2013 Explorer Sport

WP64

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3.5ltr. EcoBoost V6 Explorer Sport 4WD, just picked it up last night. Going on the dyno (DynoJet) on Friday for base numbers, looking to do a CAI, cat back exhaust, tune and possibly a 50 or 75 wet shot of giggle gas; I'm going to lower it a little as well.

Sorry for the crummy iPhone pics...

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StangingAround

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Saw one of these in my rearview today and it looked pretty mean. Not feeling the lettering on the hood but it's still a kickass SUV. Congrats. I wonder how the explorer feels with the ecoboost vs. the f150.
 

WP64

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Yeah, the hood lettering is kinda Range Rover-ish IMO. I'll probably get a black bug deflector on the hood so the lettering will not be so noticeable. I just found the traction control on/off selector, turned it off and will test w/o it later today.

The Sport package throws in the 3.5 EB V6, bigger front brakes, strut tower brace, "Sport" marked 20" x 8" wheels and performance all-season rubber (Hankook H426 255/50R's all around), blacked-out front and rear wraps and light housings and "Sport" badging, it also sits a little lower then the other Explorers. I got it with the tow package which adds a hitch, brake controller and engine oil cooler.
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andymarkv

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You've had a little time to drive it now... What do you think?
What did this replace?

I'm REALLY pushing my wife towards one of these!!
She currently has an 04 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 4.7 and really loves the size and how it fits her. (had it 8 years and won't get rid of it...)

We just sat in a '13 Explorer, really liked how it felt and how the dash was laid out, but I know the NA 3.5 is going to be too lame.

The SPORT looks to be PERFECT! Especially with a tune to clean up the shifting and get that V8 torque feel when you want it.

I'd love to hear what you think! I want something FUN!! Not just another SUV DD. And I need to get better MPG's than a SRT8 Jeep because of our commute.

I'm currently dicking around with our local dealer.... I want an Ingot Silver SPORT with no options except trailer towing package. (surprisingly the Explorers without the towing package are only rated for 2000lbs and my wife will want to haul her horse with this. With tow package they're rated at 5000lbs)
I'm trying to get the dealer to order me one and sell it at invoice. (shouldn't be too hard he will keep all of the holdback money and the high volume dealer in the next county will do that no problem) With the current $1500 rebate, it should be around 38K.

One other thing... We don't have kids and don't need the third row seats and would rather have the storage.
Do they fold down fairly flat?
I guess if worse came to worse, I'll have to find the part number for the interceptor third row delete panel.

Anything you'd like to share would be great!
 
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BOOSTD5.4

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I too would like this feedback from other Sport owners!

The 3.5 N/A was so cheap running and under powered, we have held off until the 3.5 EB hits the dealers up here......

It looks sharp!

Mike
 

WP64

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My overall impression, the XSport is a lot of fun to drive and very comfortable. It replaced a 2000 Expedition, which is a tuna boat in comparison to the XSport. It handles extremely well for a 4800# car that sits as tall as it does, very little body roll, turn-in is quick and responsive (they eliminated the bushings on the steering rack in the Sport model), and the brakes are very good.

Draw backs:
* The rear window doesn't open like it did on the Expedition, you have to open the whole rear hatch for access.
* Less leg room in the 2nd row compared to the Expedition, but I knew this going in. Still, not bad leg room for a 7 passenger vehicle.
* Shift points are lame and flat out laborious at times, a Livernois tune will fix this...

Pluses:
* Very comfortable (I said it again)
* Better gas mileage on the highway then advertised, I averaged 23.9mpg over a 90 mile highway drive to Sacramento this week with the cruse control set at 65mph.
* Ford SYNC, how have I lived/worked without SYNC for so long???...
* MOONROOF! Need I say more...
* It accelerates better then the Expedition, stops better too.
* Very quite interior.
* Fit & finish is excellent.

To your questions:
*Third row seats fold flat, I got a cargo area mat from Ford which has turned up edges, it covers the whole rear cargo area and eliminates the floor openings and cracks between the seats when they're folded down.
*Rumor has it that the 2014 Explorer will offer the 3.5 EcoBoost in the XLT and Limited models, it's just a rumor though...

Andy, if you can get an XSport for under $40K you should jump on it :thumbsup:
 
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andymarkv

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Very nice, thanks!
Were you looking at anything other than an Xsport? I've driven the new Jeep GC's with hemi and HATED the seats.... I'm looking for something very comfortable, that's some what fun with utility.
This sounds like it fits the bill.

