2020 Ford Explorer ST shows us the power of the EcoBoost

[MUSIC] [LAUGH] There we go, baby! [LAUGH] [MUSIC] [NOISE] [INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC] We've been living with the Ford Explorer for the past 29 years and its been a well selling family hauler, practical but not very exciting. Well, here we are in 2019 and Ford is giving us the performance based Explorer ST. That's right, it's a family hauler that actually hauls some ****. [MUSIC] So you can tell it is an ST because you have got a bunch of black trim on the outside. There is badging that says Ford Performance ST all over the place. Plus I've got quad exhaust tips and 21 inch blacked out wheels. Now frankly I think that the whole thing looks pretty sick but you know your opinion may vary. But still she is got where it counts and that is under the hood. That's where a 3 litre echo boost B6 resides putting out 400 horse power and 415 pound feet of torque and you can feel every single one of those ponies. When you really give it the beans and that's pretty much what I've been doing for the past 800 miles or so. New this year are drive mode. So I can just click this bad boy into sport and then suddenly I've got a quicker transmission. I've got a more sensitive throttle, a louder exhaust note. The one thing that I don't have, however, is any kind of adaptive suspension. That's gonna remain the same across all seven drive modes. Now sure it's been tuned especially for this ST so it's a little bit more stiff. But I mean we're dealing with 4,700 pounds here there's only so much that you can do to fight physics. I mean it gets up to speed and then some like really really quick it's super fun. But when you go into the turns it seems to want to push just a little bit and that is especially scary when you're up in the twisties. So my advice to you is to listen to that old saying and take your turn in slow so you can the your exits quick. The ST has got some performance brakes which I really like when I'm at speed because they inspire. Really great confidence when I'm stopping, but at parking lot speeds, a little grabby and they're kinda difficult to modulate. So I've been driving this car for about 800 miles, mostly on the highway. I probably behave like a maniac maybe 50% of the time. I'm getting about 22 miles per gallon. Power gets down to all four wheels through a 10 speed automatic. Transmission. And you cannot get the ST in rear-wheel drive like you can with the other Explorer models. This is all-wheel drive only. But I really like this ten-speed transmission. I mean, it's really smooth, it doesn't hunt for gears. It'll skip gears multiple times, up or down depending on what you need. So it's always right there in the right gear. Just kind of does it's thing in the background. Although sometimes when I'm slowing down to a stop, if I kind of thunk into a lower gear, that's my only problem with it. But, I like it so much I haven't really even used the paddle shifters at all, but I mean I guess there's really no time like the present, right? [LAUGH] There we go baby. Haha, so much fun. [MUSIC] The SD comes with all of the adas features standard, like adaptive cruise control with lane centering, blind spot monitoring, and a, New speed limit sign recognition system. You know, I really like the adaptive cruise control here because it drives more like me instead of a computer. I mean it just gets back on the gas a little bit quicker so it's not really as frustrating as in other models. Also new this year is a 10.1 inch vertically oriented screen that's running Ford SYNC three infotainment And system. I've got a full review of that over on theroadshow.com so be sure to check it out if you wanna know more. [MUSIC] For 2024 stretch the wheel base over six inches, it got more room inside. Side for both passengers and cargo. Behind these front row seats is 88 cubic feet of space, that is towards the top of the class. And I have pretty of room with captain's chair for six full size adults, not just kids in the third row, full size adult. Forever passengers get heated and cooled seats standard. And while they're really comfortable, I do wish that they were a little bit more supportive. And I got a lot of power here on tap right, I wish that they were just a little bit more in the side bolsters. Regardless, I do get a massage which is always really nice. I mean, yeah, it's not like a spa massage or anything, it's more like pressure on your back, but still, beggars can't be chosers. [MUSIC] But I think what I like the most about the Explorer ST is that the power is all mostly useable. Yes, I love the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, it's got 707 horsepower and you never come even vaguely close to using it. Here, with just 400 on top, I can actually drive this car closer to the limit, and that is what makes the vehicle fun. [MUSIC] The closest competitor to the 2020 Ford Explorer ST would be the Dodge Durango SRT, which, yeah, its got more power, but it's also $8000 more expensive than the starting price of this guy, which is Right around 55,000 of course I've got a few options here like that larger screen so my final as tested price is $59,915. But hey, that includes 1095 bucks for destination. Look. No one ever said going fast was cheap.