The IT Nerd

Having driven a 2012 Ford Explorer and a 2011 Ford Focus recently, I’ve had a good look at two versions of the MyFord Touch infotainment system. The Focus had the older system and I have to admit that I was far from impressed with it. The Explorer had the newer version of the system which worked much better than the in the Focus. So clearly, the system in the Explorer had had the update that I have spoke of previously. It’s making it’s way into the hands of existing owners and 2013 model year Ford products will have the system pre-installed.

Here’s what existing Ford owners and 2013 model year Ford owners can expect from the update.

First, existing owners will the these items in the mail from Ford:

The mailing will include a USB flash drive with the updated software, a notification letter, detailed instructions for the 60-minute download, and an updated user guide.  Navigation-equipped vehicle owners also will receive an updated SD card with all-new, updated map data. Users can do the update themselves or take it to their local Ford dealer to have it done for them.

Now, what will you see after the update? For starters, the interface is much cleaner and simpler than before. Here’s a few examples (click on the pictures to enlarge them):

The image of the old user interface is on the left. The updated interface is the one on the right. You’ll see that the updated interface is cleaner and clearer. This makes the system much easier to use. Here’s another example:

You’ll see that the new navigation system on the right has much cleaner graphics and makes it easy to see where you are at a glance and what’s ahead and around you. Now let us look at phone interface:

Again, you’ll see the phone interface on the right is less busy and very clear. Finally, let us look at the radio:

Once again, you see how clear and easily to understand the interface is.

I’ve also noticed that the voice recognition was significantly better and the system seems to be faster than what I originally experienced with the Focus. If you want to see what I had to report, you should check out parts 5 and 6 of my Ford Explorer review. Was it perfect? No. I had some issues with my Blackberry and bluetooth. But it was a superior experience than in the Focus.

Here’s the bottom line: If you have a Ford vehicle with MyFord Touch, you need to do this upgrade. You’ll have a much better experience with the system. If you’re buying a 2013 model year Ford, you’ll get the system right out of the gate. Either way, you’ll leverage the fact that this system is fully upgradable in every respect. Thus issues get ironed out, and new technology (such as the latest smartphones) gets incorporated quickly.

Based on how Ford is going about this current upgrade to MyFord Touch, they seem to be very aggressive about making sure this update into as many hands as possible. That’s a good thing and kudos Ford for doing that. Clearly Ford knows that MyFord Touch will influence the purchasing decisions of a lot of car buyers now and in the future, and they know that they have to get the system right. From what I can tell, they’ve got that part nailed down.

So, I’m at the end of this review. I’ll cut to the chase. For the most part, I feel that Ford has got a winner on it’s hands here. The Ford Explorer Limited with Ecoboost is a vehicle that gives you all the usefulness of an SUV with a minimal gas penalty. My average fuel consumption for the week was 11.9L/ 100km in mixed city, back road and highway driving. Impressive by any standard. The interior is well put together and has a ton of nice features like the power fold down third row seating. The tech in this vehicle such as MyFord Touch, blind spot monitoring, cross traffic alerts, and MyKey are cutting edge. Not only that, they for the most part enhance the driving experience. It drives well and it has the power that you need for a vehicle of this size.

There’s some loose ends that I’d like to address. They are:

• This vehicle has the Easy Fuel system. There’s no gas cap which makes refueling the vehicle a snap. Not only that, it’s self sealing. If you’ve ever had a check engine light because you didn’t tighten the fuel cap, you’ll love this feature.
• Speaking of fuel, despite the fact that this is a turbocharged engine, you can fill up with regular gas. With gas prices the way they are, that’s a very welcome touch.
• There are automatic headlights in this vehicle. When it gets dark, the vehicle will turn the headlights on for you. But unlike other vehicles that I’ve driven that have this feature (and I’m thinking of GM and Toyota when I type this), you can disable the system and turn the lights on and off yourself. Not only that, if you want to turn the lights off at night with the engine running, you can. I’ve driven GM and Toyota products that force you to shut the car off to turn off the headlights. Perhaps they need to copy what Ford has done as they’re doing automatic headlights the way they’re meant to be done.
• The cupholders in the vehicle are a bit of a #fail if you have a travel mug with a handle. Several travel mugs with handles that I tried don’t fit properly. My Toyota Matrix has cut outs that allow these sorts of mugs to fit just fine. If however you only get your coffee from Starbucks in disposable cups, this is a non-issue.
• I figured out what the issue was with playing music via Bluetooth from my Blackberry. Once connected, you have to choose the song or playlist from the Blackberry music app as it will randomly just play anything. MyFord Touch simply allows you to turn the music via Bluetooth  on and off. Not the worst thing in the world, but not exactly ideal. Another thing is that the behavior of music via Bluetooth was very inconsistent. Sometimes, I’d play a song on my Blackberry and I wouldn’t hear anything inside the Explorer. Sometimes, I would play a song and I would hear it but I would not get any artist and track info on the screen. Sometimes I would play a song and it will play and I will see the artist and track info, which I imagine would be the expected behavior. Disabling and enabling Bluetooth on the phone enough times would often get you to a point where things would more or less work. Clearly some work needs to be done by Ford on this front.
• One thing that I didn’t really touch on was the ability to use your phone via MyFord Touch. I have to admit that it works quite well and the quality of the audio when making and receiving calls was great. You can also send and receive text messages via MyFord Touch as well. However, when you send a text message, the system tacks on the “This SMS sent from my Ford” signature to every sent text message. My wife found this to be very annoying and I was unable to figure out how to disable this. If you can’t disable this (because surely there must be some way to disable this), then that’s a #fail.
• Whomever designed the backup camera and cross traffic alerts needs to get a raise. This is a feature that needs to be on every vehicle on the road as it makes the experience of backing out of a parking space less stressful and safer for everyone concerned (Meaning the driver, other drivers and pedestrians).
• The Explorer has a collision warning system that flashes a red light on your windshield as well as beeping loudly when it thinks you might hit something. I had this go off when a slow moving car coming across my path from right to left suddenly stopped in the middle of the road (for no reason that I could tell other than the guy “Bambied”). I did see it so I was already in the process of taking evasive action. But it’s nice to know that had I not seen the car, I would at least had a shot at avoiding an accident.

I did wonder why this model was not available with an 4 wheel drive option (which by the way, I really think would be something that would fly off dealer lots). Here’s a couple of reasons why. First, I did some research and I found out that this version of the Explorer is 80 pounds lighter than the V6 version. So clearly this version was designed with fuel economy in mind. Second, Ford has announced a V6 Ecoboost version of the Explorer called the Explorer Sport. This will come with 4 wheel drive coupled with Ford’s Terrain Management System. Basically you get V8 like power with V6 fuel consumption along with 4 wheel drive. So if you want an Ecoboost engine with 4 wheel drive, this is going to be your only option.

So would I recommend this vehicle? If you needs include shuttling the kids to and from school and visiting the mall. You want fuel economy and you don’t need 4 wheel drive, take a good hard look at this vehicle. The 4 cylinder Ecoboost engine is a $1000 option, but my feeling is that you’ll make that money back in the form of the gas you’ll save over the V6 version. Keep in mind that the Explorer starts at just under $30,000 for a V6 variant with front wheel drive. So if my Explorer Limited with Ecoboost (which retails for just under $50,000 with all the options that it comes with) doesn’t fit your needs, there’s something in the Explorer lineup that likely will.

Would I buy this vehicle? The answer is no. Not because it’s a bad vehicle. It’s because I have no practical use for a seven passenger SUV. The Ford Edge or 2013 Ford Escape would likely fit my needs better. Plus they include many of the same technologies that the Explorer has including the 4 cylinder Ecoboost engine.

Here’s the bottom line. I said it in my look at the Ford Fusion a few years ago and I’ll say it again. Ford is putting out vehicles that can compete with and beat any car company out there. If you don’t buy what I’m saying, go into a Ford dealership and go for a test drive. You’ll be a believer. The Ford Explorer Limited with Ecoboost is one example of this and I was extremely impressed by it. If you’re looking for a mid sized SUV, you need to take a look at the Explorer. It is worthy of serious consideration.