Were there a few Xsports for you to chose from in your area?
There are NONE that I have found in a 60 mile radius so far.... Its too bad Ford doesn't have a decent locator program for customers.

We bought the wifes '11 sixxer mustang without driving it because there were NO 6sp cars in late '10 in our area. I had her drive a GT and had them locate a V6 6sp 3.31 geared car and thought it would be good enough for her. We locked in the deal and they brought it in....immediately after driving it we knew we made a mistake. We should have bought a 5 liter...
We won't make that mistake again. I need to drive one before we buy it. And right now that's pretty tough!!

Good to know on the third row deal! Is the cover ridged? Or could you fold it and flip up the third row if all of the sudden you needed it?

I'm still pretty sold on one and I'm working on my dealer to find me one within 60 miles that I can test drive. We're not really into the tech stuff so those options don't mean much to us. And after owning four T topped Camaro's....any glass in the roof doesn't appeal to me anymore!! So a base Xsport with trailer tow is actually pretty reasonable in price considering a Limited is right there or more.

Interesting on the possibility of expanded EB availability to most of the X line...
Although, when I "built" an XLT with leather and tow package the MSRP is 38,395 plus the option of the EB motor I have to imagine will be 1000-1500? So you'll be knocking within a grand or two of an Xsport anyway...unless you get a total stripper XLT.

Can't wait to hear what you think after a tune! Although....I get a touch gunshy on the whole warranty deal with tunes these days. But its not like I'm gonna thrash the wheels off it like my Shelby! As long as they're a touch over built, I can't see any issues.

One thing I will say....depending on the color, I actually like the polished 20's on the Limited better than the blacked out Sport wheels. My plan is to get a set of limited wheels for the summer, run the sport wheels in the winter with a dedicated winter tread.
 
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Willie2

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did you take it to the dyno? have you done any mods since your first post?
 

Blown99GT

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nice writeup, im interested in seeing some more/better pics. We are going to pick one up in september, black on black.
 

WP64

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Very nice, thanks!
Were you looking at anything other than an Xsport? I've driven the new Jeep GC's with hemi and HATED the seats.... I'm looking for something very comfortable, that's some what fun with utility.
This sounds like it fits the bill.

Were there a few Xsports for you to chose from in your area?
There are NONE that I have found in a 60 mile radius so far.... Its too bad Ford doesn't have a decent locator program for customers.

We bought the wifes '11 sixxer mustang without driving it because there were NO 6sp cars in late '10 in our area. I had her drive a GT and had them locate a V6 6sp 3.31 geared car and thought it would be good enough for her. We locked in the deal and they brought it in....immediately after driving it we knew we made a mistake. We should have bought a 5 liter...
We won't make that mistake again. I need to drive one before we buy it. And right now that's pretty tough!!

Good to know on the third row deal! Is the cover ridged? Or could you fold it and flip up the third row if all of the sudden you needed it?

I'm still pretty sold on one and I'm working on my dealer to find me one within 60 miles that I can test drive. We're not really into the tech stuff so those options don't mean much to us. And after owning four T topped Camaro's....any glass in the roof doesn't appeal to me anymore!! So a base Xsport with trailer tow is actually pretty reasonable in price considering a Limited is right there or more.

Interesting on the possibility of expanded EB availability to most of the X line...
Although, when I "built" an XLT with leather and tow package the MSRP is 38,395 plus the option of the EB motor I have to imagine will be 1000-1500? So you'll be knocking within a grand or two of an Xsport anyway...unless you get a total stripper XLT.

Can't wait to hear what you think after a tune! Although....I get a touch gunshy on the whole warranty deal with tunes these days. But its not like I'm gonna thrash the wheels off it like my Shelby! As long as they're a touch over built, I can't see any issues.

One thing I will say....depending on the color, I actually like the polished 20's on the Limited better than the blacked out Sport wheels. My plan is to get a set of limited wheels for the summer, run the sport wheels in the winter with a dedicated winter tread.

The cargo area cover is not ridged, it comes rolled-up in a box and yes, with the 3rd row up the cargo cover could be rolled up and stored behind the 3rd row.

I looked/test drove a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a pre-owned/lease return 2011 Land Rover Range Rover, I preferred the XSport over both of them. I also test drove a 3.5 EcoBoost AWD Ford Flex but found it to be too metrosexual for my taste, not to mention it's a freaking box...But, the 3.5 EB Flex drives and accelerates very similar to the XSport, if you can't find an XSport to test drive take a 3.5 EB Flex out for a spin.

