Recently switched jobs and decided to go with a vehicle allowance rather than a company car. I previously had a company issued 2016 Explorer XLT that I put 55K+ miles on in 14 months. Drove great, no problems, 3 rows (we have 3 pre teens), and looked pretty good. I also work in the construction industry and drive off road quite a bit. So going with my own Explorer wasn't a difficult choice. THEN I TEST DROVE THE SPORT VERSION. DECISION MADE!





The power is GREAT and the ride is very car similar with the seat all the way down (drivers seat seems to travel a good 10“ up and down. Technology is great too with android auto. We are heavy Google calendar users and it's nice seeing all of the events for the day on the screen and being able to navigate to the next event. Not a huge fan of the rims, but love the second row captain chairs for the ease of access to the third row.

 

 

Very nice, wish I could talk my wife into an ExSport to replace her Flex, but she's Flex for life. Maybe I can talk her into an EB Flex Limited

 

hello fellow sugarlander!!!
congrats on the awesome truck! looks great and is pretty fast!
I live in First Colony

 

Awesome ride! I agree with OP, for whatever reason I never cared for wheels on the sport but other than that it's a sweet ride.

 

 

Awesome choice. I love the Sport!

 

Congrats, the Sport looks good..

 

 

Ford makes some beautiful vehicles. Congrats!

 

Congratulations. I think the wheels look good. I owned a '97 Explorer Sport. It was a great vehicle.

 

Congrats! Love the Ex Sport. Tune it!

 

Nice XSport! Enjoy your new ride!
If you really want to wake it up, ad a 160 thermostat, re-gap the plugs at .030" , replace the 2-bar MAP to a 3-bar, and add a custom tuner/ tune from Anthony at Livernois Motorsports, or from Torrie at Unleashed Tuning.

 

Thanks All! Really enjoying it thus far.

Very good. Our kids went to Colony Meadows for a good 5 years. We moved over close to Aliana now.

We had a cousin to your Explorer Sport a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer. Put over 240K miles on her. Truly a tank of a car.

REALLY seriously considering it. I've seen some videos of what the tune can do.

What does all of that run ($)? Can the work be done by a mid level shade tree such as myself?

 

Looking on the Livernois site, the tune is $600, tstat is $60, 3 bar MAP $75. So probably around $750 for those. I can't imagine the tstat & MAP would be a hard swap, not sure on the plugs.

 

Thanks, busy day at the job. Did some research earlier too...
After some quick research:

1. 160 thermostat ($60)
   • Shouldn't be a problem, I've replaced numerous thermostats before.
2. Re-gap the plugs at .030" (Time)
   • Haven't looked at the plug locations yet, but as long as they are easily accessible, this shouldn't be a problem (are the back 2 easy to get to)?
3. Replace the 2-bar MAP to a 3-bar ($75)
   • Remove oil cap than engine cover. If you're looking at the top of the motor towards the middle of the windshield there is a black sensor. This is the stock sensor. You can tell it's the right one because it has ONE screw and is on TOP of the manifold. Unscrew single screw (forget what size I used) and gently pull stock sensor out after unplugging from the wire harness. Install new sensor and plug harness back in. Do not start vehicle till after you flash your new 3 bar tune. Hope this helps.
4. Custom tuner/ tune from Anthony at Livernois Motorsports ($600)
   • can these be found used?

I also notice their is a cold air intake. What are the performance gains with it? Appears Livernois has a kit for $1K that includes everything needed.

 

Not sure if the LMS can be found used since they use a proprietary tuner, unlike a lot of the other tuners that use something like the SCT or others.
Not sure on the rear plugs, since I have a 2.7, honestly haven't even looked to see how it's all laid out on mine.
Again, not sure on the CAI/Exhaust on the ExSport, but common consensus on the F150 side is that it's mostly to get a different noise & there aren't significant gains with either (the 2015+ F150 has a CAI-ish intake OEM).