2020 Ford Explorer Review: Setting the Benchmark for American SUVs

Ford could have waited another year to launch a completely re-designed Explorer, and thus make a big fuss over it being the 30th anniversary of the nameplate that arguably got the four-door, family-focused SUV segment rolling in earnest. The fact that they didn’t is just one of the many ways Ford is showing they’ve not only listened to customer feedback, but are acting on it as well. The outgoing fifth-generation Explorer was a run-of-the-mill crossover using a front-wheel-drive-based layout; the sixth-generation model, however, returns to a rear-wheel-drive-based layout. This brings with it a number of benefits, such as improved overall balance and handling, towing capacity and interior volume. By retaining unibody construction while switching to the rear-wheel-drive layout, customers get the best of both worlds: a capable SUV that’s as easy to drive as a midsize car.

The Good: First and foremost, the 2020 model is the best-looking Explorer Ford has built. Regardless of whether you opt for the Base, XLT, Limited, Limited Hybrid, ST or Platinum, you get nicely sculpted sheet metal, with thoughtful variations on the theme by model. A well-equipped base model with seating for seven and the standard, comparatively strong 2.3-liter turbocharged inline-four engine sets the tone for the 2020 Explorer line. The smallest engine’s quality is bolstered by the smooth shifting 10-speed automatic, but that transmissions shines brighter when paired with the high-output variant of Ford’s EcoBoost 3.0-liter V-6 found in the sporty ST.

The transmission does a great job slowing the vehicle when towing a trailer, and even offers a low first-gear ratio that does a decent job mimicking a traditional 4WD vehicle’s low-range when Trail, Sand or Snow mode is selected. In fact, the Explorer is far more capable off-road than one would expect just looking at it, thanks to a short front overhang and decent departure angles.

Who It’s For: Putting visions of a Baja-spec Explorer Raptor aside, it’s easy to understand who Ford is angling to bring into the fold here. Families of various sizes and ages are the main target, especially those that often leave near-urban environments in search of rural getaways. The return to a rear-wheel-drive platform also signals that Ford wants the boat and camper crowd back, as well as the weekend warriors who might have a vintage Mustang that needs a lift to a track day. (Visions of an Explorer ST towing a Grabber Blue ‘71 Boss 302 seem delightful.)

Watch Out For: Base and Limited models are competitively priced with their competition, but there’s some standard equipment missing in the active safety system department. This has long been an underlying issue with Ford, who is as adept at serving up a la carte options as any German automaker. As a result, the price of an Explorer can easily rise from its published starting point.

Interior materials in the Limited and Platinum models don’t exactly live up to their names. Base, XLT and ST models were satisfactory, if not impressive; however, in the more upscale models, I wondered why certain touchpoints were not softer, covered with better leather or made with noticeably higher quality hard materials.

Alternatives: Toyota Highlander ($31,680), Honda Pilot ($31,450), Dodge Durango ($30,195), Chevy Traverse ($29,930)

Review: While I spent time behind the wheel of each of the six new Explorer models — on pavement and off, towing and unburdened, in RWD and AWD specs — it was the Explorer ST that seemed the most worthy of praise.  Compared to the Edge ST, which was little more than the application of a badge to an old platform, the Explorer ST is a dramatically better vehicle.

With 400 horsepower on tap, it’s fast — but more importantly, it feels fast, not an easily-accomplished feat with a three-row SUV. More surprising than the sensation of speed is how it goes around corners so nicely, without any sense that you’re battling the weight of the damn thing. Happily, the balance of purpose is maintained, so even with 21-inch wheels and a sport suspension, the ST’s remains plenty comfortable. The chunky steering wheel specific to the ST is yet another welcome surprise, and a joy to hold onto. There are purpose-built sports cars that don’t have tillers this good, let alone myriad crossovers and SUVs with sporting aspirations.

All that being said, every Ford employee I spoke with about how the Explorer ST spoke about how they sought to go beyond past Explorers in terms of sportiness, while still retaining all the traditional qualities of a family-friendly SUV. Take the front seats, for example –truly some of the best I’ve parked my butt in lately, in terms of comfort. The three-way adjustable independent lumbar support is a clear indication that Ford expects drivers to spend extended periods of time in the seat, while the six different massage options drive that point home — and embarrass a number of luxury automakers. Those folks hoping for deeply bolstered chairs like those from the Fiesta and Focus ST may be disappointed at the lack of lateral support and adjustable bolsters would be a nice option, but that remains a rarity in this segment, particularly with domestic automakers.