As far as pricing goes, I've seen pricing over on the Explorer forum for the XSport go from $39K with bare bones no options up to $52K fully optioned. The guys that seem to be getting the better deals ask for pricing online from several dealers then play them against eachother to get the best deal. Consider the adaptive cruise control option, it came on the XSport the dealer had on the lot and I wasn't going to get it if I had to order my XSport, but I'm glad I have it, it works and the collision warning with brake assist is a real nice feature that's helped me out a couple of times already.

Wheels, I like the factory XSport 20's a lot, the Hankook rubber is pretty good for OE tires, but, I'm already thinking of getting another set of wheels and tires for trips to the snow. There's plenty of room front and back to move up to 9" wide wheels, maybe even 10" wide if you want something bigger.

The tune, I PMed back and fourth with Rick at Livernois last week, they are waiting for their XSport to be delivered, I'm going to wait until they work out the tune a little more on their shop mule before I take that plunge.

did you take it to the dyno? have you done any mods since your first post?

No, not yet, the closest 4-wheel dyno is about 40 miles away from me, I just haven't gotten there yet for base numbers. I have a Magnaflow cat-back exhaust ordered and coming in 3 weeks. Unlike the exhaust, there's no CAI out yet that's California CARB (smog) approved, Magnaflow is a California based company so they always have the CARB approval on their products. The CAI for the Taurus SHO adapts perfectly to the XSport according to pics and reports on the Explorer forum, both the Airaid and K&N CAI's for the Taurus SHO fit the XSport, I'm sure it won't be long before these two companies have a dedicated model CAI for the XSport (I know Airaid is working on it) and both with the CARB approval.


nice writeup, im interested in seeing some more/better pics. We are going to pick one up in september, black on black.

Thanks, the color was a tough decision for me, but after the Ebony GT500 I knew I didn't want a black DD. I probably would have went with a silver XSport if the dealer had one, but white was the flavor they had and I didn't want to wait :burnout:
 
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98 Saleen Cobra

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Sure do, Chris, I get the 500 out for a drive every now and then. Next time you're in town you need to come by for a drive. Good to hear from you, where's CG life got you stationed these days?

That's good to here :). CG is as good as it can get in Mobile, AL lol.. The car is good.. I've been building the suspension.. It now has a Griggs Kmember, extreme A-arms, rear coil-overs, watts-link.. Next up is the front MARB and then it's done for now.. I might do a SLA when I'm back in CA, we'll see. :beer:

Hopefully I'll get to see that thing next year.
 

xchamp

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OP, nice ride! I'm really like these myself, just not a huge fan of the front end look. Other than that I love them. Just wondering if ur hauling kids around and how much u miss the interior volume of the expedition? I have an 09 expedition and three kids and don't know if I can live with the smaller interior.
 

andymarkv

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Nice!! Thanks for the review! It sounds like the perfect DD to me! And from the few 0-60 vids I've found, it really moves out even in stock form!
I'm assuming it feels like a normal V6 until you get after it and it makes boost?
Is there a boost gauge? How much boost are you seeing?

There are no ecoboost Flex's around our area either....
I guess I just need to be patient and wait for these things to get out there.
I believe they have only been available for four months now?
I just saw a transporter carrying three of them yesterday.

Good luck with it! Sounds like you've got a great plan with new tune and bigger wheels! Can't wait to see it!
 

Blown99GT

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yeah i'd like to know if there is a boost gauge also and what the "seat of the pants" power feels like when you get in the boost?

Do you have the paddle shifters also? if so what are those like?
 

WP64

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No boost gauge, seat of the pants feel is very good, even off the line w/o boost. Yes on the paddle shifters, the XSport is the only Explorer that comes with them and I like them a lot, especially when going in for the quick pass, just hit the down shift paddle and you're in the next lower gear, no waiting for the trans to kick down by itself; they're also convenient for engine compression braking.

I'm going in next week for some dyno pulls to get base numbers, the Magnaflow cat-back exhaust will be installed the first week of March.
 

bigmoose

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The tune, I PMed back and fourth with Rick at Livernois last week, they are waiting for their XSport to be delivered, I'm going to wait until they work out the tune a little more on their shop mule before I take that plunge.

I'm picking up my sport next week and have already saw that livernois has a tune for it, which i'm interestred as well. I'm looking forward to your base numbers and any tune impressions once you take the plunge.
 

bigmoose

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I went with Ruby Red with the sienna trimmed interior. Also splurged for the 402A, moonroof and tow package. I'll post up some pics next week when I get it.

Cool that :thumbsup:

What color did you get, bigmoose?
 

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