The IT Nerd

The tech In the Ford Expedition is something that Ford Canada was eager to have me try. And I now get why. Even though most cars are rolling computers, Ford has created a pretty compelling package of tech for drivers to leverage.

I’m going to start with the boring stuff before I get to the really cool stuff that you want to read about.

Safety: The Expedition comes with the usual safety systems such as Reverse Brake Assist, Pre-Collision Assist with Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning, Pedestrian Protection and Dynamic Brake Support, and an array of sensors and cameras to keep you safe. That’s along with this handy feature:

Besides blind spot monitoring, when you hit the turn signal, the cameras on the mirrors get displayed on the 24″ screen. Top marks for Ford thinking of coming up with this feature.

Ford BlueCruise: Ford BlueCruise enables hands-free highway driving that helps make driving easier and more enjoyable. Let BlueCruise accelerate, brake, and handle curves, all with the touch of a button. It can even help you change lanes hands-free. I tried this about a year ago on the Mustang Mach-E but that was a very limited test. Having tried it off and on for a week on the Expedition in a variety of traffic scenarios, I can say that this is a handy feature to have. I will say that you really need to get your seating position right and be wearing the right sunglasses to make BlueCruise work properly. I say that because the system is meant to be a driver aid which means that you are required to keep your eyes on the road at all times. If you don’t, or the system can figure out if you are paying attention to the road, it gets very unhappy.

Having said that I tried it out on open roads as well as rush hour traffic. The latter is where I found myself having to jump in and take control on three occasions due to people trying to cut in front of me on the 401 or the QEW which are two of Greater Toronto’s busier highways. Could BlueCruise have handed that scenario on its own? I have no clue and I wasn’t about to find out as that might have gotten expensive.

The flip side is that on open highways the system worked flawlessly. While I wasn’t able to use on the entire drive from Toronto to Owen Sound to do hiking, I was able to use it on the first quarter of the drive out, and the last quarter of the drive back which made life a bit easier given that it was a 2 hour drive each way. The reason why I wasn’t able to use it for the full two hour drive is that this system only works on physically divided highways. Thus if you’re expecting this system to work on the school run on city streets, that’s not going to happen. If you want to go into the weeds on BlueCruise, this review that I did a year ago will help you. But keep in mind that between the time that I wrote that review to the present day, it’s gotten better and in my mind is worth having. It’s available as a one time purchase that is tied to the car, or as a yearly or monthly subscription.

Bang & Olufsen Sound System: I will just give you the specs. This vehicle came with Bang & Olufsen sound system with 22 Speakers including a Subwoofer. And my wife who is a classically trained pianist summed it up this way:

“Every musical note is crisp and clear. There is no distortion. And there is perfect clarity when it comes to vocals. Ford nailed this stereo.”

Clearly this sound system impressed my wife. It will impress you too as I can confirm that this is an amazing sound system.

Ford Digital Experience: Now this is where things really get interesting. While this vehicle does come with wireless Apple CarPlay (which is one of the better implementations of CarPlay that I have seen lately) and Android Auto, Ford also included the Ford Digital Experience which is based on Android Automotive. But with a lot of work put in by Ford to make it unique. For starters, it has 5G connectivity that allows you to not only get WiFi inside the vehicle, but you can roam in Canada and the US without an issue. Speaking of WiFi, you know that I had to do a speed test. The best speeds that I got was 56.3 Mbps down and 78.9 Mbps up. Before anyone says “my home Internet is faster than that”, consider that I did this in suburban Toronto and I might have gotten faster speeds someplace else. Also, these speeds are fast enough to allow three people to stream a 4K HDR show on Netflix and have speed for others left over to surf the Internet. I base that on this article that I researched a couple of years ago. In short, kids on their iPads on a long road trip will be just fine watching K-Pop Demon Hunters or something like that leaving mommy and daddy in peace.

Next up is the fact that it has the Google Play Store embedded in the system. While the apps are tailored for Android Automotive, which means that the apps that you want like Netflix might not be present. There’s plenty of apps for you to choose from. And you can use your existing Google account to download apps. This gets followed up by Google assistant that allows you to not only navigate using Google Maps, but it allows you to change the cabin temperature, or turn on the heated or cooled seats. All by using your voice. I guess that this segues into the fact that everything is driven from the screen and there are not many physical buttons other than some steering wheel controls that incorporate a touch pad as well as a physical press.

