Ford explorer 2012 ~ Cars and Bikes

Ford explorer 2012

Detroit's seen a major reinvention in the past few years, with wrenching change at GM and Chrysler. Ford hasn't been left out, except for the financial drama. It's dramatically reworked its lineup of cars to be more fuel-efficient, while subduing its dependence on truck sales.

Ford explorer 2012 case study for change in Dearborn is the Ford Explorer, new for the 2011 model year and with major news for the 2012 model year. The Explorer ditched its old truck-based architecture last year for a set of car-like credentials, and got better in nearly every way as a result.

It's a convincing transformation. The Explorer's V-6 outmatches its old V-8s--and for 2012, there's a turbocharged four-cylinder that still generates horsepower and torque to beat old Explorer V-6s into the dust, while posting EPA-estimated highway gas mileage of 28 mpg. In 2005, 28 mpg got you...a Focus.

Since Ford explorer 2012 shares running gear with the likes of the Flex, even the Taurus, the new Explorer can't quite hit the trails with the likes of the Grand Cherokee. That leaves it more equipped to excel at on-road handling, which it does convincingly with quick steering and terrific ride control that's due in equal part to an independent suspension and its still-substantial curb weight.

It's one of the safest vehicles Ford builds, with inflatable rear seat belts and rearview cameras and blind-spot detectors. The Ford explorer 2012 also woos gearheads of another kind with MyFord Touch, the convoluted but promising system that uses voice, button or touchscreen control to govern infotainment and other vehicle functions.

The Explorer still looks reassuringly ute-like, though its rounded corners and subtle details register on a carlike plane, while the interior does its best impression of a Taurus sedan. And in truth, it does what the wide majority of us want to do in a crossover--it makes plenty of room for lots of people, or lots of stuff, and it does it much more efficiently than it ever did in the past, while holding on to a good bit of the mud-running bona fides that probably remained weekend ambitions for most of their suburban owners.

It's been named a North American Truck of the Year, as voted by this continent's most respected journalists, and it's truly a 21st-century SUV, as Ford wants you to think. A runaway sales hit, too, the Explorer is happiest when it's behaving on the highway--but it's more than willing to get a little dirty when you want to.

"It's just such inefficient packaging," crowed bossman Angus MacKenzie as we stood contemplating Ford's big-on-the-outside, cramped-on-the-inside kiddie hauler. What exactly is so wrong with it? "It's intellectually dishonest," continued Angus. "It looks roomy, but it's not. It looks sporty, but it's not. And the interior looks good, but that MyFord Touch is a mess. It's just a bad vehicle." Keep in mind, Angus hadn't even driven the four-banger version yet.

But I had, and Mr. Mac is right. The Explorer is bad. Bad as in I can't remember driving a car as dynamically lifeless. Nor could others. "Handles like an oversize, overweight Volvo," states our Detroit scribe Todd Lassa. Says associate editor Mike Febbo, "It sits and handles like a truck, but it's a tall car." Executive editor Ed Loh feels much the same. "It's like driving a large overstuffed armchair. The cushions are very soft and squishy, but you sit so far inboard that it's weird." And then there's associate editor Rory Jurnecka's take:

"Wallowy in the slalom and figure-eight with understeer being the flavor of choice. This isn't fun."
But at the end of the day, it's the EcoBoost's performance, and lack thereof, that really confounds and confuses us. The non-punch-pulling Febbo explains, "The EcoBoost is a horrible idea in this thing. Well, the four-banger is anyway. Let's get a V-6 EcoBoost in there." Scott Evans continues, "Soooo Slow. There's just not much throttle response." The EcoBoost is such a slug that to me, the white Explorer just doesn't register as a new car. It feels like it hails from the first half of the 1990s.