the one you like !!! sorry but just venting to al these play hater's

For the longest time I agreed with not buying a new car just buying one 2yrs old or so well that has changed because last march I bought a brand new car in order to get what I wanted and just a few days ago I bought my wife a 2013 Explorer Sport because its what we wanted so all I am saying is that I understand both sides so dont hate either one. Next I would like to comment on everyone comparing this to the jeep srt8 hell I think thats a hell of a compliment being that the srt8 dosent even have a third row they arent even in the same catagory thats why I never even bothered looking at the srt8 although they are very nice but my wife and I def love the xsport, to those who say its not sporty I beg to differ dont get me wrong its not my M6 or '79 z28 with a fully blueprinted motor but is a crossover type SUV that is still capable of towing 5000lbs, seat 7, yet still fun to drive and I think it looks great

 

[Toddgfd]

Bob,
The sport is great in the snow. This winter has put it to the test. Terrain management, paddle shifting and good judgement keeps you going. I am running the factory Hancook Optima tires. The sport tires offered must be useless. Just use caution with the front end height. The sport will go through most anything, but you can tear the front end off and not know it. You can feel the management system control the shifting. We just had another foot of snow yesterday and the storm before was 36 inches. I cannot say enough good about it.

Good to know Itrcat that the OEM Hankooks performed well in the snow. I did some research (on this site, TireRack.com, etc.) and these tires have been getting lambasted! Very few people reviewed them positively, but I think that driver skill has a lot to do with it. A better driver can get good results with an inferior product, where a less skilled driver needs the best equipment to compensate. Anyway, I live in So Cal and won't be in Mammoth until next winter, but I will likely try the Yokohama Prada Spec-X for my next tire.

 

[Bwana Bob]

Bob,
The sport is great in the snow. This winter has put it to the test. Terrain management, paddle shifting and good judgement keeps you going. I am running the factory Hancook Optima tires. The sport tires offered must be useless. Just use caution with the front end height. The sport will go through most anything, but you can tear the front end off and not know it. You can feel the management system control the shifting. We just had another foot of snow yesterday and the storm before was 36 inches. I cannot say enough good about it.

How do you like the paddle shifters? I've almost always driven a stick, so I love the capability to shift manually (I half-jokingly tell people that I don't know how to drive an automatic).

Bwana Bob

 

[ltrcat]

Bob,
The paddle shifters work out well. They are a lot of fun in the manual mode and they also assist in cornering and towing in regular drive. The option of downshifting to a stop or into a curve really helps haul her down. It also sounds great with the aftermarket mufflers and cold air induction (very throaty) but not obnoxious.

 

[JohnBoyToo]

I just discovered that the other day by accident !!!

can use the paddle shifters even when not in manual mode - I like it !

 

[Me&myFord]

love my sport!! i dislike the brief moment i need to wait between reversing and putting back into gear. my xterra didnt do that, and i dont quite know how to adjust. oh well, overall my sport is amazing!

 

[SlwRoller]

New to the forum but had to comment. Just drove a Sport for the first time today. Awesome. The drive home in my FWD Limited made me a tiny bit sad.

 

[BLKEDOUTSPORT]

Ford Explorer Sport is the Truth!!!

New to the site and a long time owner of Ford vehicles! Just picked up 2014 Xsprt Blk on Blk this past saturday for my wife and she is in love with it!!! I have only driven it once thus far and I am very impresed with it !!

 

[ltrcat]

Good Luck! Almost 20K on mine and LOVE IT! Great color choice by the way!

 

[donjbray]

Disappointed

I have two significant problems with the Ford and the new '13 Explorer Sport.

The 1st issue is that when I had already ordered the vehicle, I went to rent a U-Haul trailer with my Lincoln MKX (which I had done a couple of times). I was told I would never be able to rent a trailer from U-Haul because of the Ford Lawsuit with Firestone over the roll-over issue. And no one else rents trailers! I would have liked to have known this information up-front.

The 2nd Issue I have is that the updated Sync in this vehicle does not work with my I-Phone 5. I have been told by the dealer to just disconnect it and not use it and their is an incompatibilty between the two. I have had it into the dealer several times as the Nav system will often reset while driving, disabling all radio/nav etc. They haven't been able to fix it for months now.

