Ford Explorer continues to offer a compelling family SUV

By Jim Bray
July 15, 2025

It may not be an all-new version, but the 2025 Ford Explorer features a number of upgrades its maker undoubtedly hopes will continue to keep the vehicle relevant in a crowded marketplace.

One way Ford thinks they can do this is with what they call "The Ford Digital Experience infotainment system", which the company says lets drivers access their favourite apps and services through a "new integrated native experience", including from Google and Amazon, as well offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto like just about everyone else does these days.

Ford says it's designed to allow "greater connection and personalization for our customers through profiles, content, and apps, helping make time behind the wheel more enjoyable, even when parked."

It seems as if Ford has decided to get into bed with Google, because the system integrates Google Maps and it defaults to Google Assistant as its voice assistant, with Alexa available as an alternative "for in-vehicle controls including to set in-vehicle temperature, search information, find and set a destination and request a specific broadcast or satellite radio station. It can also help with making calls, sending texts, setting a meeting, and controlling connected home devices."

Or you could just forget about all that stuff while you're in the car and pay attention to the road.

The change may be welcome to many, but I think that, while it's a technological step forward, it's also a user-friendliness step backward. I've written for years that Ford's former Sync interfaces were better than many, if not most, of the competition (who seem prone to add stuff for the sake of adding stuff). Maybe they're trying to appeal to people who live on their smart devices and I can see why they'd do that, but do we really need ever more complex interfaces that contribute to distracted driving rather than fighting it.

For example (and, as with most of this interface-related whining I'm doing, isn't a Ford-specific complaint), the climate controls are now on the centre stack LCD, which means you have to poke around the screen to access the stuff, which also makes you take your eyes off the road to find the stuff. How convenient!

Sure, you always have to look at the centre stack (or wherever) if you're using stuff, but when the HVAC is buttons/sliders/whatever on the centre stack you can poke, turn or whatever quickly without having to access varying menus and the like.

Ford is kind of late to the game with this crap compared to what some other carmakers are doing/have done and I was hoping they'd escape the trend. But NOOOOO!

I think such systems can also help contribute to the appalling lack of driving abilities we all see every day (well, maybe a few of us don't see it, perhaps being too busy looking at their screens), I have no empirical evidence to support my opinion, just my eyes and ears. Or, as Rush Limbaugh used to say "intelligence guided by experience," which is pretty much all any of us can rely on.

And judging by the complaints I hear from others, it ain't just me noticing this plunge in driving skills.

But that's for another column. This one is my take on the 2025 Ford Explorer Platinum, which is a vehicle I tend to like quite a bit.

There's lots of good stuff inside the Explorer, including a bunch of power and USB ports and, at least in Ford's sample, heated and ventilated and massaging front seats.

For this generation of Explorer, Ford swapped the front and rear ends, kind of. Oh, I don't mean the headlights shine out of the back or anything, but the Explorer's last generations were front wheel drive-biased and with this one they've gone to a rear drive bias.

I love this, merely mostly because I think rear wheel drive is more fun, but it can apparently also help with stuff like handling and towing.

And of course, the vehicle can and will send torque to the other axle as it's needed, since all-wheel drive is standard on all Explorers sold in Canada.

For 2025, Explorers have also been given what Ford says is a bolder appearance and stance, and it is a handsome vehicle. Up front there's a larger grille, sleeker (and all-LED) headlights, a new black-painted roof option (for the Platinum, ST and ST-Line trim levels) and in the rear, the updated tailgate gets LED taillights extending from the corners onto a horizontal appliqué that stretches across the liftgate.

Ford's sample Platinum version came with the company's 2.3-litre EcoBoost inline four as standard equipment. It's perfectly adequate, with a rating of 300 horsepower and 310 lb.-ft. of torque, but I missed the optional 400 horsepower three-litre EcoBoost V6 that's available. I've driven that engine several, if not many, times and it's a real peach. The four naturally doesn't have its oomph and I missed that, especially on the highway.

Either engine choice is paired with a 10-speed automatic, alas, which to me is at least two gears too many because if you need to tromp the gas for something – passing, up or down a steep grade, etc. – it has to shift down through many gears to get back into the power range.

Ford isn't the only one doing this, but that doesn't mean I have to like it!

I missed having paddle shifters for the automatic, too, though you can apparently get them on other Explorer models.

Inside, it's a modern and comfortable beastie, and the third row of seats is actually quite accessible and useable. To prove that, I forced my son and his family to accompany my wife and I to Vulcan, Alberta, home of the province's Star Trek tribute, where they have a small museum and a model of the starship Enterprise.

I drove the approximately 90 minutes down there from Calgary with the grandkids – 11 and eight years of age – in the third row. And they not only didn't kill each other, they said it was quite comfortable, and there were vents and things for them to play with.

I sat back there with the eight-year-old on the way back and not only didn't die, I found it quite comfortable for a trip of that length. I don't think I'd want to go cross country, or repeat my recent jaunt across British Columbia back there, but for what we did, it's fine. And of course, the third-row folds away for the times you either want to mash the kids into the opening in the floor or open up more room to haul stuff.

Ford has moved the dashboard forward to give more room to front seat passengers, not that I found the old one cramped (then again, I'm not a large guy). There's now a tray below the centre stack's LCD where you can sit and (if it's compatible) charge your cell phone wirelessly.

Ford's sample Explorer Platinum also featured an excellent Bang and Olufsen audio system. This Danish company is known for extreme audio quality (and interesting industrial design), and the system in the Explorer quite simply rocks. I wish there were the capability to play some of my high-resolution audio discs, but had to content myself with digital files on my phone and/or via USB. Which, by the way, worked fine.

Ford's Canadian website says the Explorer start at $53,980, which seems pretty competitive in a marketplace that also offers such vehicles as the Honda Pilot ($53,350 to start) and Volkswagen Atlas ($53,872).

The sample Platinum Explorer I drove lists at $64,630 according to its documentation.

I wish Ford hadn't succumbed to the pressure of turning their vehicles into rolling home theatres, but understand how competitive pressures (and legislation…) work. And in that light, the Explorer is still a very nice vehicle.