The use of interior space is highly efficient; from passenger seating to cargo storage, I couldn’t find any missed opportunities to make the cabin more comfortable or accommodating. There’s reconfigurable storage at the rear, the requisite power fold-flat seating and stash spots throughout — all of what you’d expect in a vehicle in this class, but all one quite right. The center armrest storage proved quite useful for holding my full-frame mirrorless digital camera and its large lens and battery grip, allowing quick access while letting me keep my camera bag secured in the back. The wireless charging mat that sits at an angle at the rear of the center console was also much appreciated. It’s a much better solution than having it take up space inside the armrest, where far too much transmission heat gets trapped, potentially damaging your device.

The giant vertically-mounted 10.1-inch tablet that anchors the dash may be off-putting to some, but it fits with the rest of the design and operates smoothly. Let’s face it, there’s not much more you can ask of an infotainment system; screens rarely beautiful, but they’ve become necessary in vehicles over the past decade, so surely we can all appreciate a thoughtful approach when we see it.

Perhaps that’s the best way to sum up not only the ST, but the new Explorer overall. Nobody is going to call it beautiful, but it’s not hard to find attractive qualities inside and out. Certainly, a lot of thought went into it — thought guided by lessons learned from past mistakes. The result is a vehicle that’s more than the sum of its parts.

Verdict: By considering what’s underneath all the metal and leather, you can understand what an undertaking redesigning the Explorer was for the folks at Ford — and how important it was to them to bring their A-game. The brand’s line of trucks and SUVs are certainly their standard-bearers and the Mustang will remain an icon for all-time, but the Explorer nameplate carries weight too — especially with Eighties babies who remember a T. rex eye appearing through the window of one in Jurassic Park. Perhaps for the first time since it was a boxy body-on-frame SUV, the Explorer is worthy of more than a passing glance, much of that due to excellent powertrains and thoughtful packaging. Ford finds themselves on solid ground with the first year of the sixth-generation Explorer, and they should be in good shape for the future if they continue to incorporate the best aspects of their past.

2020 Ford Explorer ST Specs

Price as Tested: $55,835
Powertrain: 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6, 10-speed automatic, all-wheel-drive
Horsepower: 400
Torque: 418 pound-feet
0-60 MPH: 5.5 seconds

Ford hosted us and provided this product for review.

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2019 Ferrari Portofino Review: Every Bit a Ferrari In the Ways That Matter

The Ferrari California never received the respect it deserved. Yes, it was somewhat of a shameless attempt to steal buyers who would otherwise have bought up a Bentley Continental GT or a Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG. Sure, the elevated rear beltline necessitated by its retractable hardtop kind of made it look like it took fashion cues from Steve Urkel. And yeah, the front end bore a “cannot unsee” resemblance to a praying mantis. But it was still a Ferrari, though — with a resonant V8 under the hood and a steering rack tuned by angels.

Maranello isn’t a place where people succeed by letting mediocre product stink up the showroom, though. The carmaker’s first crack at redoing the Cali involved a thorough facelift and the brand’s first turbocharged engine in decades (a motor that would go on to ooze into four-fifths of the lineup, as well as down the road to Maserati HQ), along with a big “T” appended to its West Coast moniker. It was faster; it was prettier; sales picked up. But it still never seemed to quite mesh with the rest of the lineup.

So Ferrari balled the California up, hurled it through the Nerf basketball hoop into the wastebin of history, and started with a clean sheet of paper to produce the Portofino. The car is new, but the mission brief hasn’t changed: Deliver a Ferrari that’s approachable enough to woo boulevardiers who generally prefer soft cruiser convertibles without losing the spirit of the brand in the process.

The Good: Uh, it’s a Ferrari. It turns, goes and stops with a verve other cars can match, but never replicate; every moment spent behind the wheel attacking a road has a tinge of magic to it. It responds to your inputs with a directness not found in most cars. It helps make even regular commutes a little less ordinary.

On a more practical note: It has one of the most intuitive, driver-focused cockpits on sale. The steering wheel feels almost aeronautical in its multifunctional efficiency, with all the controls needed for the actual act of driving are within a hand’s breadth of 9 and 3: drive modes, wipers, high beams, shifters, suspension softener and start button. Secondary controls you’ll use often — volume, cruise control, IP info panel, headlight switch — are on the dashboard, but mere inches away from your hands. Beyond that are a pair of widescreen displays that, while a bit laggy, offer plenty of physical controls for the important tasks and touchscreen capability for the rest.

