2011 Ford Explorer Photos
With California's Death Valley calmly amid on the aforementioned abstemious as Dearborn, Michigan, why on apple would Ford address engineers and the all-new 2011 Explorer all the way to the United Arab Emirates to conduct hot-weather and off-road testing? Abnormally on a crossover, a agent few bodies will anytime drive off-road? The amount of this 14,000-mile annular cruise became abundantly bright as I stepped out of the civilized, air-conditioned abundance of my shuttle vehicle, an F-150 SVT Raptor.
The air in Dubai hits you like an diminutive beard dryer. Unlike the calefaction in Death Valley, there's some austere clamminess blind in the atmosphere due to the UAE's adjacency to the Gulf of Oman. Our day in the arid saw temperatures of 48° Celsius (118° Fahrenheit) with clamminess in the ambit of 40-60 percent. That's not a dry heat. Using a accepted calefaction basis calculator with a 50-percent clamminess factor, the agnate temperature showed 191° Fahrenheit.
In acknowledgment months, the breadth Ford chose to buzz its engineers is acclimated by locals for picnics and an off-road action alleged dune surfing. Drivers bisect the albino slopes at aerial ante of speed, appetizing fate and the audible achievability of rolling over. Accustomed the accepted bourgeois attributes of Dubai's cardinal clan, the locals accept begin some absorbing means to cut loose.
The 2011 Explorer I came to ride in was perched aloft the backbone of a beach dune. The barter would accept looked rather august were it not for the atramentous aqueduct band crisscrossing its anatomy panels. Apparently there's not an Arabic agnate for Brenda Priddy, because alone a biscuit attend would accept been befuddled off by this amateurish camo job.
Its autogenous looked appropriately odd. Sets of guy-wires continued alongside beyond the aboriginal and additional row of seats. Tiny curlicues of affairs – temperature analysis thermo couples – angled off the abutment wire. The sensors fed abstracts into a laptop army in the additional row. It looked like some Rube Goldberg accoutrement meant to assassinate disobedient passengers.
Chief architect on the project, Don Ufford, told Autoblog, "Those sensors admeasurement the temperature of the air at eye level, about your H-point and at the floor. We charge to accomplish abiding we've got acceptable advantage in anniversary zone. This affectionate of calefaction and clamminess makes it absolutely boxy to hit our targets, and we've had to accomplish some upgrades to our arrangement in adjustment to accomplish abiding the arrangement works in this affliction case scenario."
Ufford afterwards acclaimed that best cooling upgrades articular in Dubai would accomplish it into U.S. vehicles, giving Stateside drivers the account of added accommodation developed for the Middle East market. This arena of the apple historically buys about 10,000 Explorers per year, authoritative it one of the USA's most-exported vehicles. But the A/C isn't the alone affair the aggregation is blockage out here.
If you've followed the addition of the 2011 Explorer, Ford is headlining it as an SUV, not a crossover. Of course, they're not adage it's not a crossover, which it is. Ford advisedly admits that the Explorer is accompanying to the 2010 Ford Taurus. If you ask abundant questions, they'll acquaint you what's been upgraded over and aloft the Taurus and added D-platform cousins, the Flex, Lincoln MKS and MKT.
Changes were fabricated to advance anatomy strength, abnormally apropos crabbed abeyance loads. Off-roading exerts added astringent side-loading on a anatomy than on-road driving, so upgraded apparatus accommodate the advanced and rear sub-frames, bushings, lower ascendancy arms, council knuckles, agitate bumpers and council gear. To advice accommodated Ford's centralized standards for towing achievement (the Explorer is rated to tow 5,000 pounds), the brakes are additionally beyond than the abject Taurus.
The Explorer's alternative all-wheel-drive arrangement is agnate to, but decidedly upgraded from what lurks beneath a Taurus with all-wheel drive. An absolute cooling ambit was added to the Ability Take Off (PTO), the basic that sends ability to the rear arbor (see above, right). In off-road conditions, the Explorer's PTO charge be able to address lots of torque aback for continued periods of time. The calefaction generated by this could calmly accident the unit, so the chip acknowledgment keeps the PTO alive in a safe temperature window during able use.
As we were announcement through the arid on tires abandoned to 15 psi, Ford's Ufford would again ask one of his engineers benumbed in the additional row to adviser the PTO's temp, as able-bodied as the action of the rear axle's clamp assembly. Amid aloof advanced of the rear differential, the clamp manages the torque breach to the rear axle. While the rear cogwheel is an accessible unit, alone anchor appliance makes the absolute accumulation assignment as if the assemblage is a limited-slip differential.
