If you’re looking for a great family car and have a large family, the Ford Explorer is a great choice! It seats 6 very, very comfortably! I love that the 2nd row has 2 seats and they’re just as good as front row seats! The back row is fun too – and it folds down all kinds of ways for storage too if you don’t always have 6 people in it. The seats folding down was one of my favourites – all kinds of buttons and you can fold them all kinds of ways. Stow them away, fold them flat, just one. Lots of great choices.
We had a lot of fun in this car – took it on the highway a lot, lots of city driving – great for all kinds of situations. I thought it would be too big for me to run around doing errands with but ends up it’s just as easy to drive and park as a way smaller vehicle. And with the front and rear cameras parking is a breeze! You can also use park assist too if you want! I hate parallel parking – I avoid it at all costs, but after one of my outings I came home late and the only spot on the street was a small one. I figured, I will give it one shot on my own before using park assist. It was pitch black out, so figured my odds weren’t great, but at least no one was outside to laugh at me! 😉 One quick parallel park and I was in the spot – I actually got out and walked around the car because I didn’t think it could be that easy. Ends up I guess I know how to parallel park, it was the perfect parking job! The sensors help out too letting you know when you’re too close to stuff – handy at night!
We only have one kid, so figured a good test was to load it up with kids! Picked up all the little cousins and went out for dinner to Ikea. Ran a bunch of errands after – lots of in and out of the car and it was a breeze! The kids had fun alternating who got to sit in the 2nd row, since that one had heated seats too – big treat for the kids! It heats up the whole seat too, so even if they’re in a booster or car seat they still get the nice warm cozy seat.
Plenty of room for 4 kids, all the shopping – and this was after a day at the corn maze so we had mucky rubber boots and everything we had needed for that in the car too.
I’m always amazed at the technology in new cars – so here’s 2 sort of embarrassing stories about those features.
I was driving alone down Bishop, waiting to turn into the turn lane to go on Waverley. Traffic was backed up, and when it took off I thought I was good to go right into that lane. Nope! Ends up it was still at a crawl, and I guess my foot went down a little hard – the car knew the vehicle ahead of me was going at a lower speed and I was near a collision so the dash light up to let me know. It’s a little scary the 1st time it happens (that wasn’t our first time, first time was in another vehicle when we really were near a collision because of a crazy driver) but once it happens you get used to it and it’s a neat idea. I’m a pretty slow driver, and I am usually super focused when I drive so I wouldn’t have missed the traffic ahead slowing down – but if you have younger drivers, or get distracted more easily it’s amazing! And of course it’s great for those times when you really would be colliding with someone!
The other feature I had no idea even existed, or even know what it’s called is if you leave your lane at high speeds on the highway it alerts you. This happened at a lower speed, avoiding someone being dumb on the highway and a quick avoidance onto the shoulder (without signaling in the moment – oops!) and the car tells you that maybe you’re tired and should take a rest! Pretty neat technology! Wasn’t tired at all, but I can see if you were sleepy and kept leaving your lane a bit this might encourage you to pull over for the night or a coffee. Really keeps you on your toes!
And did I mention how cozy it is? 😉 If you’ve read my other reviews you know how much my daughter hates being in the car. She gets car sick very easily – so it was nice in the Explorer that she would just turn on her heated car seat and then fall asleep….pretty much anytime we went anywhere! Super relaxing for us in the front too!
I had a lot of fun driving this one, I often get super nervous driving and my sense of direction isn’t great. I headed out of town alone to pick up a cousin and we checked out an amazing haunted forest for Halloween! Was glad to be in the Explorer as the parking was in a super muddy area and it’s always nice to be higher up too .
This is a great choice if you want something bigger than the Edge – I hear it tows amazingly too. It’s fun for long trips on the highway – we filled it up several times and headed out of town for all kinds of fun activities. But also great for big Costco trips, taking larger groups of kids out and general day to day driving. It handles like a small car, I was able to zip it in and out of small parking spot that is really cramped with no issues whatsoever. All the neat safety features make it a great family choice – and I love that they have so much at the back for your passengers. They get to control and choose a lot for themselves, and the heated seats for 2nd row is just great! We took an Explorer on a road trip to Edmonton a few years ago and got stuck in some insane snowstorms the entire way there and back and it handled great so it’s a great winter option too!
And stay tuned for a great winter review of the Explorer coming soon – a big trip to BC with even worse snowstorms and all kinds of delays!