It sat until last year when I started to re-do the car for the street. It now has lower compression, but much better cylinder heads so it's making more power than before 
I drive a 2018 Explorer but I work at a Lexus dealership selling the cars, so I’m often driving them and even taking them home on occasions like when I get my car serviced and they don’t have a part in stock or something. I can’t say I’ve ever seen their safety features not function as they were meant to, maybe it’s because I drove a 2019 Honda Civic before I got the Explorer and it had the Lane Centering and Pre-Collision as well and it was SO sensitive, the Honda would slam on the brakes in regular traffic flow if the car in front of me slowed even a little bit. I find that the Explorer is extremely lax on keeping me in the lane and hitting the brakes despite being set on Intense mode since often times when traffic slows, I end up getting nervous and canceling adaptive cruise by applying the brakes myself, but the Lexus’ seem to be right in the middle of both. They gently apply brakes when slowing down but still keeping a steady distance and keeps you in the lanes just enough that you aren’t fighting it when you actually want to leave the lane but you can still tell it’s doing it’s job. I’ve also never had the issue of a Lexus reacting to a car on the shoulder or had any of my guests tell me that their Lexus reacted in such a way. I see two reasons this would happen, either he had an LS 500 with Safety System 2.0+ that was monitoring the lanes on the side of you and something faulty happened that made the car think the car on the shoulder was coming into your lane or if it wasn’t an LS then it wouldn’t have had 2.0+ and there may have been an issue with the radar positioning. I also wouldn’t say the Explorer is a luxury vehicle either. As much as I love my Explorer and I’m absolutely drooling over the STs, it’s just not as soft. I get in the Lexus and every surface I touch is soft, the wood, the leather, the dash, the steering wheel, all of it. That’s just not the case in the Explorers. They definitely have the same if not more amenities in the Explorer but the Explorer, the ST specifically, doesn’t feel geared towards making me feel like I’m in a luxury vehicle which brings me to why I love the Explorers and why I chose an Explorer over the Lexus GX (apart from the glaring technology deficit in the GX). The Explorer ST and for older models the Sport, is built around a sporty feel, I mean for the power you’re getting in a vehicle that size, Ford is the cheapest option and they do it the best. I wanted something that takes off when I hit the gas, but also something that could handle whatever I needed to tow but also provide me with the features I was used to i.e. the safety features as well as apple car play. I wanted a SUV that didn’t make me feel like a soccer mom
This probably means nothing to you but I thought I’d offer some perspective as to why the Lexus feels like it’s overreacting since you’re used to the lax reactions the Explorer makes since I’ve had all three, the overreactor, the reactor, and the underreactor. Not to say the Explorer isn’t doing it’s job because it absolutely is and that is painfully obvious when I have Lane Keep off and I start to think I’m going to get pulled over because I’m swerving like I’m drunk since I’ve had Lane Keep for so many years now. To summarize, the Explorer does it’s job but in such a lowkey way that I sometimes question if it’s even doing what it’s supposed to be doing, which may be absolutely ideal for some and will likely end up being ideal to me, it’s just a learning curve to get used to the sensitivity differenceThat's where the Platinum comes in. Softer suspension, leather on dash but with similar power as the ST. Just a bit off on the wood dash. 2022 Platinum's look like they will come with 400HP like the ST, so even better for the newer owners.I drive a 2018 Explorer but I work at a Lexus dealership selling the cars, so I’m often driving them and even taking them home on occasions like when I get my car serviced and they don’t have a part in stock or something. I can’t say I’ve ever seen their safety features not function as they were meant to, maybe it’s because I drove a 2019 Honda Civic before I got the Explorer and it had the Lane Centering and Pre-Collision as well and it was SO sensitive, the Honda would slam on the brakes in regular traffic flow if the car in front of me slowed even a little bit. I find that the Explorer is extremely lax on keeping me in the lane and hitting the brakes despite being set on Intense mode since often times when traffic slows, I end up getting nervous and canceling adaptive cruise by applying the brakes myself, but the Lexus’ seem to be right in the middle of both. They gently apply brakes when slowing down but still keeping a steady distance and keeps you in the lanes just enough that you aren’t fighting it when you actually want to leave the lane but you can still tell it’s doing it’s job. I’ve also never had the issue of a Lexus reacting to a car on the shoulder or had any of my guests tell me that their Lexus reacted in such a way. I see two reasons this would happen, either he had an LS 500 with Safety System 2.0+ that was monitoring the lanes on the side of you and something faulty happened that made the car think the car on the shoulder was coming into your lane or if it wasn’t an LS then it wouldn’t have had 2.0+ and there may have been an issue with the radar positioning. I also wouldn’t say the Explorer is a luxury vehicle either. As much as I love my Explorer and I’m absolutely drooling over the STs, it’s just not as soft. I get in the Lexus and every surface I touch is soft, the wood, the leather, the dash, the steering wheel, all of it. That’s just not the case in the Explorers. They definitely have the same if not more amenities in the Explorer but the Explorer, the ST specifically, doesn’t feel geared towards making me feel like I’m in a luxury vehicle which brings me to why I love the Explorers and why I chose an Explorer over the Lexus GX (apart from the glaring technology deficit in the GX). The Explorer ST and for older models the Sport, is built around a sporty feel, I mean for the power you’re getting in a vehicle that size, Ford is the cheapest option and they do it the best. I wanted something that takes off when I hit the gas, but also something that could handle whatever I needed to tow but also provide me with the features I was used to i.e. the safety features as well as apple car play. I wanted a SUV that didn’t make me feel like a soccer mom
maybe I just have to mess with my sensitivities and following distance to get it to start braking sooner. I definitely agree that it brakes nice and gently, it just lets me get a little too close for comfort sometimes!
Does anyone happen to know if the Explorer has paddle shifters on the steering column? May be looking at the ST. Thanks!
Welcome to the Forum.
Paddle Shifters were still available with the 2021 models and were deleted in 2022 as per the Order Guide.
In the XLT for 21 and later I think the paddle shifters are only part of the trailer-tow package
