Today, in 9 cities across America simultaneously, Ford unveiled their long-awaited 2011 Ford Explorer. As you all know, the current-generation Explorer was once Ford’s top seller, and the recent success of the Flex and Edge hasn’t helped the poor, aging Explorer’s sales numbers much, in part because people are waiting for the new Explorer. Ford’s CEO of the Americas, Mark Fields, was on-hand to give the initial presentation (sans-Teleprompter this time), and the covers were pulled off Ford’s latest design.
Well, good news, as the new Explorer promises to deliver more of what people want, with less of what they don’t. Here’s what we know:
- There are 2 available engines: The “base” 3.5L V6 and an optional 2.0L Ecoboost I-4. The 4-cylinder makes more power and torque than the outgoing six, and a wider torque-band than the old V8 as well. The 4-cylinder also promises class-leading fuel economy, including highway mileage in the high 20′s, though no exact numbers have been specified.
- MyFordTouch will be standard in XLT and Limited trim
- The new Explorer will continue to have have seating for 7
- Since most people don’t know how to operate low-range gearing properly, Ford has replaced the “4×4 High/Low” settings with a single knob that has pictures of different types of terrain. Simply select pavement, mud, sand, or snow, and the computer will sort out the rest.
- The build quality of the model shown today looks excellent. Soft rubber dash foam is everywhere you would touch, and the seats, steering wheel, shifter, and door pulls are made of high-quality leather.
- The new Fob, now completely keyless, is a slick design that will fit nicely in the driver’s pocket and never has to leave.
- Rear seat room is ample, I sat in the back seat with the front set for a tall driver, and I fit just fine.
Hit the jump for a mega-gallery of high-res shots of the new 2011 Explorer, and check out Derek D’s coverage of the East-Coast launch event over at Fast Lane Daily
Beautiful vehicle inside and out. I would totally buy one for looks alone. Maybe 27-28mpg highway on something that size? YES PLEASE!
Im 20 years old, have loved ford cars since i was 10 and ill never stop liking them!
Matt, did you get to play with the MyFord touch system? If so, how did you like it?
it's very cool, I like the slider rails for the volume and temperature.
Looks nice with the exception of the front grill area…..that part of the vehicle is as ugly as a freight train. I don't like the grill treatment whatsoever, maybe it would look better painted body color?
Copy and Pasted from my post on Fast Lane Daily earlier today….
OMG with the new explorer already. I was bored of it before you reported on it. Its just another lame consumer good. I'm suprised I can't buy one at SEARS. Plus, is it just me or does the "terrain management system" look suspiciously like the knob off of a Land Rover LR3. And another thing; how, at 28,000 is the Explorer not going to cannabilize sales of the Flex and Edge? It seems to me like they are throwing money out the window designing three of the same car.
As the former owner of a last-gen Explorer (well, Mercury Mountaineer, but same thing), I can tell you this car is much better. The interior is very nice, the fuel economy is way up without sacrificing any of the power, and it's, in my opinion, much better looking than the Edge. The Flex is cooler, but has ZERO off-road credibility at all. For the last 3 years, the Flex and Edge have taken sales away from the Explorer, and Ford realized the Explorer name has quite a bit of brand image behind it, and dropping the model entirely would be phenomenally stupid. They will sell thousands upon thousands of these things. It may not be something I'm (or you're) in the market for, but the launch was 20 minutes from my house, so I went.
Fair enough. I guess YOU didn't cover it too much. As I mentioned, I copy/pasted it from FLD which has been reporting on it for three days now, so I'm sorry. But I still think Ford has way too many large but still midsize SUVs in its lineup, and I agree with you that the Explorer has too much brand equity to just throw away(taurus anyone?).
All that said though I still think that regardless of what car you or I am in the market for, or how nice the interior is, the Explorer is never going to be a car for people who like cars. Don't get me wrong, SEARS sells some nice stuff, but its still just a tool. It will forever be a car designed for volume sales, completely devoid of charisma or enthusiam. But I guess so is every other car in that class.
of course it's not an enthusiast car. never has been, never will be. But it's the kind of car I'd want my wife/girlfriend/mother driving, and the more those people buy "pedestrian" cars, the more R&D money Ford/GM/whoever has to put towards enthusiast cars.
I am actually quite impressed with Ford lately. Usually I could care less about any domestic brand and especially Ford but lately they have been majorly stepping their game up.