is there much rear cargo with the 3rd row up?

my friend just brought his Tahoe over on Saturday and whilst its a big truck and spacious 3rd row, the cargo space with the 3rd row up is a joke...

my next SUV with a 3rd row will have captains chairs for the 2nd row... we only have two kids to worry about but with the car seats in on a bench, access to the back is nonexistent...

 

That's the exact reason we passed on the Tahoe. The Tahoe's rear storage is just a flat shelf and has no depth. The Chevy dealer said people buy the Tahoe for hauling people and the Suburban if they want to haul cargo too. The Suburban is a beast and not something I saw my wife driving. It's 2 feet longer than the Tahoe.

The Explorer has ~20 cuft of storage in back. That's more than the Tahoe and more than any other SUV we looked at. It has a well to put stuff in since that's where the seats go in when you fold them. Remnded me of the Sienna. And to the bench seat. They suck. We have 3 kids, what a PITA to have to fold the seat down each time one of them needed to get into the third row. Granted we lost a seat going to 2nd row bucket but just try to have someone sit in the center row middle seat. My 10 yr old daughter who is stick skinny sat in it and the seat belts dug into her back.

My kids can easily walk in the middle of the bucket to get to the 3rd row. Also our 2nd and 3rd rows are both power folding so if we need to fold them it's pretty simple.

 

Congrats, wish I could sell the wife on the ExSport, but she's Flex for life now. So it'll be an EcoBoost Flex for her next one.

 

Body-on-frame vs unibody. If you're not planning on towing or going off-road, there's no reason for a body-on-frame construction. Unibody is better in every way for most passenger vehicles needs.

 

Nice new ride.

Can we at least change your name to NSX-ONEDAY?

 

Congrats, very nice.. My brother in-law returned his 2014 a couple of months ago and picked up a 2017 and loves it..

 

 

 

YES as it should. The Sport should NOT come with anything chrome, especially when the Grille, and rear tailgate piece come Black to point out its a SPORT. Who in their right mind would want gaudy chrome door handles!!

 

: THENNNNNNNN you woke up.....

 

Your welcome.

The Tahoe is just like my Expedition was. With the 3rd row up there was room for 2 duffle bags behind it, and some small little things on top of it and thats it! The Explorer is HUGE in comparison behind the 3rd row. We fit 4-5 peoples luggage behind it every weekend when we go to our cottage. Worse case scenario get a rear aluminum trailer hitch cargo tray from Harbor Freight for a hundred bucks and a weather tight cargo bag for it and have all the room you need.

 

Agreed, there should be no chrome, but I'd prefer PTM over black; one of the big reasons I got an F150 Sport (no chrome on the exterior, aside from badging). One of the reasons I wouldn't get a white ExSport. I actually really like the Smoked Quartz.

 

I will say, this thing (explorer sport) tows my ski boat (close to 5k with trailer) 100x better than my Expedition ever could. WAY more power and torque for towing, it never knows its back there, and ride compliance with the trailer is the same. You never feel it back there. Gas mileage no comparison either. If im not exploring the power of the tune, its easily getting mid 25-27mpg hwy, around 18 -20 with the boat compared to 16-18 and 11 for my expedition. The Sport isnt the best thing to compare for off road as it sits nearly 2 inches lower than the standard explorer

 

I thought they discontinued the flex didn't they?

I think he might have thought they were black unpainted handles like how they sometimes still do on base models.

 

Can always get the handles in body color now to match.

 

Congrats on the Explorer. You really can’t go wrong with this generation, they are great looking trucks (er...CUVs) and are a great bang for the buck. 3.5 is a solid engine too, lots of aftermarket support if you’re interested in that.


The fuel economy (not that I really care) I get in my Edge (2.7tt, Livernois 93 aggressive tune) is shocking to me. For something with 400+ hp, how it averages 25 combined and can do 30 on the highway is beyond me. This weekend I hit 33mpg for a few miles...weird.

Somedays I wish I would’ve gone Explorer though. Big big.

