Ford Unveiled the 2025 Explorer With a New Look and Better Tech

Chris Teague
by Chris Teague

The Ford Explorer has been among the top-selling SUVs for years, but the current generation is a bit stale. Ford’s solving that in 2025 with a refreshed Explorer that brings a new face, an updated interior, and new tech.


The new Explorer comes in Platinum, ST, ST-Line, and Active trims, each with a unique look. The Platinum gets a satin chrome and black grille, while the ST and ST-Line move to a gloss-black grille. The Active trim gets a sawtooth design with a black mesh grille and chrome. Seven new wheel options grace the lineup, ranging in size from 18 to 21 inches, depending on the model.

A turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine is standard, but a 400-horsepower turbocharged 3.0-liter six-cylinder is available. The Explorer remains rear-drive-oriented, and four-wheel drive is available for all trims. That V6 produces a whopping 415 pound-feet of torque, making the SUV surprisingly quick with it equipped.


Interior updates are notable and include a new 13.2-inch touchscreen. Ford also equips a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, heated and power-adjustable front seats, eight USB ports, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Alexa functionality, and more.


The SUV is available with a range of options, depending on the trim, including the Platinum Ultimate Package, the ST-Line Premium Package, and the ST-Line Street Pack, which add powertrain upgrades and unique interior finishes. Ford's excellent hands-free Blue Cruise is also available.

Though we’re talking about a 2025 Explorer, Ford plans to release the new SUV in the second quarter of this year. The order books open today, and the SUV’s price starts at $41,220, including destination.


[Images: Ford]


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Chris Teague
Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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  • William Piper William Piper on Feb 02, 2024

    So….the basic trim is now called “Platinum”? Kind of an odd trend of switching what were once “top of the line” trim names downmarket.

    • EBFlex EBFlex on Feb 02, 2024

      No, platinum is still platinum. Base is now called active.


  • NJRide NJRide on Feb 03, 2024

    Boringggg. Im sorry this looks too much like a 2011 Explorer to be potentially still being sold in the late 2020s. This is the car version of gerontocracy. Ford can obviously design nicer looking trucks like the Bronco whats the problem here?

    • EBFlex EBFlex on Feb 04, 2024

      The Bronco is an awful design. And this looks nothing like the 2011 Explorer


  • 1995 SC PA is concerning, but if it spent most of its life elsewhere and was someone's baby up there and isn't rusty it seems fairly priced.
  • CanadaCraig I don't see ANY large 'cheap' cars on the market. And I'm saying there should be.
  • 1995 SC I never cared for the fins and over the top bodies on these, but man give me that interior all day. I love it
  • 1995 SC Modern 4 door sedans stink. The roofline on them is such that it wrecks both the back seat and trunk access in most models. Watch someone try to get their kid into a car seat in the back of a modern sedan. Then watch them try to get the stroller into the mail slot t of a trunk opening. I would happily trade the 2 MPG at highway speed that shape may be giving me for trunk and rear seat accessibility of the sedans before this stupidity took over. I ask you, back in the day when Sedans were king, would any of them with the compromises of modern sedans have sold well? So why do we expect them to sell today? Make them usable for the target audience again and just maybe people will buy them. Keep them just as they are and they'll keep buying crossovers which might be the point.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X As much problems as I had with my '96 Chevy Impala SS.....I would love to try one again. I've seen a Dark Cherry Metallic one today and it looked great.
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