Driven: 2025 Ford Explorer Active – Changing the Narrative on America's Best-Selling SUV

As far as mid-cycle refreshes go, this one's got all the impact that Ford could've possibly hoped for. Both inside and out, the 2025 Explorer looks and feels like far more than a civilianized cop car. Had you not known any better, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's an all-new model. Ford was gracious enough to lend us a 2025 Explorer Active for a little over a week to see how things have changed. Though it's technically the base model, Ford went to considerable lengths to make sure it doesn't feel like one.

Impressions right off the bat when my test example arrived were just how different the refreshed 2025 Explorer looked from the outside. Compared to the universally recognizable cop-like front end of civilian Explorers of old, the new, beefed-up front grille with updated styling lines looks unique enough to distinguish itself from what it looked like just one model year ago. Remember when people gave Rolls-Royce grief for front grilles looking like flat-screen TVs? Nowadays, Ford is using similar energy to fundamentally change the public perception around their bread-and-butter SUV.

Even from the tail-end, where mid-cycle refreshes often get overlooked, the updated taillights and styling lines around the rear hatch area make for a car that won't scare you half to death on the highway out of fear you're about to get pulled over. Of course, a bespoke police pursuit variant of the refreshed Explorer will likely be made available in the near future. But for the moment, the 2025 edition has a remarkably different aura about it than what we've become used to over the last decade or so.

A similar change also found its way inside the cabin. If you're familiar with how imprecise and clunky Explorers of old typically were, that initial pull of the driver's door has a fair amount of heft behind it that feels premium. Better still, the Vapor Blue exterior color and 20-inch nickel-plated aluminum wheels look and feel high-class even at the entry price point. Inside, you'll find the interior of the Explorer Active doesn't feel like a base model either.

Right off the bat, the Activex synthetic vegan leather Ford uses in their mid-range trucks and SUVs feels plush and comfortable well beyond their price point. It's part of the Explorer Active comfort package that includes the fancy seat covers, a power-adjustable passenger seat to match the driver, plus a heated steering wheel and remote-start capability, among a few other niceties.

The Space Gray color choice might've been a bit bland, but I was pleasantly surprised by how robust and sturdy the side bolstering on this seat felt. I found these seats to be a real treat in the crucial areas of lower back support. The Activex-wrapped steering wheel feels great in your hands around turns, and the 13.2-inch LCD touchscreen infotainment system was crisp, clear, and surprisingly easy to use. You'll be using this screen quite a lot in the new Explorer because the HVAC controls and its various modes are accessible only via a section of the screen at the bottom of the center display.

This is probably the weakest point of the entire interior. But, in fairness, it's not an affliction that hasn't found its way into other OEMs either. So, it's not a design choice we feel comfortable digging at Ford specifically for. Meanwhile, the 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster is crisp, clear, and configurable in a manner that's understandable to real human beings, not just tech bros. It’s while playing around with these various menus that I found the center screen can also play YouTube videos while parked.

Android and iOS connectivity are, of course, standard issues.There's also an in-house developed navigation suite available if that's more your thing. USB connectivity is ample and plentiful, with no less than eight Type-A and Type-C ports spread throughout all three rows of seating. On long, potentially multi-family road trips an Explorer might be tasked with, that's a showstopper of a figure on par with engine horsepower. Trust us, we'll get to that part soon. But in the meantime, the second and third-row spaces are about what you'd expect, 39 inches of legroom in the second row and 32.2 in the third.

So to say, it's a little less useless at transporting adults in the rear than other three-row SUVs. But, for the small children most likely to occupy these seats, the space out back should be more than enough. Add it all up, and the interior of a 2025 Explorer is a million miles better than any since the model entered production nearly 35 years ago. It serves as a fitting chariot for the remarkably interesting engine under the hood.

If your last perception of the Explorer is one of a brutish brick on wheels with a high-displacement V6 or even a V8, the 2025 Explorer Active's engine is going to blow your mind. It's a 2.3-liter turbocharged EcoBoost four-cylinder jetting a healthy 300 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque while paired to a ten-speed automatic transmission. It's the same four-pot you'll find in the entry-level Ford Mustang, albeit with a tune for higher horsepower.