 

But first (by far) in reliability to the Range Rover. Honestly the RR Sport was on our list for a short bit. My wife loved the look but then I showed her the reliability rankings for it. It was crossed off the list very quickly. I also just can't justify pulling out that much cash for an SUV, even pre-owned.

 

what's the tow capacity on it?

 

This has always been my concern with the RR. My wife loves it, but those rankings scare me.

That said, we know a few folks with RRs and they've been bullet-proof. I know, I was shocked too. A couple of our friends even purchased new ones this year after trading in the old with like 150k problem-free miles. According to them, once Tata took it over, reliability has been great. I can't verify that for sure since I really don't follow RR, but they all have glowing reviews and zero issues with them.

I know it's all anecdotal, but up until recently, I never knew anyone who had a RR with no problems and now these people have turned everything upside down

 

5k

 

Hood letters

 

The 2.7tt is a beast engine and very impressive in its own right. You ever try the (what many call the) E-95 tune (3gal of E85 and the rest of the tank 93 for an approximate 95 octane?) my buddy has it on his wifes sport and its pretty noticable over 93 tune. I still need to get the 3bar map installed so i can go with larger tunes.

 

I believe 2020 is going to be the final model year for the Flex. But yes, it has been announced that it is going to be discontinued.

 

I hope they have a replacement in mind, i like the Flex and still wouldnt mind one some day. Be nice to see the newer 3.0 TT 400hp motor or a higher hp version of the 3.5 in the flex and the upcoming explorer replacement

 

Raptor 3.5TT in the Flex/Exploder

 

Nsx-never

 

Even the new 3.0 from lincoln would be nice

 

Have had the Explorer a little over a month. She now has 4200 miles on her.

2 trips to the beach house.
5 trips to the mountain house
Daily schlepps back and forth to drop off/pick up kids at day camps.

At this rate she'll surpass the mileage on the Genesis by years end.

 

By this rate it will pass the Genesis within 2 months.

 

How's the room in the 2nd/3rd rows compared to the Sienna?

 

Very comparable. I definitely miss being able to remove a seat in the middle row to pack stuff. Love the power folding 2nd and 3rd row seats.

 

^ Haven't been in the 3rd row of an Explorer, but in the Flex, my 6'0" self has sufficient room in the 3rd row. Not sure it's somewhere I'd want to be for a long drive (seats are pretty firm & upright), but it's not cramped.

 

Congrats!!! White Plat is an amazing color, but I could be biased. I see you got captain chairs? I have bench and wish I got captain because it's so difficult getting the two oldest in the 3rd row since (since they're both under 4) and the newborn is in the 2nd row.

 

We test drove and were almost ready to buy the one with a bench seat.
I would have liked the ability to have all 3 kids in the middle if we needed the room but 2 things stopped me:

1) Access to the rear seats is, like you said, really a PITA
2) Sitting in the center seat on the bench is painful. The seatbelts hit you right in the back. They aren't far enough apart to make it comfortable.

 

Its not something i would want to do for a half day trip but with the 2nd row being able to slide forward a few inches there is enough room for 2 adults in the 3rd row to head out for dinner or a short trip. For kids/teens its more than enough. We often have 5 or 6 passengers in ours on the weekend trip to the lake and never a complaint about room in the 3rd in the 1hr 20min drive. (and all the luggage for the weekend stowed behind them)

 

That was the single biggest reason i overruled my wife. She wanted the bench, and with 2 kids in boosters/car seats i knew the captains chairs would make it much easier to get access to the 3rd row.

 

Makes sense, the seats in the Flex don't slide. Our next one will definitely have 2nd row bucket seats.

 

I dont know if the bench seat in the explorer slides or not or if its only the captains chairs. Something tells me its only the later?

 

Gotcha, haven't been in one without a bench.

 

Just curious, did you cross shop against the MDX? What were your thoughts?

The Ford website shows the 3.5EB gets 16 city / 22 highway. Is that consistent with your experiences? Does it require premium?