Who It’s For: Enthusiasts seeking an open-top grand tourer that’s more entertaining to drive than the average convertible; wealthy showboats who simply want the image conferred by the badge.

Watch Out For: A lack of trunk space — which isn’t all that surprising for a Ferrari, but is for a gran turismo. The carmaker claims 10.3 cubic feet of trunk space, which is technically true, but only if you’re storing unpackaged Cool Whip. Folded down, the top occupies a good chunk of space, leaving an open box below it large enough for a rollaboard or a couple of backpacks. Even with the top up, there’s a firm box designed to block off the folding-top-safe luggage space that prevents you from sliding larger items in there with ease. Hey, Ferrari also claims it’s a four-seater, but that second row is only good for small woodland creatures. Throw your bags back there instead. (Just make sure there’s nothing in those bags that’s temperature-sensitive, because they’ll cook in the sun.)

Also, on a moral note: Yes, Ferrari buyers view money differently than most of us, but charging $4,219 for Apple CarPlay is absurd.

Alternatives: Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet ($203,000); Aston Martin DB11 Volante ($219,581); Bentley Continental GT Convertible ($218,350); Mercedes-AMG SL65 ($154,450)

Review: I will fully admit to being a tad underwhelmed at the sight of the Portofino when it rolled up in front of our Fifth Avenue office on a rainy weekday. Sure, the off-menu red paint crackled, and with the top up to keep out the rain, it looked close enough to the heartbreaking 812 Superfast to confuse even our auto-obsessed deputy photo editor. But the thought kept poking out of the back of my brain: Does this really look as grabby as a Ferrari ought to?

Then I climbed inside, and before I could even adjust my mirrors, a trio teenage girls began snapping pictures in front of the car. Never underestimate the appeal of that damn Prancing Horse.

That said, it may be every bit a Ferrari to The Average Joe, but T.A.G. might find himself a little bit unimpressed when he engages it in a stoplight grand prix with his Trackhawk. It’s not slow, mind you; activate the launch control (it’s the round button marked “PS” on the shift arch), and it’ll crack off the 0-to-60-mile-per-hour dash in a claimed 3.5 seconds. But in an era where sub-three second 0-60 times are becoming shockingly common in the six-figure sports car realm, the Portofino feels almost ordinary off the line.

Some of that stems from the engine’s output of 591 horsepower and 560 pound-feet of torque, which, to keep it in horse-themed car terms, sits closer to the Shelby GT350 than the GT500; some of it also stems from the way Ferrari tuned the engine’s power delivery, deliberately moderating the torque in lower gears to smooth out the transition when the turbos spool up. The flip side, however, comes in the engine’s tractability: You can hear the turbos coming online more than you feel the change in power delivery; it just comes across as a building shove, building and building to the low-for-a-Ferrari 7,500-rpm redline.

Still, only the uninitiated think F-cars are about pure straight-line speed. Old Man Enzo’s heart lay in road racing, not drag racing; his cars are made to carry speed through turns as much as they are to gain it in the first place. The steering is quicker, the brakes bite harder right away than you’d expect from a grand tourer; that’s the inherent Ferrari-ness shining through. But once you’re dialed into how taut everything from your fingertips through the body to the suspension is, it becomes as easy to drive as a Miata.

Ferrari was one of the first automakers to integrate magnetorheological dampers in their suspension, and their time has been well-spent; the shock absorbers blot up imperfections with luxury-car grace in Comfort mode. (That is to say, the grace of modern luxury cars, which tend to ride on wheels as large as or larger than the 20-inch rims on my Portofino, and often on tires as aggressive as its Pirelli P Zeros.) Hit a patch of rough road after you’ve snapped the manettino switch from Comfort to Sport, and you can tap a small blue button near your thumb to shift the dampers back to bumpy-road mode. It’s a handy feature, though given the Portofino’s mission brief, you could probably just leave the dampers at their softest all the time; it’s not as though the car rolls like the Andrea Doria on winding roads in that setup.

Whether you’re hoofing it along the back roads or loping down the highway, you’ll want to use the paddle shifters. The seven-speed dual clutch’s automatic mode works fine enough for puttering around town, but unlike, say, Porsche’s brilliant PDK, it’s not made to outwit a clever driver. It’s there to make the tedious parts of life a little less boring, not to remove you from one of the essential tasks of driving altogether. You could have bought a Mercedes, the car seems to be saying, but you didn’t. You bought a Ferrari. Now own it. 

