Latecomers to parties are supposed to barge in dramatically, giving it the full Norma Desmond. Raising a hand to their brow, they should loudly acclaim: “Oh my! Is that what time it is?” The full attention-getting routine.
The Ford Explorer has not done this. The Explorer’s arrival at the electric car party has been less dramatic, and somewhat clumsier. The Explorer (originally badged Explorer Sport, but the Sport bit was mysteriously dropped en route to the party) should have been on sale a year ago, but Ford held back as it was waiting for Volkswagen to make battery and electric motor improvements.
Why was Ford waiting for a big rival to make technical advancements? Because in this specific case, VW isn’t a rival to Ford, it’s a partner – Ford has decided that for its European electric models, it’s going to skip to the end and just buy VW bits under licence. So this Explorer is riding on the same MEB platform as all of the Volkswagen ID EV family, not to mention various Skodas, Audis and Cupras.
[ Skoda launches new electric Elroq SUV – a practical car with a 470L bootOpens in new window ]
It raises the odd prospect that Ford – once the bestselling brand in Ireland, a position it held for decades – is now buying in technology from a rival, at a time when it’s slipping badly in the sales charts. With no Fiesta, and shortly no Focus, the Explorer is going to have to do some heavy sales lifting for Ford in Europe.
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Is the Explorer up to the task? Well, not in terms of its looks. Styling is always very subjective of course, but the Explorer has a rather blunt-faced and bland appearance. Quite in contrast to the very handsome US-market Explorer (which is a much bigger vehicle, and which isn’t an EV) this Euro-Explorer seems almost timid, hence it quietly slipping in through the back door of the electric car party.
Having slipped in, the Explorer now finds a party that’s seemingly winding down. The music has stopped, the snacks have run out, and more car buyers are heading to the hybrid party down the street, at least for the moment. Once upon a time, Ford’s sheer brand appeal and marketing nous might have been just the tools to turn that tide around. Now though, Ford seems to be just another brand trying to convince the unconvinced where EVs are concerned.
At least the Explorer does one thing very well indeed, and it’s arguably the most important thing. It has seriously good range and efficiency. A basic Explorer is slightly more expensive than the cheapest VW ID. 4, but it has a bigger battery – VW’s own 77kWh unit – as standard, allowing it to boast a 602km range on one charge. Go slightly up the spec chart to the car we’re testing, a Premium model, and the Explorer still has a creditable 570km range.
It’s a realistic range too. In fairly mild conditions, we were easily able to get 500km out of one charge, including quite a lot of motorway cruising, and the Explorer burned through the electrons in its battery at a frugal rate of 16.7kWh/100km. Both those figures are impressive.
It’s a shame then that Ford didn’t do as good a job with the Explorer’s chassis and steering. Ford’s engineers have, since the early 1990s, been the best in the business at taking a humble family car and giving it sports-car-like reflexes. Even as production winds down, the current Ford Focus is still by far the best family hatchback to drive.
The Explorer? It’s fine, but it’s nothing special. It’s comfortable and mostly quiet (although the suspension tends to fidget slightly on anything less than a perfect surface) but the steering is too light and wispy, even in Sport mode, to be any fun at all, and that is a shock for a car with a Ford badge.
It’s not just an electric car thing, either. The Ford Mustang Mach-E is enormously good fun and properly rewarding to drive, so Ford can mix EV power with traditional driver engagement. It’s just that with the Explorer, this two hands haven’t come together.
Perhaps Ford is leaving a bit of philosophical space in its line-up for the controversially-named new Capri (which is based on the same platform as the Explorer) to be more dynamically satisfying. At least performance from the single rear-mounted 286hp electric motor is not in doubt. There’s plenty of shove, so the Explorer doesn’t lack for speed.
Because the Explorer is slightly smaller on the outside than the VW ID. 4 or the Skoda Enyaq, so too is it a little less practical. There’s space enough for four tall adults in the cabin, but the boot – at 470 litres – seems stingy when the Skoda Enyaq offers 585 litres.
The cabin itself is a little mixed. There is infuriating carry-over from VW, such as the dreadful electric window switches that control both front and rear windows from just two buttons, and touch-sensitive controls for the stereo volume. The square steering wheel also feels a little odd to hold.
The big 14.6-inch touchscreen has a Ford skin over VW software, and so unsurprisingly can be confusing and awkward to use. Ford’s own SYNC4 software, used in the Mustang Mach-E, is vastly superior. The screen does have one neat trick though – it can slide from a reclined to a A fully vertical position, and in doing so reveals a neat secure storage area behind. That combines with lots of other storage spaces to make the Explorer very practical in the cabin.
Somehow, though I don’t think the Explorer has what it takes to lift Ford back to its position of market pre-eminence. It’s a decent EV, and has excellent all-round electric performance and frugality, but it lacks the magic touch of dynamic fun that has so marked out Ford’s mainstream models for 30-some years now. Buying VW bits to speed up its European EV development was a sensible move by Ford, but sensible people don’t do well at parties, do they?
Lowdown: Ford Explorer Premium
Power: 210kW e-motor developing 286hp and 545Nm of torque, powering the rear wheels via a single-speed automatic transmission.
CO2 emissions (annual motor tax): 0g/km (€120)
Electric consumption: 14.7kWh/100km (WLTP)
Electric range: 570km (WLTP
0-100km/h: 6.4sec
Price: €48,006 as tested, Explorer starts from €43,591
Our rating: 3/5
Verdict: Impressive real-world range and efficiency, and it’s pleasant enough to drive, but where’s the sense of fun?