Normally, the fact that this vehicle lacks a lot of physical buttons would usually earn Ford some critical commentary from me as that forces people to do everything in via the screen which is tough to do at highway speed for example. But with the Ford Digital Experience, I really can’t criticize them too much. The standard stuff that you would need to do while driving can be done by voice. On top of that, Ford simply didn’t bolt this on and do the minimum work required to call it an infotainment system. They clearly worked hard to create a cohesive system that made the driving experience better and not worse. While I am not 100% sold on giving up on Apple CarPlay for this, Ford has made a compelling argument to at least consider doing so seriously. Your Ford dealer can guide you through what your subscription options are.

Fun Fact: A lot of Canadians worked to create this. So kudos to them as they have come up with something that left me impressed.

So I’ve come to the end of this review of the 2025 Ford Expedition King Ranch. While I am not the target audience for this vehicle, those who are will find a vehicle that is very capable, as well as offering a lot in terms of carrying people or storage. The interior in the vehicle that I drove this past week is top shelf. And the tech is amazing. While I did complain about the lack of buttons being a problem for me as I could not adjust HVAC controls while driving, that was it for the complaints. Ford has really knocked it out of the park with the Expedition.

Now this version of the Expedition is worth $109,955. Not cheap by any means. But Ford has versions that start at $84,815. And they have trims for every use case possible in between. Besides, the target audience for this vehicle will have no problem spending this kind of cash to get a vehicle like this. So I suspect that Ford will have no problem moving the Expedition off dealer lots.

Before I go, I should point out that a lot of the stuff that you’ve seen in this review is either in or coming to vehicles that are at price points that most of us would buy. So you can expect to see things like the Ford Digital Experience, and Blue Cruise popping up in Escapes and Explorers soon…. If they haven’t already. And that’s a very good thing for Ford buyers at all price points.

Interior wise, the Ford Expedition King Ranch is something else. Let me walk you through it and you will see why that is very quickly.

Let’s start with what the driver has to work with. And I will get this out of the way very quickly. Yes the steering wheel is oval. It was done to enhance the visibility of the driver when it comes the the upper screen of the two screens that this vehicle comes with. But this shape works as your hands are basically in a 10 and 2 position. Turning the wheel is a non issue as well. In fact, if you try this wheel out, you’ll find that you won’t be thinking about it after 15 minutes into your test drive. The driver display which is the upper screen is 24″. Meanwhile the lower display is 13.2″. Back to the steering wheel for a bit.It’s wrapped in Mesa Del Rio leather with Kingsville Stitching. Not to mention that it is heated.

The transmission is controlled by this knob on the left that has a manual mode. Said manual mode is controlled by the plus and minus buttons to the left of that knob. There’s a volume knob in the middle. And then various buttons to the right. For the record, that’s real wood and aluminum. And this is one of the few places that you will see shiny hard plastic. The fact that there is a minimal amount of shiny hard plastic earns Ford some bonus points as I truly feel that shiny hard plastic is massively overused in cars these days and is also impossible to keep clean.

There’s a cluster to the lower left that has the buttons for the different 4 wheel drive modes as opening and closing the rear hatch and the parking brake.

Now let’s move to the centre console. There’s two cupholders on the right that will hold Venti sized Starbucks coffee cups with ease. To the left, you have the control for trailer functions, a wireless charger on the right side, as well as a USB-A and USB-C port. You will notice an up and down arrow in the middle. Press the up arrow and you get this:

It slides the entire centre console and that does a bunch of things:

1. It moves the cupholders further back for second row passengers.
2. It creates extra storage space for front seat occupants.
3. It offers a semi secure space to put a bag or purse into that you can close by moving the centre console forward. And it’s only accessible when the car is on. My wife used this to put her purse into when we went on a hike in Owen Sound on the weekend.

The armrest has a rather deep storage area with a tray to hold change for parking or a pen or two.

The second row passengers have a pair of cupholders. Above those cupholders is a slot that you can put an iPad into.

The doors have pretty deep pockets in them. A water bottle will easily fit into them.

This specific trim level comes with captain’s chairs in the second row that are heated and have Del Rio Leather. They move forward and back and easily flip down. More on the flip down part in a bit. I didn’t take a picture of the front seats, but they have the same leather and are heated and cooled and are power adjustable.

There’s a pair of USB-C ports on the back of each front seat.

Between the captain’s chairs are HVAC controls for the second row passengers along with a 110V AC outlet. For the record, this vehicle has three zones for climate control.

Above you is an insanely massive sunroof.

The third row actually fits adults. I acted as the designated driver for pub night and was able to bring five people back to the respective homes with no complaints. You have to duck your head to get back there. But once you’re back there, you’re good. The seats also split 40-20-24 to allow you maximum flexibility when it comes to cargo.

