The Family Truckster: Ford Explorer ST RWD
The red ST badge and black grille denote the 400-horsepower performance variant of the 2025 Ford Explorer; other visual clues include red brake calipers and these blacked-out 21-inch aluminum wheels. The view out over the high, squared-off nose is distinctly pickup-truck. This color is Agate black Metallic.
The ST wheel, with grips at 10:00 and 2:00, fills the hands nicely. As a top-end trim, the ST gets a large helping of features ranging from a B&O stereo and heated rear seats to the Ford Digital Experience and this new 13.2-inch touchscreen. The driver’s 12.3-inch digital instrument panel is new also. There’s no in-windshield head-up display, but navigation directions can be sent to either or both of these screens.
The red ST badge and black grille denote the 400-horsepower performance variant of the 2025 Ford Explorer; other visual clues include red brake calipers and these blacked-out 21-inch aluminum wheels. The view out over the high, squared-off nose is distinctly pickup-truck. This color is Agate black Metallic.
The ST wheel, with grips at 10:00 and 2:00, fills the hands nicely. As a top-end trim, the ST gets a large helping of features ranging from a B&O stereo and heated rear seats to the Ford Digital Experience and this new 13.2-inch touchscreen. The driver’s 12.3-inch digital instrument panel is new also. There’s no in-windshield head-up display, but navigation directions can be sent to either or both of these screens.
A rear-wheel-drive SUV? What’s the point? Evidently Ford expected us — at least those of us who deal with snow — to ask this very question, so four-wheel drive is available as a $2,000 option. But as the hotrodded member of the Explorer family, the ST’s standard setup powers only the back wheels, in traditional sporting-car format.
What makes the ST the performance Explorer is its 3.0-litre EcoBoost V-6 up-tuned to produce 400 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque on premium gas. This engine is an option on the Platinum trim, but otherwise the standard Explorer powerplant is a 300-horsepower 2.3-litre EcoBoost Four. (All Ford EcoBoost motors are of comparatively small displacement but turbocharged —‘boosted’ — to squeeze out more power.) All Explorers share the same 10-speed automatic transmission; the ST gets manual gear-selector paddles on its nicely bulked-up sport steering wheel.
The ST also gets flashy red brake calipers inside its 21-inch aluminum wheels and a suspension said to be tauter and more responsive than standard. The ST handles competently for its size and heft, easily managing the extra 100 horses underfoot, with one caveat: Coming out of a corner, the driver has to re-center the wheel—it won’t ‘unwind’ by itself. The steering is noticeably heavy too, making the ST a relatively high-effort vehicle. Whether this is true of other Explorer variants I do not know.
BTW, if you’re wondering whether the Explorer is still built on an F-150 pickup-truck chassis, that stopped with Model Year 2011, when the Explorer evolved to unibody construction.
In Sport mode the ST feels a bit lighter on its feet, but at the expense of fuel economy, which is already marginal at around 22 miles per gallon. Five other driving modes are also available: Tow/haul (5,000 lbs towing capacity), Eco, Normal, Slippery and Trail. To help ST buyers make the most of all this, they receive a complimentary invitation to the Ford Performance Racing School’s ST Driving Experience in Park City, Utah, or Asheville, North Carolina. This is a one-day/one-night/three-meals junket for two that includes an autocross course, some twisty mountain road driving and coaching in using the ST’s many features.
One of these features is the new Ford Digital Experience, which integrates Google Assistant, Maps, Play, Chrome and other apps—along with 5G connectivity and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto—into one seamless system that can be profiled to the driver. It’s possible to surf the Web and even host meetings on the Explorer’s new bigger screen, presumably while stuck in traffic. Amazon Alexa is onboard as well, along with Ford’s BlueCruise hands-free-driving system. Naturally, today’s Explorer has all the current adaptive driver’s safety aids too.
Beginning with the first one, back in 1990, the Explorer gets the credit for turning us away from station wagons and sedans and ushering in the SUV Era. The current Explorer, a far cry from that primitive ancestor, is the sixth generation of ‘America’s SUV.’ For 2025, Ford has pared the model line to four trim levels: Active, starting at $41,380, including destination and delivery fees; ST-Line (the ST appearance package without the mechanical upgrades), starting at $46,190; Platinum, $53,65; and, beginning at $55,835, the ST. An off-road version called the Tremor is reportedly waiting in the wings.
Next week: Toyota Land Cruiser
