Ford Explorer Sport Gets 3.5L Ecoboost

by Derek Kreindler

March 28th, 2012 3:30 PM

Anyone looking for a Ford Taurus SHO with a bit more room and towing capacity have their prayers answered with the Ford Explorer Sport.

Yes, it may be an answer to a question that nobody asked. The Explorer Sport will get a 350 horsepower 3.5L Ecoboost V6 engine as well as a six-speed automatic. Bigger brakes, qucker steering and a revised exterior will seperate the Sport from lesser Explorers. Fuel economy is expected to be 16/22 mpg and the Explorer Sport should be able to tow 5,000 lbs. Anyone who ever missed out on a Saleen XP8 can now have their shot at a hi-po SUV from the Blue Oval.

#Crossover #Ford #FordExplorer #FordExplorerSport #SUV

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12 of 41 comments

86SN2001 on Mar 28, 2012

So what we have is an uglier SUV.....with a V6......that gets the fuel economy of a far more capable V8 SUV......all while retaining it's softroader capabilities. Oh and a 'far too high' price tag. Yippee.....just what the world needed.

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- Baggins on Mar 28, 2012
  
  to me its a nice near-luxury vehicle for a family. It has: lots of power a smooth, quiet ride (dont like the 20 inch wheel I might switch for 18s) ability to go thru snow or soft road fantastic safety numbers, look at these data on the integrity of the structure in a side impact http://www.iihs.org/ratings/datatables.aspx?class=55&type=s only real issue for me is the mandatory my touch, but I bet they figure it out soon and I wont be in the market to replace my 04 Sienna until 2014 I dont know about the world, but it's what I might very well want.
  
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- NulloModo on Mar 28, 2012
  
  Which V8 SUV does this get the same fuel economy as? The JGC 4x4 Hemi is 13/20 The Sequoia 4x4 is 13/17 The Land Cruiser 4x4 is 13/18 The Tahoe 4x4 is 15/21 The Pathfinder 4x4 V8 is 13/18 The Durango 4x4 V8 is 13/20 Most SUV owners will never take their vehicle off road, and the Explorer will handle anything short of rock crawling that you'd be better off with a dedicated off-road rig for anyway. baggins - It has already been fixed. Drop by a Ford dealer and play around with a vehicle updated to the new MyFord Touch software - the difference is night and day.
  
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- Ajla on Mar 28, 2012
  
  @NulloModo Well, the Tahoe Hybrid 4WD is rated at 20/23 and it has a 6.0L V8. It's also rated to tow 6200lbs. The 3.5L EB vehicles aren't cheap so the prices will probably be close-ish. I think springing for the hybrid SUV requires a much bigger leap of faith though. _________________________ Looking at some police tests of the SHO Interceptor against the competiton, the EB does give better fuel economy than the V8s when idling or cruising around, but when you get to pushing on it, it does drink like a V8.
  
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- NulloModo on Mar 28, 2012
  
  @NulloModo ajla - Mentioned the Tahoe Hybrid below - starts at $55K for the 4wd, my guess is that Explorer EcoBoost will start at about $42-$45K. (Explorer limited 4wd starts at just over $40K with the base 3.5 V6).
  
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RRJ on Mar 28, 2012

Well, Ford does have a far more powerful engine in its lineup than any offered by Chrysler/Jeep. So if Ford put this engine, from the 2013 GT500, in the Explorer (you know, the engine with way more power - 650hp, 600 torque, than the SRT8 - 470 hp, 465 torque), do you really think that very many people would buy it?

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- Outback_ute on Mar 28, 2012
  
  Not many because the trans would blow the first time you hit the loud pedal!
  
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- Number6 on Mar 29, 2012
  
  @outback_ute Considering how often my EB F-150s slush box gives a neutral-droppy downshift from 5 -> 4, there is more truth to this than you might think...
  
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JaySeis on Mar 28, 2012

The wife and I debated this. We downsized from F250 SD/Expeditions to a Sport Trac Andrenalin. I wasn't farming anymore and the kids were gone. I still needed to tow my 5500# boat which the STA does quite easily with the 4.6. It gets a tad under 22 on the highway, rides great, AWD with the 6spd auto. Hauls 5 (in a pinch) & fits into the garage easier. I liked the Explorer but it misses that 7500 pound sweetspot on towing slightly bigger things, but not really big things of course. The Flex was a really close second but I wanted a bed that can haul chain saws & weedswhackers, fuel cans, waste oil and I'm not ever doing that again with an SUV. That being said, the best all around SUV we ever had was the Exped (two over 10 years). Before alcohol appeared, the 5.4 '03 averaged 21 on the highway. We like the Edge. 3.5 EB would be woohoo!

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Peteinsonj on Mar 28, 2012

22 mpg? pathetic.

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- NulloModo on Mar 28, 2012
  
  Find a 350hp 4wd or AWD vehicle this size that does better. (OK, the Tahoe hybrid, but the 4wd model starts at $55K, this will likely start in the low 40K range, that difference buys a lot of gas).
  
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- Naterator on Mar 29, 2012
  
  What are you talking about? 16/22 in a vehicle this size is amazing. If I wasn't so tight-fisted, I'd go look at one.
  
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