The liftgate is actually in a clamshell configuration. Again, giving you the maximum amount of flexibility when it comes to cargo. Plus you can sit on the lower part as well.

Storage space behind the third row is decent but not huge. However there’s some buttons on the left side of the cargo area that can help you with that.

These buttons can help you to flip down both the third and second row. Plus there’s a lighting button on the top in case you need some extra light. And there’s a storage area there as well as some tie downs to keep you cargo from rolling around.

Flipping down the seats opens up all sorts of room for your cargo. Given that this SUV is huge, that’s a lot of cargo space that you have access to.

On the right side of the cargo area you get two USB-C ports, a 12V outlet along with a 110V outlet.

This interior is impressive. I can’t find any area where I could criticize Ford for anything. It’s truly impressive and it’s a highlight of this vehicle. But let’s see if Ford is so lucky when it comes to the tech. That’s the next part of this review and I will have a fair amount to say about the tech that the Expedition rolls up with.

Over the years I’ve reviewed a lot of vehicles. But I have to admit that this is the most difficult vehicle that I have ever reviewed. Before I get to why it was difficult to review, let’s take a look at the vehicle.

Meet the Ford Expedition. This vehicle is simply huge. And I am not the target audience for it. Why is that? This is for someone who wants a a huge vehicle that carries a lot of people, or stuff, or both. And tows a lot. That’s not me. Sure I could get my wife and I along with both our road bikes in it. But we can do that in an Explorer or even an Escape as well. Thus to properly review this, I need to climb inside the head someone who would use this vehicle for what it is intended to be used for.

This is the King Ranch edition. Which I always thought was a F150 trim level. But clearly not. You see the King Ranch influence everywhere. Including:

The wheels

The interior:

And the door sill plates. There’s more places where you see this influence, but we’d be here all day if I were to point them all out. And for what it’s worth, King Ranch is a real ranch in Texas.

A big vehicle needs a big engine. Right? Well sort of. This Expedition comes with Ford’s 3.5L V6 EcoBoost Engine. It’s mated to a 10 speed automatic transmission. This combo is good for 400 horsepower and 480 pound feet of torque. So while a lot of these body on frame SUVs come with a V8, this one has a V6. And I don’t think that this is a downgrade. Because you can tow 9000 pounds with this setup. And at no point did I feel that I lacked power to merge onto a highway or pass anything. What’s even more impressive is the fact that power is easily modulated with your right foot. The only gripe that I had was that it took me a bit to get used to braking which is able to bring this rather huge SUV to a stop very quickly should the need arise. But I suppose this is a non issue if you daily drive it.

When it comes to fuel economy, it’s not as bad as you might think. The Expedition is rated for 15.4 L/100 KM city, 10.7 L/100 KM highway, and 13.1 L/100 KM combined. I hit 13.1 L/100 KM during my week with the Expedition which was better than I was expecting.

Now this vehicle as I said is huge. And this took me some getting used to as I am coming from an SUV that is much smaller. I will not call it agile, but it had a surprisingly decent turning radius. You can also get it to change lanes in a hurry if needed on the highway without it complaining. Having said that, condo owners like me should take this vehicle off your shopping list as the height of this vehicle is close to the maximum limit of my garage. And parking it in my parking spot was to be frank, comical. I say that because what is normally a 1 minute exercise is 5 minutes with this vehicle as I was taking care to make sure I didn’t hit anything. Thus I spent a lot of time shuffling this vehicle back and forth to get it into my spot without hitting the pillar to my right, or the car to my left. Good thing that it has an array of sensors and cameras to warn you if you are getting too close to an object. That helped immensely. In terms of noise, vibration, and harshness, the Expedition is generally quiet except for tire noise. And while it does bounce if you hit a bump that a bit too big, it wasn’t anywhere near as bouncy as I was expecting it to be.

One other note:

Because this vehicle has about 9″ of ground clearance, this trim level comes with retractable running boards. And if you’re anything shorter than 5′ 5″ tall, you will need them to get in and out of the vehicle.

Tomorrow I’m going to walk you through the interior of the Expedition. But here’s a spoiler alert, it’s on another level.

I’ve written about Ford’s hands free driver assistance feature called BlueCruise before. But I was intrigued by it to such a degree that I approached Ford for the opportunity to try it out for myself. Ford not only said yes to that, but they gave me this to drive for a weekend:

This is the Ford Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle. I’m going to do a full review of it in the coming days. But for right now, I’m going to focus on BlueCruise.