Had I known of these two issues I would have most likely picked a different venhicle.

And my dealer wants high ratings every time I visit.

 

[dcplorer]

I've been trying to spread the word about the U-Haul blackball ever since I found out after my Explorer purchase. I blew up at the dealer why they don't inform potential customers about the situation, expecially when they order the tow package. I also would have bought a different vehicle had I known.

 

[JDookie]

The 2nd Issue I have is that the updated Sync in this vehicle does not work with my I-Phone 5. I have been told by the dealer to just disconnect it and not use it and their is an incompatibilty between the two. I have had it into the dealer several times as the Nav system will often reset while driving, disabling all radio/nav etc. They haven't been able to fix it for months now.

Both my wife and I have iPhone 5's, and both phones sync and work properly with the nav/Sync systems in both, our 13' Explorer Sport and 13' Raptor. What kind of issue are you having? Also, I should point out that I just had my dealer check the Explorer for any updates just this week while it was in for an oil change, and they confirmed that everything is current, so we should be on the same revision.

 

[13TuxedoSport]

I've been trying to spread the word about the U-Haul blackball ever since I found out after my Explorer purchase. I blew up at the dealer why they don't inform potential customers about the situation, expecially when they order the tow package. I also would have bought a different vehicle had I known.

Yeah this definitely SUCKS. I wanted to rent a small trailer to take some stuff to the dump, and they said "sorry... bring a different vehicle". It's just UHauls policy, can't get around it. So I had to rent a whole truck just to take a bunch of stuff to the dump. $87 vs $19 for the trailer itself.

 

[FordIVTteam]

... The 2nd Issue I have is that the updated Sync in this vehicle does not work with my I-Phone 5. I have been told by the dealer to just disconnect it and not use it and their is an incompatibilty between the two. I have had it into the dealer several times as the Nav system will often reset while driving, disabling all radio/nav etc. They haven't been able to fix it for months now. ...

Hi, donjbray,

Do you have any emoticons or special characters in the name of your phone or any of your contacts? If so, they will need to be deleted as they have caused this issue in other vehicles. Also, try turning Auto Phonebook Download off:

http://support.ford.com/sync-technology/manage-phonebook-sync-myford-touch

Let me know how it goes!

Rebecca

 

[29ster]

Sync Sucks

Hi, donjbray,

Do you have any emoticons or special characters in the name of your phone or any of your contacts? If so, they will need to be deleted as they have caused this issue in other vehicles. Also, try turning Auto Phonebook Download off:

http://support.ford.com/sync-technology/manage-phonebook-sync-myford-touch

Let me know how it goes!

Rebecca

I agree, I have 13,000 on my Sport now (6 months) and it has been great with the exception of the sync, the GPS and especially the bluetooth phone and music. (IPHONE 4). It was taking at least 15 minutes sometimes before I could call someone or get GPS to link up. I took it back to the dealer and they did a full reboot, lost all of my data, and it did no better. THe GOOD NEWS? I Turned off that @#XX$ auto phone book download and it was like magic! What a difference especially if you have a large amount of contacts as I do.
The GPS works great now, the blue tooth works just ok now, and the bluetooth music works kinda ok now.

 

[29ster]

Trailer Trash

I agree, I have 13,000 on my Sport now (6 months) and it has been great with the exception of the sync, the GPS and especially the bluetooth phone and music. (IPHONE 4). It was taking at least 15 minutes sometimes before I could call someone or get GPS to link up. I took it back to the dealer and they did a full reboot, lost all of my data, and it did no better. THe GOOD NEWS? I Turned off that @#XX$ auto phone book download and it was like magic! What a difference especially if you have a large amount of contacts as I do.
The GPS works great now, the blue tooth works just ok now, and the bluetooth music works kinda ok now.

By the way, did I buy a tow package that I can't use??? If so that really demand a full refund from Ford.

 

[77rednecktruck]

By the way, did I buy a tow package that I can't use??? If so that really demand a full refund from Ford.

I tow a trailer almost every weekend with my Explorer sport and the tow package. Just can't rent from U-haul. I can rent trailers from other places without issue.