First glimpse of new 2012 Ford Expedition

The 2012 Ford Expedition works quite well, with handling that hides some of its body-on-frame heaviness. The Expedition has one powertrain to provide, a 5.4-liter flex-fuel V-8 that makes 365 pound-feet of torque and 310 horsepower. It’s enough to run the big SUV rapidly enough, but seems underpowered when towing or completely loaded, when compared with the most powerful Suburbans. The Expedition’s six-speed automatic is close to the task, sensitive and sleek to shift, and four-wheel drive is accessible. The Ford Expedition 2012 is associated with the F-150 pickup truck, but the distinctions between them are obvious even up front. The more curved Expedition sheetmetal, strangely, now seems to be more dated than that on the newest F-Series trucks. It’s a match from the 2000s, when the Expedition marketed in the countless amounts. The Expedition comes in two body measures, the regular version and the EL, which is 14.8 inches longer, with the major variation being the longer rear fenders and glass. Both models share an interior that’s functionally great, but still, after a 2007 reskin, dressed in a lot of plastic that’s a shade less wonderful than the materials inside of a Chevy Suburban or a GMC Yukon. Driving the Ford Expedition is quite simple, thinking about its size, due to light but accurate steering, and a suspension that does a great job reeling all that weight in. It often feels broad, but the Expedition never seems out of control, despite the fact that the brakes have spongy pedal feel. The ride of the Expedition is definitely no match for the latest generation of car-based crossovers, but it drives better than other body-on-frame cars. The suspension does a marvelous job of bathing in problems while maintaining the back wheels grasp the road over rough surfaces, with none of the stressed hopping that features solid-axle designs. There’s more space for people and cargo in the longer-wheelbase Expedition EL, which falls an additional 14.8 inches in the truck’s overall size, for a total of 130.8 cubic feet of cargo room, which includes an additional 24 cubic feet behind the third-row racing seat. It’s one of the largest SUVs on the earth, with a wheelbase of 131 inches–to put it differently, longer than Mitsubishi i or a Smart fortwo. The length pays off in particular in the 3rd row, where the wider rear doors allow ease entry and exit into the way-back. Ford presents a PowerFold third-row seat and a power liftgate for convenience.