What this means in everyday driving is a roughly 4,500-lb SUV with a 119-inch wheelbase can whisp to 60 mph in 6.8 seconds and tow 5,000 lbs comfortably. It's also brutish and burley sounding in a way four-cylinder engines almost never are; it really does sound like half a V8 under load.
On short parkway on-ramps where even moderately quick cars need to sprint at full chat to merge safely, this little EcoBoost gives you all the command a big V8 used to provide.

The steering and braking feel are light and soft thanks to the typically over-boosted power steering and gigantic brakes that all big SUVs have to some degree. You won't be flinging an Explorer around curves with reckless abandon, but the four-wheel drive system optioned on the example we tested keeps this behemoth tidy through the bends at moderate speeds.

Fuel economy isn't terrible, considering how huge the Explorer has always been. 27 MPGs on the highway and 20 in the city in this configuration is in line with the Explorer's non-hybrid competition. Those who opt for a rear-wheel drive example can expect around one MPG extra in the city and on the highway; nothing to write home about, but not egregiously pitiful either. But if you don't feel like using all of your brain power on a long drive, Ford's BlueCruise semi-autonomous driver assist feature can do some of the work for you.

By enabling the Explorer's adaptive cruise control and keeping your hands on the wheel, BlueCruise effortlessly maintains control over the vehicle through automatic changes in steering and throttle input. It's not a perfect system by any means; there were one or two times we caught it slipping off and drifting into the opposite lane before manual input put a stop to it. However, the implications of such a capable driver assistant on long road trips speak for themselves.

Around 100,000 miles of American roads are currently approved by Ford to be driven hands-free via its Active Drive Assist feature. But better still, it doesn't overpromise and underdeliver like Tesla's Autopilot. BlueCruise is the halo feature of a Ford Co-Pilot360 technology suite that's up there with some of the better ones in the business. Truthfully, the 2025 Explorer's driver-aide suite felt far less invasive and annoying than other systems we've tested recently.

You almost can't hear the engine stop/start system while in heavy traffic. The backup camera was very high-fidelity, and the blindspot detection and lane keep assist intervened when they had to while staying quiet most of the time. Every once in a while, this suite of gadgets might countersteer slightly against your steering input. But you're bound to run into this at least once with modern driver assistant technology from any brand. If it's a bother, these systems can be toggled on or off in the vehicle settings menu or a strip of buttons beneath the center screen.

After around ten days to really get to see how the 2025 Explorer Active ticks, it was nothing short of stunning to see how far the Explorer's come in nearly 40 years. Compared to models of the past, this recent refresh is nothing short of transformative. But you can't just compare a current Explorer to examples from history. Compared to its contemporary rivals, the Explorer is flanked by hoards of SUVs with similar levels of features. The Hyundai Palisade, Volkswagen Atlas, and Honda Pilot immediately come to mind.

Further, you had better change engine fluids religiously to keep that high-revving, direct-injected, high-stressed four-cylinder engine buried under the Explorer Active from failing. That's not necessarily Ford's fault, shoving tiny engines in large cars is an industry-wide practice now. Still, you don't want to be on the receiving end of long lapses in oil changes. For the amount of money you're spending, you better protect the investment.

Speaking of money, it's worth noting that the Explorer Active's base MSRP of $41,755 puts it right in line with even more stiff competition. Even more so with $4,970 worth of optional extras as it came equipped for us. At this price, you're getting into Audi Q5 and Mercedes-Benz GLB territory. You do get two more seats in the Explorer than a Q5 or a standard-spec GLB, plus a suite of features roughly on par even with more up-scale, boutique SUVs from strictly luxury brands.

If holistic improvements in refinement that Ford's customers can look at, feel, and touch were the objective of 2025's Explorer refresh, they've pulled it off and then some. It's tough to say whether you should buy one over a Palisade, 4-Runner, or even a long-wheelbase Jeep Grand Cherokee. We certainly can't wait to get our hands on the Explorers competitors to better understand how it currently stacks up. But on its own, the 2025 Explorer Active proves America's oldest four-door SUV still deserves its slice of the market it helped found.