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Our 2012 Ford Explorer has left the fleet. We spent 12 months and 20,000 miles with the large SUV, its new turbocharged EcoBoost engine and the MyFord Touch system.
Did we like it? Did you like it?
Read the full wrap-up of the 2012 Ford Explorer on Inside Line.
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
Whenever we take our long-term cars to get appraised at Carmax, a few of our editors make friendly bets on what the offer will be. When we think a car will get a solid offer, we call it a "Carmax Car." These cars, like our departed Toyota Sienna, are easy for Carmax to sell and so it can make us a better offer.
Edmunds trade-in TMV was $27,683. I was the optimist of the group and said Carmax would offer $28,000. Phil Reed said $27,500. Mike Magrath was like that guy in "The Price is Right" who says "One dollar." He guessed $27,000.
Take a guess for yourself before you click to the next page.
The second row seatbelt receivers in our 2012 Ford Explorer XLT EcoBoost tuck so nicely into the seat bottoms that they are nearly flush with the surface. That is great until it comes time to install a rear-facing child seat in the center position.
Notice that the child seat straps obscure the seatbelt receivers from view. Well, that also means you can't stuff the belt in there to buckle it. So the outboard second row seats are more-or-less unusable when the child seat is installed. This could be a deal-breaker for some families.
Mike Schmidt, Vehicle Testing Manager @ 19,835 miles
Yesterday we scheduled service for our 2012 Ford Explorer XLT EcoBoost online with Huntington Beach Ford. The system seemed like a slam dunk. Click here, click there, fill in some basic info and that's it. But as it turned out, HB Ford wasn't up to speed quite yet...
The Explorer Sport is the high-performance version of the Explorer, and Ford recently revealed exactly how much horsepower it will have on tap for 2013.
From Inside Line News: "The 2013 Ford Explorer Sport is certified at 365 horsepower, Ford has confirmed. The Explorer Sport, the high-performance version of the popular SUV, is equipped with a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine. Ford originally predicted that the Explorer Sport would produce at least 350 hp. It shares the engine with the Ford Taurus SHO sedan."
Full story here.
Warren Clarke, Automotive Content Editor
We decided to try something new for the 20,000-mile service on our 2012 Ford Explorer XLT EcoBoost. Rather than call by phone to schedule a service appointment, Huntington Beach Ford offers an online scheduling feature. We've seen this from other dealer websites but have yet to try it until now.
The process was simple enough. Fill in your vehicle information and available service slots appear on the calendar. Click one and it is done. Our appointment is for 7:00 am. A confirmation page follows the one above. This, we hope, will save the extra time spent waiting while the advisor enters the VIN and vehicle info prior to our visit.
We will let you know how it works out.
Mike Schmidt, Vehicle Testing Manager @ 19,811 miles
The MyFord Touch system seen in our Ford Explorer hasn't exactly been a hit with our editors and owners in general. Yesterday, Consumer Reports weighed in.
In a blog post entitled "Why the MyFord Touch Control System Stinks," it criticized the system for being "distracting," saying it "wouldn't recommend dealing with the frustrations of MyFord Touch on a daily basis even to an adversary."
Ouch. Full story here.
Warren Clarke, Automotive Content Editor
The Explorer's fan knob bugs me. Not because it's a knob--I like that. What irritates me is that neither the knob nor the display screen tell you the current fan speed. Or what you're changing it to. If you want to see that then you have to go into the Climate-specific screen.
And that's silly. It's at least one too many steps.
There should either be some delineation on the knob, or anytime you change the fan speed it should show up somewhere. Even just for a few seconds. Could be on the central screen or the instrument panel, whatever.
Why? Because that's the way it should be. And because if I'm already at the lowest fan speed, I'd like to know I'm at the lowest fan speed.
Mike Monticello, Road Test Editor @ 19,737 miles.
May not seem like a big deal, but I think it's cool that Ford took the time to put this "Explorer" detail into the side of the SUV's headlights. That's the kind of subtle touch that I could see owners getting a kick out of. Particularly the ones that get up close and personal with their vehicle, like when they wash it by hand.
