2025 Ford Explorer Platinum AWD First Test: A Candidate for Most Improved?

We’re not in the habit of handing out dozens of vehicle awards each year, but if we were, the 2025 Ford Explorer would be the odds-on favorite for “most improved.” When the sixth-generation Explorer arrived back in 2020, we panned it for its unrefined ride, poor engine tuning, dated technology, and cheap build quality. Much has changed for the better, however, with the refreshed the 2025 Ford Explorer. The Platinum AWD model we just drove represents a marked improvement over previous Explorers, turning it from an also-ran to a three-row family SUV that’s more than worthy of consideration.

What’s New for the 2025 Explorer

While the Explorer has undergone plenty of positive changes, the song remains the same under the hood (well, unless you’re looking for the hybrid option, which is now only available on Explorer police cars). Its carryover engine options are gas only, namely the 300-hp 2.3-liter turbo-four, or in the case of our luxeish Explorer Platinum, the more powerful 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 that produces 400 hp and 415 lb-ft of torque. Both are also paired to the same 10-speed automatic, which, unlike most three-row SUVs in its segment, powers the rear wheels. All-wheel drive is of course an option (equipped on our test vehicle) for $2,000 extra.

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Much like a home flip, Ford spent sparingly but smartly, gussying up the Explorer where it would make the biggest difference. New grille and wheel treatments telegraph the changes outside (though as our photographer noted when we pulled up to our shoot, “I thought you were a cop”), but inside is where the most drastic and impactful updates were made. All 2025 Explorers get a redesigned dashboard, a new, 13.2-inch Ford Digital Experience infotainment display, and on higher-spec models like our Explorer Platinum, Ford’s BlueCruise hands-free advanced driver assist system. Ford also invested heavily in redesigning the center stack and console, improving materials quality and trim mixtures.

How It Drives

Based on our time behind the wheel of the new 2025 Explorer Platinum, we suspect that instead of revamping engine power, for example, Ford engineers decided to dedicate much of their time to improving the overall refinement of the family SUV’s powertrain and chassis.

While most Explorer drivers—save your local sheriff—won’t care about this SUV’s outright performance numbers, they’re nevertheless impressive for the class. Bearing in mind that a quicker Explorer ST with the same powertrain exists (stay tuned for that test), the Explorer Platinum accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in a brisk 5.9 seconds and clears the quarter mile in 14.5 seconds at 95.4 mph. That’s quicker than just about anything in the class, save for EVs like the Kia EV9 and hot rods such as its Explorer ST sibling and Durango Hellcat. Its closest competitor would be the Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid Max, which matches the Explorer’s 0–60-mph time but trails it in the quarter mile, needing 14.7 seconds at 93.5 mph.

The Explorer Platinum brakes and handles well for the class, too. It stops from 60 mph in 126 feet, and it lapped our figure-eight handling course in a respectable 26.7 seconds at 0.68 g average. This V-6-powered Explorer also posts respectable fuel economy figures, netting an EPA-estimated 18/25/21 mpg city/highway/combined. That trails the range-topping Grand Highlander Hybrid Max’s 20/26/22 mpg score by a hair while also matching or besting many of the competitors in the segment, including the Chevrolet Traverse and Kia Telluride.

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There’s nothing outright exciting about the Explorer Platinum, but driving it on the same roads where the pre-refresh version finished dead last in a comparison test with the rest of the class really highlights the improvements to the 2025 model. The throttle response from the V-6 is smooth, with a glut of low-end torque that makes the Ford leap forward off the line or past slower traffic effortlessly. The transmission tuning is likewise much improved, with the 10-speed automatic working nearly imperceptivity in the background. There are no paddle shifters to be found in this version of the Explorer, but we could goad the Ford into downshifts by switching into Sport mode or shifting the transmission into low on long descending grades.

The Explorer also excels as a family vehicle thanks to its overall ride quality. Given its relatively long wheelbase, pitch, roll, and dive are minimized while accelerating, cornering, or braking, and the suspension itself does a great job of smoothing out harsher impacts and secondary shaking over rough pavement. The only negative we experienced was the Explorer Platinum’s stylish 21-inch footwear, which sometimes exacerbated issues over speed bumps and potholes.

From a driver assistance standpoint, although it’s not as humanlike in its operation as GM’s Super Cruise, the Ford BlueCruise hands-free system is a solid setup that helps ease the monotony of heavy stop-and-go highway traffic and routine interstate travel. There were a couple of small downsides, however. We found that in more complicated urban highway environments BlueCruise tended to be overly cautious, leading to slower automatic lane changes and sometimes being cut off by more decisive traffic.

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Inside the New Explorer

The Explorer is already among the roomier three-row SUVs in its class, and that doesn’t change here. The second-row seats are spacious and comfortable for adults, with beefy armrests, and further benefit from overhead HVAC vents, power ports, and cupholders. The third row, which requires occupants to climb over a small driveshaft hump, is shallow and flat, with low, child-sized armrests and a hard cushion. Adults won’t be happy back here, but elementary-school-aged children will fit just fine. On the plus side, parents will appreciate the easy ingress and egress to the third row, and the easily cleanable hard plastic sides.

Up front, the loaded Explorer Platinum’s comfortable and supportive quilted leather seats are the nicest in the house, with heating, cooling, and massage functions. The redesigned dashboard looks and feels upscale, too, with a creative mix of cloth, metallic, wood, plastic, and leather accents that lend the cabin a premium feel. The new infotainment system is snappy and responsive, and (for an internal combustion-engine-powered vehicle, at least) it features novel apps like YouTube. We’re particularly fond of the metallic lip beneath the screen to rest your hand on for ease of operation, as well as the massive wireless phone charging shelf directly below the infotainment display.

Is the 2025 Ford Explorer Platinum Worth It?

With average new car prices approaching $50,000, the $61,740 Explorer Platinum comes off as something of a value proposition. It undercuts rivals like the GMC Acadia Denali by a few thousand dollars, and it offers more advanced infotainment and driver assist systems than slightly cheaper models such as the Honda Pilot Elite or Mazda CX-90 3.3 Turbo S Premium Plus.

More than anything, the 2025 Explorer finally stands out not for what it doesn’t do, but for what it does. Now where's that Most Improved trophy?