Styling
Although its underpinnings are Volkswagen, the top hat is definitely tailored (millinered?) by Ford, with its cuboid look referencing the original 1990s version that was once so comprehensively trashed by a rather miffed T. rex. Intriguingly, this is not the first time the Explorer has been sold in right-hand-drive form officially in the UK - early examples were available here, but they were such a rarities we'd forgive you for forgetting that fact. We sure did, until we saw a tidy Mk2 on the V-plate sitting on the grass at the launch of the new one.
Anyway, having digressed to oblique references to
Jurassic Park, let's get back to the modern version. Where the ID.4 has a certain swoopiness and smoothed-off look for aerodynamic purposes, the Explorer is more unapologetically upright. And, frankly, we reckon it's all the better for it. With its big alloys, short overhangs and generally muscular look, the Explorer stands out on the roads, more so when most similar EVs are all gigantic slippery soap-bar shapes on wheels. The Ford also looks particularly good in a bold colour like Rapid Red, so it's off to a good start, especially as we've never been that convinced by the 'proper'-Mustang-aping aesthetic of the larger Mach-E.
Interior
Another big hit for the Explorer in here, with the caveat that a lot of its VW source DNA is glaringly obvious in places, most notably for the column stalk on the left and the gear selector to the right of the steering wheel, the pad next to the driver's door for the exterior lights and screen demisters, the daft window switches (of which there are only two) in the front with a button to switch them to rear-glass operation, and even the placement of the smallish digital instrument cluster.
However, the general design and ambience of the interior feels better than an ID.4's, thanks to Ford's brilliant 14.6-inch Sync Move infotainment screen. This looks so much nicer and operates far more slickly than the VW's cumbersome set-up, while the Ford has a 30-degree-arc tilt function that means the screen can either be angled with its top edge below the upper surface of the dashboard, or made to stand upright against the fascia. If you go for the latter arrangement, a clever hidden and lockable storage compartment is revealed at the base of the display.
We also prefer Ford's font for the graphics in both the aforementioned column-mounted cluster and the excellent head-up display of the Explorer, while the use of light-and-shade material finishes and that B&O soundbar sitting on top of the dash like a polygonal UFO are further interesting touches. Buyers of the grander Premium model like our test car will also have quilted, vegan-friendly, man-made leather seats, while a giant panoramic roof floods the Ford's interior with light.
Yet it's not just in comparison to the ID.4 that we like the Blue Oval's passenger compartment; apart from the general all-round magnificence of a
Skoda Enyaq's cabin or maybe the classy elegance of the interior of a
Volvo EX30, we think the Explorer has one of the better interiors of any of the electric SUVs of similar size or expense.
Practicality
This is a slightly less impressive aspect of the cabin of the Ford Explorer, although by no means is the car without merit in this regard. For instance, the area with the cupholders has various pull-out bits of trim to configure the cubby in multiple different ways, with the possibility of liberating an outright storage capacity here of 17 litres. Ford calls this the MegaConsole, as a familial link to the MegaBox washable cubby you'd find beneath the boot floor of a
Puma. And we've already talked about the tilting touchscreen and the secret compartment at its base, too, both of which are features boosting practicality levels (preventing screen-glare on the former, as an example).
There's then a good amount of space in the rear seats of the Explorer, without it feeling massively capacious like, say, an Enyaq, while the floor is obviously flat in the footwells so that three people could possibly sit abreast in the back of the SUV, as long as they weren't all built like The Rock (the actor, not the prison). But a 470- to 1,422-litre boot speaks volumes about Ford sacrificing outright versatility to appease the god of exterior styling, because the Explorer is shorter overall than an ID.4 - an SUV with a cargo bay of 543-1,575 litres. So it's a mix of the good and the average when it comes to the practicality of the Explorer's interior.
Performance
Ford has access to the same three drivetrains that you'd find in the ID.4 in the Explorer. This means that the entry-level model will be a 170hp single-motor rear-drive car with a 52kWh battery (Standard Range) and a starting price (see Value, below) beginning with a '3'. But that's not coming until 2025, so for now your choices are the 286hp single-motor rear-wheel-drive (RWD) variant we're testing here, or a dual-motor all-wheel-drive (AWD) Explorer with 340hp. These have 77- or 79kWh battery packs respectively, earning both models Ford's epithet of 'Extended Range'.
In all honesty, we can see people preferring this RWD to the faster Ford. It's not much slower to 62mph as there are only 1.1 seconds in it in the AWD's favour, but officially the RWD has an additional 25 miles of range when comparing Premium spec to Premium spec of each - and you can also have the RWD as a Select, further boosting its overall range to a claimed 374 miles, 45 in excess of the AWD's theoretical maximum.