Mike Monticello, Road Test Editor @ 19,600 miles.
Needed to pick up some shelving for my garage, and the Ford Explorer was totally up for the challenge. And, it took the shelving without any need to fold down the second row of seats.
Turns out you can fit 48.5 inches of whatever behind the second row.
Handy.
Mike Monticello, Road Test Editor @ 19,599 miles.
Way back in October of last year, I declared that the Ecoboost engine in our new Explorer was perfectly adequate for everyday driving.
It still is, but I'm less enthused with it than I used to be. I'm now in the habit of timing its power surge when I'm making a lane change on the highway. Sure, I do this with just about any engine, but in this case the lag time between floored accelerator and actual thrust is annoyingly long.
And that's with just me in the car. With a full house this sucker would feel seriously slow. Now I'm thinking I might stick with the standard V6 and put up with the minor decrease in fuel economy.
Ed Hellwig, Editor, Inside Line
Stop me if you've heard the one about MyFord Touch and our 2012 Ford Explorer. For those of you new to this saga, the original system was deeply flawed so we went in for an update. Well, since then we had to trip the master reset once. And then this weekend happened.
Take a look at the picture. There are several things out of whack here:
1) The car is in reverse, but the backup camera is not on.
2) In the top, right corner "navigation unavailable" is displayed.
3) Note: I blacked out the address to protect the innocent. That was frozen also.
4) The center home screen button was pressed (gray), but nothing happened.
5) The clock reads 9:03, but it is in fact 2:15.
In summary, MFT seized up again. I was out running errands. But even after cycling the car off and on 5-6 times, the issue remained. At one point, I turned off the car, exited, closed and locked the door, yet the radio was still playing. That couldn't be good, I thought. Then this happened...
That's a burly hatch prop right there. This multi-stage gas shaft is about an inch/inch and a half in diameter, doubles as a good personal weapon, and will only set you back about $130 each to replace if it goes bad (like if you drop it and have to scrap assembly; see next photo), according to one online OEM parts warehouse. Keep a couple of broomsticks handy, and maybe a rope-and-pulley, though. That liftgate has to be heavier than Black Sabbath when those struts go limp.
When last we checked, MyFordTouch was unable to pair phones to our 2012 Ford Explorer. We tried everything we could think of to repair the connection short of calling in for a master reset. So it was time...
I can confirm the Bluetooth pairing issues in our 2012 Ford Explorer that Chris spoke of yesterday. This is the warning message I recieved today, pairing failed. So I dug a little deeper into the problem...
Do you ever get the feeling that somethings will never "fix?" Apparently, our MyFord Touch has been updated to the latest, greatest version. Yet, after an entire weekend of unremarkable Bluetooth connectivity, several trips, using both the phone and Bluetooth audio without a hitch, our Explorer and my iPhone inexplicably wouldn't talk to one another this morning.
More after the jump...
It's official. The JX wins the Jacquot vacation lottery. It was a close race, but because of its luxury amenities and space it was a fairly easy choice over the Explorer and Grand Cherokee.
Okay, this is nothing new, but it sure seems to me that the idea of a touchscreen (simply as an idea) is a flawed one -- especially when it is used for practically everything in the infotainment universe of Ford. Am I all alone on this one?
There's a video after the jump...
Next week I'm hauling from Southern California to the Tetons (yes, the ones in Wyoming). I'll be taking on of our long-term cars. Here's the deal: Because I'm I fan of sanity, the four-year old, one-year old and wife will be boarding a plane the same day I leave. They will be bound, utlimately, for the same destination.
The car I take has to haul two people, two bikes and piles of backpacking and climbing gear. That leaves only a few options:
Will you look at all that stuff on the Explorer's mirror? And by that I mean stuff other than the actual mirror itself. The turn signal, the logo, the puddle lamp, the wind vanes. There's more technology in this our Explorer's mirror than my entire '75 F-250.
The only thing my truck's mirrors have on the Explorer is size. And actually, now that I think about it, that makes my truck's mirrors way better. At least if you want to see stuff. For everything else, the Explorer's are better.
Ed Hellwig, Editor, Inside Line
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