What BlueCruise is designed to do is to allow the car to “sort of” drive itself in certain situations. Specifically, you have to be in what Ford calls a “Blue Zone” which is usually a divided highway that Ford has mapped out and is known to the car via having it downloaded to the car. More zones are being added all the time, so if your highway isn’t on the list, it likely will be soon. Another requirement is that the lanes on said highway need to be clearly be seen by the car’s cameras. Finally, the car via cameras inside the car need to be able to see your eyes so that it can confirm that you are paying attention to the road. That’s where the “sort of” part comes in because the car is basically driving under your supervision.

If you look above the pony on the steering wheel, but below the screen behind the steering wheel, you’ll see a rectangle. That’s where the cameras are located.

Here’s what you do to activate BlueCruise. Assuming the preconditions for BlueCruise to be available are there, and the screen turns blue and lets you know that you’re in a “Blue Zone”, hitting the cruise control button should activate it. And the first time that I tried it, it did. Then it started to complain that I wasn’t paying attention to the road that had a few beeps accompanying that message, and about a minute later the system shut off and the car beeped a lot. My wife was in the car with me at the time and it freaked her out. And this didn’t help her anxiety about being in a car that had this feature. I pulled into a parking lot and readjusted my seating position which was a tip that Ford had given me the day before via a briefing that covered BlueCruise and the Mach-E. I normally have a very upright seating position because I have a dodgy back. But I changed my setup so that I was lower than normal, and I was reclined slightly. After doing that, BlueCruise worked without an issue because it could now see my eyes.

Here’s a video that my wife took of me using BlueCruise for the first time and being completely hands free:

By the way, my wife wanted my hands on the steering wheel because she was super nervous about me driving hands free. Which I get. But we tested this out on a 218 KM drive where 85% of it was on highway 401 or highway 427 and it worked flawlessly. There were a couple of times where the system had me take control without all the beeping that I mentioned earlier. The first was on the eastbound 401 just after Milton where for reasons that I can’t discern, it had me take control just before going under an overpass. Then it re-enabled BlueCruise about 30 seconds later. The second was when a transport truck was beside me and a car was two or three car lengths in front of me. Again, the system had me take control, and then when the car in front of me exited the highway, it took over again. I am guessing that BlueCruise thought that this was a dicey situation and that it might have been better if a human took control of the car. That was interesting because when we got close to Toronto we encountered some traffic and BlueCruise was able to deal with the stop and go traffic that we had to deal with for about 10 minutes. Finally, I should mention that BlueCruise can make lane changes all by itself. Simply hit the signal and the car will do its version of a shoulder check and move left or right for you.

The one thing that I did appreciate is that when I was using BlueCruise, I was actually less stressed. I am pointing this out because going into this, I was assuming that because I had my hands off the wheel and I was using the system, I was going to be on alert the entire time. But the opposite happened the more I learned to trust the system and understand how it worked. On a long drive like a road trip, I can see how this could be be serious quality of life improvement. My wife became more comfortable with me using the system as well. Though she’s stated to me that if we owned this car, she’d never use it as she wants to be in complete control of the car at all times. Which is fair and not surprising to me as she’s never used the cruise control feature of our daily driver as she doesn’t trust that either. But I am thinking that if she had some seat time with BlueCruise in what she perceived as a “low risk” situation, she’d change her mind. Another thing that might help her to change her mind is the fact that  Consumer Reports has had BlueCruise as the top-ranked active driving assistance system twice in a row out of 17 systems tested. So if it’s good enough for Consumers Reports, it’s likely good enough for you, and her.

My only gripe about BlueCruise is the fact that I had to alter my driving position to get it to work. While doable, my back wasn’t really a fan of that position by the end of the weekend. But I’m likely an edge case in that regard. Having said that, it would be nice if Ford made the eye tracking system a bit more flexible so that I didn’t have to change my position.

Ford has given you options in terms of how you can get BlueCruise:

• Any new purchased or leased Ford vehicle will come with a 90 day trial of BlueCruise.
• There is a one-year plan which will either be included standard or as an option based on the vehicle line and trim.
• Starting on select 2025 model year vehicle lines, Ford customers can choose to upgrade to a one-time purchase at vehicle order and won’t need to activate BlueCruise again on their vehicle. And this activation will stay with the car, which adds value to the car.
• You can activate BlueCruise on a month to month basis. For example, you could activate it for a road trip and then have it turned off when you get home.

And here’s a list of Ford vehicles that BlueCruise is currently available on:

• Ford Explorer
• Ford Expedition
• Ford F-150
• F-150 Lightning
• Mustang Mach-E

My verdict is that if you’re looking at a Ford vehicle, you should try out BlueCruise. I think that once you try it and trust it, you’ll find it an indispensable aid when you’re in the car for long periods of time.