Is the best all around vehicle an Explorer ST?

In the past 4 days, I would have to say yes many times over. It can tow 5000#. It's a high 13 sec quarter mile warrior. It has room to take a family of 6, 100# dog included, on vacation. It handles allllll the twisties you throw at it. It's got 4wd. When optioned right, the heated, cooled, and massaging seats will have you feeling like a million bucks on a long drive. It gets stupid mpgs for 400hp and 5000# of a couple of people and their crap on a trip. Hell Ford throws in a speciality trip in for buying it and it's pretty much "free".

I'll start with the last first and work my way back....

So, back story is that the ex wife bought a brand new '23 Explorer ST literally a day before the stop sale started because of the BSOD with the rear camera. "We" have been driving it since without any issues. Currently have 24k on it in 5(?) months of ownership. But that said, we drove from Michigan to the dirty myrtle for a vacay and back. It's been to louisville for kiddo appts once. I could easily have them use my Avalanche for some of this but it's a nicer vehicle.

Anyway, when you purchase said vehicle, you get to go play with others in either Asheville NC or Park City UT. Utah is a bit far for us, so we collectively decided on NC. We left this past Monday and stopped around Louisville, KY for the night as apposed to driving straight through. The next day, we arrived around 4pm to the host hotel, with just enough time to shower and change clothes for the evening dinner/introduction for the next day. Mind you, the host hotel is the Village Hotel at the Biltmore. Yes, THAT Biltmore. Drove to a separate facility on the 8000 acres for the reception dinner where we met the other owners and staff from Ford Performance Racing School/ST SUV Experience. We ate, drank, had a fun time waiting for tomorrow's festivities.

The next day started early, like 5am early, to meet everyone at 0730 to start the day. We all got assigned an Explorer for the adventure. We left and went up into the mountains via the Blue ridge parkway and back down the the WNC ag center complex. Along the way there was cb communication about certain vehicle features and to try them out on the drive at various points. 
Once back to the ag center, the fun began. At first, the ex took on the skid car while I did the no driver assist parallel parking demonstration. Pretty cool feature, but I don't need it nor did ours come with it. I never did the skid car, but I didn't need it. We then got ushered over to a lane change avoidance scenario. Basically go 25mph, do a lane change to the left and stop. Simple but insanely fun.
Shortly after, we all gathered back up and went to lunch at the Broadmoor Golf Course. It may have only consisted of a sammich, salad, chips, and an Arnold Palmer, but all high end stuff.

We returned back to the ag center to test out the collision braking avoidance system while the other half of the group went to kill some cones. Pretty cool that it can do the stop without any driver input. The ex just could not grasp that she wouldn't hit the inflated "car" and hit the brakes to stop. After we all had a chance at this exercise, we went around to the other side of the trees for some cone abuse.

Every vehicle got 7 laps on the course. It was a who decides to go first as they get 4 and the codriver gets 3. It was her purchase, so she got to go first. It wasn't exactly difficult, but given what we are in it's a challenge. Most everyone I believe put them into sort mode to maximize the performance. Lots of tires squealed in displeasure and no rollovers even approaching 35-ish mph around the course. She got flustered on course and on the lap that counts, the last one, she hit a ton of cones. I pulled off a clean lap and finished 3rd out of everyone with a 30.185 to a winning 29.610. Only difference is first and second both had another lap under their belts. I knew when I finished alll the places I could have gone faster in. Oh well.

Once the winnner was crowned/coned, we loaded up and headed back to the Biltmore. Now, we didn't go in the paved way. There is another entrance that is a trail that leads you back around to the hotel. This of course is to show off the trail mode that available. Fun times off-roading. Once back to the original starting point lot, we said out pleasantries, got in our vehicles, and headed out for a tour of the Biltmore. Holy cow that is an amazing tour with 4 floors, 2 basements, electrical fixtures, indoor plum king, indoor heating, bowing alley, swimming pool, and the general opulent life back in 1896.

We stayed another night on our dime to avoid having to pack up in a rush and leave. This worked out as some sever storms rolled through in the early morning. Once those cleared, we packed up and headed towards home. We had talked about what to do and needed up heading to around Robbinsville NC. GPS lead us mostly on the way until we were hungry and stopped in Dillsboro NC for lunch and some bonafide glass bottle Mountain Dew made with real sugar from the one gas station, convenience store, hardware store. We ate and headed on our way....

Once we got to our destination, the fun ensued. 11 miles of road , 318 turns... Yea, we took the Explorer out on the Tail of the Dragon. This place I can say without a doubt was the most fun I've had with my clothes on. Even in an Explorer. In fact, we actually did it 3 times before leaving because she definitely wanted the way I went.