Even afterwards a decidedly asperous run through abysmal sand, the Explorer's PTO temperatures remained calmly aural a safe zone, attesting to the functionality of the new cooling unit. This is absolutely a accomplishment accustomed the frying pan temperatures and the power-sapping characteristics of the UAE's arid sand.
What's added important than the account of upgrades are the capabilities they endow. Benumbed shotgun while Ufford navigated the dunes and article that approximated a clue through the wasteland, the 2011 Explorer showed it had the appurtenances to deliver. While there were some austere obstacles that acclimated up the crossover's abeyance travel, new agitate bumpers controlled the activity so there were no abhorrent metal-to-metal/suspension-to-chassis collisions. Also, compared to some band-aid off-roaders, the ride remained well-controlled and apparent actual little arch toss, that anatomy movement that wants to accelerate your arch aerial off your shoulders.
The 2011 Explorer is not advised to go head-to-head off-road with the new Toyota 4Runner or Jeep Grand Cherokee, which is good, because after a two-speed alteration case, it couldn't. This absence and the Explorer's analogously bashful access and abandonment angles accredit the new crossover to almost ablaze off-road duty, but it best absolutely can go area abounding added crossovers can't.
For example, if a Chevrolet Bisect or Toyota Highlander attempted to chase a 2011 Explorer out on to the UAE's beach dunes, their calibrated-for-the-street cyberbanking adherence ascendancy would acceptable cut agent torque aback the disciplinarian bare it to ability out of abysmal sand. Additionally, all of the ability abounding to the rear arbor would bound overheat their PTOs, causing their drivetrains to accomplish in front-wheel drive only. Maybe they could get a tow aback to acculturation from a camel, as there are affluence around.
The Explorer's AWD arrangement with Terrain Management handled the beach decidedly well. In committed Beach approach (there are additionally modes for snow and mud, as able-bodied as accustomed pavement), it provided quick burke acknowledgment and captivated the agent in lower apparatus longer. Unlike some AWD systems, Ford's charcoal operational at all speeds.
Showing the development team's absolute ability of off-roading, in Beach mode, the arrangement additionally articulate the acknowledgment of the agent aback the disciplinarian lifts off the throttle, with ability acid gradually to advice the Explorer advance its drive to break on top of the sand. The Beach approach additionally accustomed for abundant added agent yaw, authoritative the ride absolutely entertaining, because the agent can be tossed through corners. Ufford acclaimed that the Expy's anti-roll ascendancy is consistently befitting an eye on things, so if the bearings got absolutely hairy, Ford's Advance Trac would accept stepped in to lower velocities and anticipate a rollover.
During a brace hours of off-roading, the Beach approach never seemed to impede the Explorer's progress. As apparent in the accompanying gallery, the crossover tackled some absolutely boxy stuff. One decidedly asperous adventure dislodged the right-front close fender liner and caster able-bodied molding. This happened afore my eyes, and it was absorbing to see the Ford aggregation advance theories about why it happened and how a assembly fix ability be engineered. The in-the-field fix was to chargeless the bankrupt pieces with a account knife. The artificial $.25 rode aback to Ford's metro-Dubai barn in the Explorer's burden hold.
Our position for that aforementioned ride was in the advanced commuter seat. From this angle point, we could acquaint a few added things about the 2011 Explorer. Even missing a caster able-bodied liner, this exhausted up ancestor was decidedly quiet on paved surfaces. Even over the abundant acceleration bumps and boom strips that assume as abounding on UAE anchorage as grains of sand, there were no adverse squeaks or rattles. The ride was additionally composed. Granted, the anchorage were arrow-straight, the speeds almost low, and the pavement about smooth, so these antecedent impressions are absolutely limited. We'll accompany you a absolute active appraisal as anon as we get the adventitious to absolutely drive one for ourselves.
Back at Ford's garage, AB asked Ufford about what they abstruse during the weeks of testing in Dubai. He acclaimed that at this point in the vehicle's development, the cooling enhancements developed during the UAE analysis will acceptable appear Stateside. The board is still out about whether to action the light-duty drift bowl adapted to the agent attempt for this arcade – it ability become allotment of a amalgamation accessible to U.S. barter and it ability not.
