     2011 Ford Explorer Limited. Click image to enlarge |
As mentioned, the Explorer is very roomy inside, and even the third row is relatively comfortable, offering impressive headroom, leg room and ease of entry and exit. With all seats up, the cargo area is a mere 45 cm long, but folding the third row gives you 122 cm of length, and taking both the second and third rows down gives you a flat cargo floor that’s 200 cm long.
Most of the controls are dead-simple to figure out, including the seat memory and the adaptive cruise control. That system isn’t jerky as other adaptive cruise controls were in the past, but operates very smoothly when coming up behind another vehicle.
While I’ve tried to give it the benefit of the doubt on several Ford and Lincoln vehicles, I still despise MyFord Touch with a passion. Anchored by a screen in the centre console, it controls the climate, audio, navigation and phone functions, either through buttons on the console (which become touch-sensitive spots when outfitted with a Sony stereo head as my vehicle was), buttons on the steering wheel, the touch screen, or voice controls. My question is, why does something as simple as adjusting the temperature or changing the stereo need so many redundant controls and be so complicated? The touch spots are too small and too sensitive, so even the slightest bump in the road sends your finger off to the wrong place. Touch the screen and it takes several seconds for anything to happen, especially if the vehicle is cold. Use the voice controls and you have to remember the commands or sit through the disembodied voice explaining it all to you. Use the steering wheel buttons and you must page through the various screens that flash up in the instrument cluster.
When I wanted to change the temperature of my seat, for example, there wasn’t a simple button on the console as most other automakers use. Instead, I had to first get the MyFord Touch screen to the climate control, and then tap it to move the temperature up and down. That’s just too much to do when my attention is supposed to be on the road. I used to praise Ford for the simplicity of its controls; now I only hope the company wakes up and sends this infernal system to the scrap heap where it belongs.
Adding to my tester’s option list was a $2,400 Technology Package, which adds rain-sensing wipers (which, like all I’ve ever experienced, failed to work properly in drizzle), a collision warning system, blind spot warning, cross-traffic alert, the aforementioned active cruise control, and active park assist. Yes, the Explorer really does park itself, although it’s the parallel variety only. When activated, the system determines whether a spot is long enough and then, when you’re ready, it turns the steering wheel and puts itself against the curb, while you work the throttle, brake and shift lever. It’s a stunning piece of technology, although again, some time spent learning how to do it yourself would probably be a better idea.
All in all, it’s a redesign that brings the Explorer in line with what most buyers want today: a roomy interior, stylish appearance, improved fuel economy and all the latest gadgets, and it’s a viable competitor to most of the other SUVs in its category. Whether it will reach the impressive sales numbers that its predecessor once commanded has yet to be determined, but Ford seems to have its finger on the pulse of what sells in this rapidly-changing automotive world.