After that fun in the mountains, we scurried off to get home as it was almost 530pm and 9-ish hours home.

We did have to stop at Buc-ees in Richmond, KY for fuel, food, and various beaver merchandise. I had to give over driving duties around Piqua, OH as I was about asleep at this point. She powered through until getting to the Loves in Grand Ledge, MI. We got a splash of fuel to get us home as it was now about 230am. I took over again and made it home well before GPS said I would get here....

All in all, if someone said let's do this all over again, my bags would be packed yesterday.

My hats off to Ford, FPRS, states of NC and TN, Buc-ees, and an ex wife who allowed me on this adventure, many off color, dad jokes were made along the way.

EDIT: I forgot to add that a few weeks prior to this, she took the 14sec overall at the NMRA race in Michigan in the true street class. This class runs as a mandatory 30 mile cruise and 3 back to back passes without lifting the hood or any other things. You can add or subtract air in the tires and fresh nitrous bottles or ice to an intercooler tank. Ran 13.87, 14.18, and a 14.16? for a 14.08 average.

Photo dump post:

I have many more pictures.

Man I had one as a rental through Enterprise for a few days and really wanted to love it but it left me flat.  With how much I love my 2021 F150 with the 3.5 I expected the Explorer ST to be a real rocket ship.  I thought it was pretty ho-hum.  Maybe the rentals get a neutered tune?

The exhaust sound was nice (even though its fake?).  The interior was OK but didn't blow my tits off the way a new BMW does.  Lotta typical Ford BS and that kind of awkward seating that Explorers have.  The infotainment was tiny compared to the F150 and the vertical layout is super dumb.  

TBH kind of shocked at those ETs, I have cracked mid 13s with my box stock 2021 F150.  

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

There is plenty I'm not in love with, but overall, it fits the bill here especially when compared to ANYTHING else offered. We cross shopped everything available.

Edit- I'm also down a half liter of displacement, 3.0 vs 3.5.

That sounds really cool - I expected the price to be lower but WTF do I know?

We just drove TOTD last Thursday, the 3rd, in our Explorer. Not an ST, but still fun. I drove it the "wrong" way, and then my 17yo daughter drove us back. Super fun! I had to pull off to let all the Miatae fly past, which was cool too. We hit it at sunset, it was crazy how fast the fog rolled in off the lake. We had the Biltmore on the list of stops to make, but ended up being too far from everything else on our itinerary.

Enjoy the ST when you can! 

In reply to Ranger50 :

How many other drivers slowed down or drove weirdly because they thought you were a cop?

I think it depends what you mean by "all around", but it does seem to be pretty damn capable.  A poor man's Cayenne?

My man! My wife and I did the exact same trip in June! I kept meaning to do a writeup on the experience, but you've said it very well. It was a blast. We picked up our ST last December after ordering it in August. We flat-out love the thing. It truly is a "do it all" vehicle. Some of my pics:

This is me with our assigned Exploder on top of the mountain after the Blue Ridge Parkway drive:

Action shot of one of the other participants on the autocross course:

I managed a 29.442 on the autocross, which put me third out of 12. Not bad for an old guy who's WAY out of practice.

Now, I will be the first to admit that a Ford Explorer is hardly the best choice for a drive up the Tail of the Dragon, but it was what we had. Honestly, the car did great. It's shocking how well this fat, tall, truck-ish thing handles. A testament to modern suspension development, stability control, and of course, having giant tires and brakes helps, too. Let's just say I wasn't holding anyone up on that road, and several times I pulled off to let the cars ahead of me pull out so that I could go quickly again. It helped a lot that I had just done the ST school the day before. It gave me a lot more confidence.

One cool thing about the Dragon is that there are professional photographers situated all along it taking pics. We found this good shot of us when we went on their website the next day:

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

We got out for 63k. The only thing else we could crossshop would have been another Suburban or Tahoe. But with all the DoD lifter failures in sub 20k miles... I'm out when most of the repairs from GM don't fix the real problem with them which is oil starvation caused by the factory programming.

In reply to llysgennad :

The Miata behind me I let go, got inbetween them and their friends in the Camaro and G8. Eventually I caught up to the Miata pair and not quite left the others behind in it. After coming back the other way, we got about half way through before granddad in his Buick refused to pull over and let us by. 

In reply to A 401 CJ :

Usually nobody, even with the dimmed down police spec drls via ForScan.

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

I should also mention that by taking the event, you get genuine Ford ST badges for the grille and tailgate in black vs the oe red. Plus you get a cool backpack, some literature, and a wireless phone charging pack.

