Stephen Cannon
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- August 25, 2018
- Messages
- 242
- Reaction score
- 25
- City, State
- DFW METROPLEX
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2018 Explorer Sport
I recently took my 2018 Explorer Sport on a fairly decent road trip. Fort Worth-Texas-Arlington, VA and back with stops in Nashville, Louisville, Morgantown, Huntington, Louisville, St. Louis, Tulsa and back to Fort Worth.
Road trip overall good highway cruiser. My dog loved the center console removed on the 2nd row seats and he was able to sit on the floor or the seats. I found a way to build up the center row with his pillow and he could also stretch across the entire row side-side. He had a D-Ring clip tether to his harness, which allowed some freedom of movement to stretch but not too much. He also had a ice cooler on between the first and second row passengers side for a small snack and ice water tray.
Ride: Smooth and quiet. Normal volume during acceleration but no excessive road noise even during acceleration. Ride was about 95% interstate so good area to judge ride and noise. Even though sport suspension ride did not feel too stiff.
Safety Nannies: As skeptical as I was about them during purchase I have to admit they worked. Normal safety items such as BLIS/CTA/Forward Collision Warning worked as advertised. The Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) worked as normal but there is a slight trick. DO NOT USE IN METRO AREAS especially during rush hour. When outside the metro areas I kept it to a four car length and it worked pretty much perfectly. The drawback in this feature is if you have it set to four car lengths and someone cuts in front of you....it will try to keep that four car length interval.....even if it means you and dog hanging in your seatbelt for a few seconds) Think Landing in any short field airport of the country. I tried four car length to test but eventually set to two car lengths as a steady. If you wanted to give more buffer you could set to two during the day and maybe three-four at night.
Also whatever car length you set it wants to keep that, so even with a safe distance the vehicle will adjust speed to keep the interval....example cruise set at 75 MPH but actual speed might only be 71-72 to keep the spacing. Again safe and working as advertised just a FYI if you see speedometer needle lower than what is set in the speed window.
Fuel Economy, I have the Livernois Tune back from LMS but not installed yet. In this particular case that was good. Most of the stations on the DFW and Washington area were 93 but a lot of stations enroute especially Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma the highest octane available was 91. I observed that the fuel economy suffered even without the tune on the 89/91 octane. I was getting around 350 miles from a tank which is not that good. Even 20 MPG at a 18.5 gallon tank is 370. Yes mountains and hills but still not that good. I will use the 93 tune which seemed to yield low-mid 20's MPG in my SHO. Yes I know different vehicle but will feel confident in at least low 20's. When I switched back to 93 Octane my MPG went back up to around 22 which is decent considering hills, mountains, interstate speeds (70-80 MPH) usually around 75/76 for the 70 MPH stated and 78-80 for the 75 MPH States.
Just over 3300 miles and about 1/3 qt. of engine oil used. I am not totally worried and am factoring in some of the catch can drainage as part of that...…….Should I be worried with that kind of oil use on that distance, considering most engine use highway and not stop and go.?
Road trip overall good highway cruiser. My dog loved the center console removed on the 2nd row seats and he was able to sit on the floor or the seats. I found a way to build up the center row with his pillow and he could also stretch across the entire row side-side. He had a D-Ring clip tether to his harness, which allowed some freedom of movement to stretch but not too much. He also had a ice cooler on between the first and second row passengers side for a small snack and ice water tray.
Ride: Smooth and quiet. Normal volume during acceleration but no excessive road noise even during acceleration. Ride was about 95% interstate so good area to judge ride and noise. Even though sport suspension ride did not feel too stiff.
Safety Nannies: As skeptical as I was about them during purchase I have to admit they worked. Normal safety items such as BLIS/CTA/Forward Collision Warning worked as advertised. The Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) worked as normal but there is a slight trick. DO NOT USE IN METRO AREAS especially during rush hour. When outside the metro areas I kept it to a four car length and it worked pretty much perfectly. The drawback in this feature is if you have it set to four car lengths and someone cuts in front of you....it will try to keep that four car length interval.....even if it means you and dog hanging in your seatbelt for a few seconds) Think Landing in any short field airport of the country. I tried four car length to test but eventually set to two car lengths as a steady. If you wanted to give more buffer you could set to two during the day and maybe three-four at night.
Also whatever car length you set it wants to keep that, so even with a safe distance the vehicle will adjust speed to keep the interval....example cruise set at 75 MPH but actual speed might only be 71-72 to keep the spacing. Again safe and working as advertised just a FYI if you see speedometer needle lower than what is set in the speed window.
Fuel Economy, I have the Livernois Tune back from LMS but not installed yet. In this particular case that was good. Most of the stations on the DFW and Washington area were 93 but a lot of stations enroute especially Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma the highest octane available was 91. I observed that the fuel economy suffered even without the tune on the 89/91 octane. I was getting around 350 miles from a tank which is not that good. Even 20 MPG at a 18.5 gallon tank is 370. Yes mountains and hills but still not that good. I will use the 93 tune which seemed to yield low-mid 20's MPG in my SHO. Yes I know different vehicle but will feel confident in at least low 20's. When I switched back to 93 Octane my MPG went back up to around 22 which is decent considering hills, mountains, interstate speeds (70-80 MPH) usually around 75/76 for the 70 MPH stated and 78-80 for the 75 MPH States.
Just over 3300 miles and about 1/3 qt. of engine oil used. I am not totally worried and am factoring in some of the catch can drainage as part of that...…….Should I be worried with that kind of oil use on that distance, considering most engine use highway and not stop and go.?