The big story of the Ford Explorer that I’m driving is the technology that’s in it. Let’s start with the safety technology. Here’s a list of technology that keeps you safe while you’re driving:

• Blind Spot Monitoring: A orange dot will appear in the side mirrors when another vehicle is in your blind spot. That helps you to not be shocked by a vehicle that you didn’t expect to be there.
• Cross traffic alerts: If you’ve ever backed out of a space and been surprised by a car that was coming across your path, then you will love this feature. As you back up, it will audibly alert you of any vehicle that comes across your path. Combine that with the backup camera which warns you when you get too close to a wall or another car and helps to guide you into (or out of) a parking space. It makes reversing the Explorer child’s play.
• Adaptive Cruise Control: This cruise control system monitors the distance between you and the car in front of you and behind you and it will adjust your speed accordingly.
• The usual traction control, stability control, ABS overseers are there. But you can also add Roll Stability Control which helps to keep you from tipping over and Curve Control which helps to keep you stable when taking turns by slowing you down by up to 16 Km/h if you take a turn too fast.

For the most part all of this safety technology is not going to get in the way of the driving experience unless it has to.

Now let’s move on a piece of technology that you must get if you are interested in the Ford Explorer. Active Park Assist. Rather than explain how it works, here’s a video that demonstrates this feature:

One piece of advice. If you get a Ford vehicle with this feature, you should take it someplace quiet to practice using it. It will make it a lot easier to use it in a busy urban environment.

Then there’s MyKey:

This fob allows you to get into the vehicle simply by having it on your person, walking up to the vehicle and pulling on the driver’s side handle. From there, simply push the brake pedal and push the start button. While that’s cool, here’s what’s cooler. You can program the key to limit what the vehicle does. For example, you can give a key to your teenage son and limit the vehicle’s top speed and audio volume so that he can’t drive recklessly while playing his favorite gangsta rap tunes. If you’re a parent, you’ll love it.

Finally, there’s MyFord Touch. Here’s a quick video explaining the features of the system:

Compared to the experience with the 2011 Ford Focus, I had a much more positive experience using MyFord Touch this time. The key to using the system is knowing what commands the system responds to. Therefore I would highly recommend that buyers get Ford dealers to show them how to use the system so that they get the most out of it.

Some notes about this system. I was able to pair my Blackberry to it easily and I was able to play music via Bluetooth. But I was unable to scroll through the music or choose individual artists the way I was able to with my wife’s iPod Nano via USB. I’m not sure if I was doing something wrong or the system isn’t capable of that via Bluetooth. I also noted that I could access playlists on my wife’s iPod Nano via voice, it simply displayed them on the center touchscreen and forced you to use the touchscreen to choose the playlist. That seems weird to me. Again, perhaps I might be missing something?

Clearly the technology in this vehicle is cutting edge and it’s very usable. That helps to set Ford apart from most other car makers.

Tune in tomorrow for the final part of this review where I wrap things up.

This part of the review covers the driving qualities of the Ford Explorer Limited. As I mentioned in part 2 of this review, the power from the engine is on tap and easy to control. You put your foot down, it goes. It’s that simple. The suspension feels firm but compliant. It soaks up the bumps of Toronto’s rather craptastic roads quite well. When changing lanes at highway speed, you’ll notice that there’s little body roll. While this isn’t a sports car, you can pop from lane to lane quickly without feeling unsettled. Not to mention you can take corners sharper than you think you should be able to in a vehicle of this size. However, if you take an on-ramp too fast, you’ll remember that this is a 4500 pound SUV in a hurry. While you’re driving the cabin is quiet. In fact you have to put your foot down to hear any engine noise. Not to mention that there is no wind noise to speak of. Tire noise is also absent as well. Clearly Ford spent a lot of time and effort to minimize noise inside the cabin.

I did mention in part 3 of this review that the steering wheel is the right size. I should also mention that it uses one of those electric power steering systems. Sometimes they don’t transmit all of the road feel a driver needs, which makes the driving experience a bit “video game” like. Ford’s implementation of this system feels quite good. I have no problem figuring out what’s underneath me. I should also note it’s speed sensitive so in tight spaces the steering becomes more precise.

Your vision in the drivers seat is very good. You sit high so it gives you a (for lack of a better description) commanding view of the road ahead. The rear view is decent, although I would strongly suggest that you fold down the third row seats when they’re not in use (or at the very least flip down the headrests) as they will block your vision. There were no blind spots to speak of which some of you will find surprising given how how big this vehicle is. I chalk it up to the big mirrors and making sure that they’re properly adjusted to eliminate blind spots.

My overall opinion is that if you want an SUV that you can drive, this is your vehicle. You will have zero complaints with the driving experience.

Check back on Saturday where I’ll cover the technology that’s in the vehicle. There’s a lot of hit to cover and most of it is geared towards making the driving experience safer.