Didnt know the EST was only 3.0 Liters.  Explains why it felt flat compared to a 3.5.  
Wonder why they didnt fit a 3.5 like the earlier ones - would have been a ripper.  

Ranger50 said:

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

I should also mention that by taking the event, you get genuine Ford ST badges for the grille and tailgate in black vs the oe red. Plus you get a cool backpack, some literature, and a wireless phone charging pack.

I still haven't decided what I'm doing with those black ST badges. My wife and I agree that the red ones look better on our dark blue Exploder, so they aren't going on the car. One of them will probably end up on my toolbox.

Didnt know the EST was only 3.0 Liters.  Explains why it felt flat compared to a 3.5.  
Wonder why they didnt fit a 3.5 like the earlier ones - would have been a ripper.  

Well, the 3.0 is based on the 2.7 TT, which is the midrange F-150 engine and what my dear, departed Fusion Sport had. Completely different architecture than the 3.5, and a newer design. The 3.5 in the previous generation Exploder Sport had 365hp, and the 3.0 is 400hp, so it's no slouch. It doesn't feel flat to me at all. Our Expedition has the 3.5, and while it's a bigger, heavier vehicle, it doesn't have the low-end punch that the 3.0 does. Some of that, I'm sure, is that the Exploder has a "Sport" mode and the 10-speed trans, where the Expedition just has a regular 6-speed with no special modes other than Tow-Haul. The Expedition also suffers from very soft throttle tuning. Once it gets moving, it moves well, but off the line it's very lazy.

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

I might fix that with a 150 shot...

Sounds like a nice vehicle. I am partial to the Asian offerings however and we went with an Acura MDX, Type S.

I'm focused in on the "ex-wife" part of the story...

Does not compute.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Don't worry. There is a lot of "does not compute" on this side of the keyboard. 

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

Ranger50 said:

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

I should also mention that by taking the event, you get genuine Ford ST badges for the grille and tailgate in black vs the oe red. Plus you get a cool backpack, some literature, and a wireless phone charging pack.

I still haven't decided what I'm doing with those black ST badges. My wife and I agree that the red ones look better on our dark blue Exploder, so they aren't going on the car. One of them will probably end up on my toolbox.

Didnt know the EST was only 3.0 Liters.  Explains why it felt flat compared to a 3.5.  
Wonder why they didnt fit a 3.5 like the earlier ones - would have been a ripper.  

Well, the 3.0 is based on the 2.7 TT, which is the midrange F-150 engine and what my dear, departed Fusion Sport had. Completely different architecture than the 3.5, and a newer design. The 3.5 in the previous generation Exploder Sport had 365hp, and the 3.0 is 400hp, so it's no slouch. It doesn't feel flat to me at all. Our Expedition has the 3.5, and while it's a bigger, heavier vehicle, it doesn't have the low-end punch that the 3.0 does. Some of that, I'm sure, is that the Exploder has a "Sport" mode and the 10-speed trans, where the Expedition just has a regular 6-speed with no special modes other than Tow-Haul. The Expedition also suffers from very soft throttle tuning. Once it gets moving, it moves well, but off the line it's very lazy.

Not trying to get into a pissing match here but if the "400 horse" 3.5 will do the quarter mile in 13.5 in a heavier vehicle and the "400 horse" 3.0 does it in 14.08....  Something does not add up.  

93gsxturbo said:

Not trying to get into a pissing match here but if the "400 horse" 3.5 will do the quarter mile in 13.5 in a heavier vehicle and the "400 horse" 3.0 does it in 14.08....  Something does not add up.  

I have no doubt that the 3.5 is more capable. I'm on my third one, you might say I'm a fan. All I'm saying is that the 3.0 is no slouch, either. 

But I am curious which vehicles you're talking about. C&D has the Exploder ST at 13.8.

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

She has done a best of 13.87. It slows down from intercooler heat soak because it's tiny. I did a back to back run once at a test n tune and managed a 14.06 with minimal cooldown. It can and will go faster. I'm not certain with the starting line ratio is optimum for it. It could use both a shorter tire, it's 30.5" tall stock, and more stall in the converter. Even flooring it against the brakes, it only launches at 2k and minimal boost. I'm also sure the eec is holding the wastegates open against what I want them to do, which is to build boost.

With $2500-3000, I would be running 11's still at 4800#. Intercooler and tune is a high 12sec ride for $1500.

EDIT- 2021 F150 3.5L delivers 400hp/500ftlbs. Same year Explorer ST 3.0L makes 400hp/415ftlbs. 85 ftlbs of torque difference can definitely be felt. But still no slouch.