Video: 2025 Ford Explorer Up Close: Sleeker Looks and New In-Cabin Technology

It's got a new face, it's got a new backend, it's got a new interior, it's got some new technology. So what all has Ford changed for 2025? Well, come with me and I'll take you through it. (upbeat music) Style-wise, we'd call this a mild update. You have a new front end. All explorers now have LED headlights and a larger grill and some slightly larger air curtains on the bottom, below the bumper as well. Down the sides, you've got some new wheels. You've got a choice between anywhere from 18 to 21-inch wheels, depending on which trim level you choose. And now the thing to understand about the '25 Explorer is that they've halved the number of trim levels for '25. You used to have things like XLT and Limited and Timberline. A lot of those are gone, we now only have four. It starts with the Active trim as the base model trim, then the ST-Line, which is the sporty appearance package like this one here. Then you have the actually Sporty ST with its high performance engine. And at top there's the new Platinum trim level that has all the luxury amenities. Out back, you've got a slightly different tailgate. They've added this horizontal light bar element with the Explorer nameplate in it. It's really meant to add more of an element of width and stance to the Explorer. You've got the LED taillights and they kind of swoop across the back of the vehicle. Looks pretty good, looks fresher, and it should make it easier to identify a '25 Explorer, well, at night, anyway. From a powertrain standpoint, everything is pretty much carry over from the '24 to the '25. You have a choice of two engines, either a 300 horsepower turbocharged, 2.3 liter, four-cylinder engine, which is standard on all models except the Performance ST. Or you get a 400 horsepower, twin turbocharged, three liter V6, that's standard on the ST and optional on the top Platinum level. But the big changes are actually inside the new '25 Explorer. For 2025, the Explorer gets a pretty much all new interior and it really is a step up from what we saw before. This is an ST-Line version, so it's got a lot of the sporty appearance packages of the ST, but without a lot of the actual sporty gear under the hood. First of all, you have a new dashboard. This thing is completely redesigned and it really does look fantastic. You've got this fabric-wrapped soundbar element thing that's standard on all versions of the Explorer now. You've actually got some speakers behind this fabric-wrapped area, but the entire shape itself is all what they're calling cut and wrapped stitching. So you've got premium materials that have a stitching look, red stitching in terms of the ST-Line here, that goes from one door to the other. Now, front and center there, you'll see a 13.2-inch touch screen and it's in horizontal format. That is also standard across all versions of the Explorer. No more vertical, video-style touchscreen. Now you've got everything in the horizontal format. But the big news for that is that it's actually running the new Google operating system, the new Android auto system. No more Ford Sync, it's now the Ford Digital Experience and it's bringing a lot of that Google Play functionality directly into the head unit of the vehicle. So you can download apps from the Google Play Store, you can stream video, you can stream audio books, and even when you're parked, you can now start actually streaming and playing games on the center console's touchscreen as well, if you have a Bluetooth controller. You can even bring video or stream TV into the center console as well. You have a standard 12.3-inch digital cluster behind the steering wheel. That's for gauges and reconfigurability. You can actually use the Google Maps function in the gauge cluster itself. So navigation is actually easy to follow behind the steering wheel instead of having to look over onto the center console. You've got some new colors and interior materials for the Explorer as well. This being the ST-Line version, you've got actual cloth inserts on Active X vinyl. They don't actually have leather, they call it Active X vinyl. You can get leather, but that's on the Platinum version and it comes in a couple of different packages. Perhaps the most interesting color is on the Platinum version where they have something called Mojave Dusk, and that's kind of a purplish, aubergine, eggplant color, but really looks good, especially in a couple of different lighting scenarios. Outdoors, absolutely fantastic. Something other than black or brown or gray, always welcome in my book. While the dashboard and seats might be a little bit new, the overall packaging of the '25 Explorer isn't any different than the '24, and that means you've got still kind of some smallish back seats and some smallish back third row seats as well. It's still a three-row crossover, but it is on the smaller side, in terms of the larger crossovers. It's not a front-wheel-drive platform like a Kia Telluride or a Chevrolet Traverse. So you've got slightly different use case here, slightly different packaging than you would in some of those larger SUVs. Think of this more as a competitor to something like the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Grand Cherokee L, where you've got that three-row functionality. But again, that rear wheel drive platform, that rear wheel drive architecture does tend to rob a little bit of space out of the second and third row. The other big tech addition for the '25 Explorer is the addition of Blue Cruise. That's Ford's semi-autonomous hands-free highway driving system. It's a cruise control where you can actually set your speed, activate Blue Cruise, and on specially-mapped roads can actually take your hands off the wheel and your feet off the pedals and it will do a lot of the driving for you. It'll even change lanes for you with just a tap of the turn signal, as long as the way is clear. Now it only works on specialty-mapped roads and it is a subscription-based service because it has to have connectivity to the outside world to know exactly where it is and to know which roads have the right kind of mapping technology associated with them, but is now going to be available on the ST-Line, ST, and Platinum trim levels of the Explorer for some additional cost. Overall, this interior really does look good. It is quite a premium step up from the previous Explorer, but there is one thing that does bug me and that's the fact that all of the climate controls are now part of this larger 13.2-inch touchscreen. There are some hard buttons on the bottom there. It's not completely touchscreen, not everything in here is now touchscreen, but they are moving in that direction, apparently, and ugh, that never sits well with any of us. Ordering for the 2025 Explorer starts today. It is open right now. So if you'd like to get on the list to get one of these new '25 explorers, head down to your Ford dealer and plunk down a deposit You're gonna have to plunk down a little bit more, however, because the new '25 explorer is about $2,700 or so more expensive than the outgoing '24. It's gonna start right around $42,000 or so. But they have fewer trim levels and more standard equipment than the outgoing '24, things like a power lift gate, heated seats, more active safety features like stop and go traffic for cruise control. All of that is now standard on every trim level of the explorer. If you'd like to learn more about the new 2025 Ford Explorer or any of Ford's family vehicles, you can look everything up on cars.com. (gentle music)