And it turns out the Explorer is a fabulous blend of being just fast enough and muscular enough (with a huge 545Nm of torque to play with) that it feels all whooshy and as effortlessly rapid as any good EV should, yet the delivery of its power is super-smooth and lacking any of that head-snapping violence that mega-output electrics exhibit, which can often make your passengers (and even yourself as the driver) feel nauseous. Better still, it is always making 286hp and 545Nm no matter which mode it is in, which is not something you can say of all the Explorer's direct rivals, eh, cough
Stellantis cough?
There are no strange whooping or volty-booming noises from the Explorer while it's going about its business either, while both the throttle and the brake pedal feel great underfoot no matter which of the three drive modes the Ford is in. There's also a strong level of regen going on that one-pedal driving is possible to a degree, and we got an impressive 3.7 miles/kWh out of the Explorer on a 40-mile loop including some motorway-speeds work, which'd average out at a real-world range of 285 miles; decent.
When you do need to charge the Explorer back up again, the AWD once more has a slight speed advantage over the RWD, as it will top itself up at a maximum 185kW DC, whereas the single-motor Ford's fastest pace in the same scenario is 135kW. Yet that means you're talking about a mere two minutes' difference for a 10-80 per cent charge at their peak rates, the AWD managing 26 minutes and the RWD 28 minutes. Either of them will take between 10.5 and 11 hours to go from 0-100 per cent battery power on a typical 7.4kWh domestic AC wallbox.
Ride & Handling
Ford has re-damped the chassis and given the Explorer a wider track than the ID.4, and while we're not about to say this has had a transformative effect on this new electric SUV's dynamics - nor does it do enough to vault the Explorer right up amongst the highest echelons of some of company's best chassis of antiquity, although that's asking a
lot of an EV - it's definitely a sharper and more enjoyable steer than most of these zero-emission SUVs, which all tend to weigh well the wrong side of two tonnes.
The Explorer is no exception to this portly rule, as it comes in at a hefty 2,102kg, but aside from a few wobbly moments in the body when you ask the SUV to quickly change direction, or a handful of rare occasions where you press the brakes fairly hard and then realise you'll need quite a bit more pedal pressure than you initially thought you did, it doesn't feel leaden and inert. Indeed, in Sport mode, the steering even takes on a modicum of feel and solid weighting, so the Ford EV is more capable in the corners than you might give it credit for if merely judging it on its on-paper specs.
The best news is that it doesn't ruin ride quality or refinement for its big wheels. Premium models come on 20s as standard but our car had optional £1,000 21-inch rims fitted, yet it hardly ever crashed through imperfections in the road at any speed. There's a little more tyre roar on rougher tarmac at town pace than we'd strictly like, but the Explorer's bluff body doesn't seem to make a huge audible disturbance as it cuts through the air, even when you're going 70mph. So, all in all, it's a very comfortable, very quiet, very likeable and, er... reasonably quick electric SUV. You'd have to say mission accomplished for Ford's chassis engineers, then.
Value
As we said earlier in the piece, the RWD Standard Range will start from £39,875, staying below an important psychological barrier that could almost make you ignore that it's still a 40-grand entry point regardless of the first digit of its windscreen sticker. Stepping up to the Extended Range 77kWh in Select trim brings us to £45,875, while Premium grade then pushes on to £49,975 - and, with options, our test car was £54,125.
Among that lot of cost extras is a £1,050 heat pump, only available on the Premiums, and it's a shame that this useful item is not standard-fit across the range, or at least on the grander Explorers. In Ford's defence, the SUV is priced competitively among its peers and there's a huge amount of kit included in a Select version, while Premium only really loads in fripperies and luxuries that might improve your feeling of wellbeing, although none of them are genuinely necessary equipment additions.
Verdict
Ford has taken many of the good bits of the Volkswagen ID.4, including its excellent one-shot driving range and overall feeling of rolling refinement, and cleverly built upon them by giving the Explorer a finer chassis, a superior interior and those stylish, straight-edged looks. Is the resulting electric SUV either perfect or maybe class-leading? Well, no, and no: it's still not the most thrilling thing to steer, there are a few practicality issues, and it's hardly that cheap or affordable when it's £54,000-plus as tested. But it's a strong addition to a competitive sector of the marketplace and, if we're honest, it's a more likeable and polished product than the bigger Mach-E felt when it first launched some years back. Just keep it away from any radgie dinosaurs and you should be absolutely fine with the amenable new Explorer.