Verdict: With the all-wheel-drive hatchback GTC4Lusso occuping showroom space alongside it, the Portofino is effectively the last traditional grand tourer Ferrari makes — heir to a legacy that stretches back to the 1940s. That was true of the California, too, but unlike that awkward machine, the Portofino seems worthy of carrying that torch. It wouldn’t be my first pick amongst Ferraris, nor likely yours. But it might be at the top of the gran turismo convertible list, especially for anyone who really loves to drive.

2019 Ferrari Portofino Key Specs

Powertrain: 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8; seven-speed dual-clutch automatic; rear-wheel-drive
Horsepower: 591
Torque: 560 pound-feet
0-60 MPH: 3.5 seconds (manufacturer’s estimate)
Top Speed: 199 mph
Price as Tested: $284,962

Ferrari provided this product for review.

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Now’s the Time to Buy the Last Cheap Porsche 911

Obvious fact alert: Porsche 911s aren’t cheap. They’re not cheap when new, certainly — the just-announced base model of the latest 992-generation 911 starts at $97,400 — and they’re increasingly becoming pricey on the used market, as well. The 993-generation has long commanded a premium, thanks to its status as the last of the “classic” air-cooled 911s; that desire for the purity of retro rides has also driven the prices of other earlier 911s higher in the last couple decades. Likewise, the 997-generation 911 that’s arguably the first truly modern example of the breed still holds its value well, and the outgoing 991-generation still holds its value well enough to put it out of reach of bargain hunters.

But there’s one generation of Porsche 911 that remains a bargain: the 996.

As we’ve discussed before, the 996 — built from 1997 to 2006 — has been maligned for quite a reasons, starting with its water-cooled flat-six and its runny-egg headlights and continuing through its lackluster interior. But these are the sorts of quibbles that are easy to make when a new car winds up being a massive deviation from an iconic predecessor (or, alternatively

Here in 2019, with close to two decades between us and the 996, many of those complaints seem to be missing the forest for the trees. It still has that iconic silhouette, it still has the engine in the back, it still makes that coarse boxer roar when you mat the gas, and it still puts a smile on its driver’s face when he or she tosses it through a turn. It’s still a Porsche 911.

And while the prices of pretty much every 911 — and hell, even other less-respected Porsches — have been blasting skyward, 996 values have been flying nap-of-the-earth. A quick look at Bring a Trailer reveals that, of the 280 examples of the generation to hit the auction site over the years, the vast majority have sold for less than $30,000 — a price that puts it in league with a VW GTI or Honda Civic Si. And many cars are far cheaper.

This blue beauty, a 2001 Porsche 911 Carrera with 61,000 miles and a six-speed manual? It sold for $19,996 in mid-June.

This silver Carrera, with an admittedly-intimidating 115K on the clock but still looking almost as good as new? $16,485 at auction.

This stick-shift black ’99 Carrera with 82,000 miles? It went for $17,400 earlier this month.

Fancy something in a droptop? This Carrera Cabriolet has a six-speed manual, an iconic color combo of silver exterior and red interior, and 74,000 miles on the odometer. Selling price? $23,000.

Prefer an automatic for the daily commute? You’re kind of a dweeb, but here’s a tasty Carrera 4S coupe with the Turbo-look widebody, a five-speed Tiptronic and 65,000 miles that sold for $27,000.

Willing to spend a little more for a choice example of the breed? This blue Carrera coupe has just 36,000 miles on the odometer, spent its whole life in the Sunbelt, and sold for $29,650.

Granted, buying a used car of any type carries with it risks, and that goes double for a Porsche; repair bills can run high. But the 996’s pain points are well-known at this point — you’ll want to make sure the IMS bearing is upgraded on high-mileage examples, for example — and the deep bench of knowledgeable enthusiasts found online on sites like Rennlist make it easier than ever to avoid problems.

If you’re feeling the itch, there are several 996 Porsche 911 Carreras currently on the block at BaT, including this stripped-down black beauty and a one-owner Carrera 4S with a stick shift. (In fact, the silver Carrera seen above is up for sale again.) But don’t wait too long to scratch. With Porsche’s plans filled with computer-aided performance machines and futuristic electric cars, it’s only a matter of time before the market for 996s starts heating up.