I had a 2009 for many years. We live up on a rather steep hillside and have to climb over a distance of more than 2 miles in order to get home. My 2009 with the Triton V8 handled this process very smoothly. The transmission was always quick to downshift as the grade got steeper. It was almost seamless going up the hill every day.
Now I have a (new to me) 2017 with Ecoboost and I notice it is not nearly as smooth getting up the hill. The transmission seems too slow to downshift and the engine "lugs" -- even if I step on the gas. We had a 2016 Explorer that used to do the same thing. It had paddle shifters on the steering wheel so when I got to a point where the engine started lugging I'd hit the "minus" shifter and force the transmission to downshift into a lower gear.
Unfortunately, the 2017 Expy doesn't have those. It does have "+/-" buttons on the shifter but they don't seem to operate the same way as the paddle shifters on the Explorer. What's the best way to deal with the engine lugging while going uphill? It seems the transmission needs to be a bit more sensitive when it comes to downshift points. Am I going to have to just live with this or should I talk to the dealer about reprogramming?
Part of it is turbo lag and part of it is the trans tuning. The shifter works the same as your Explorer did. Before making your ascent just hit the - button and the gear indicator will pop up next to the gas gauge (assuming you have the fancy cluster) showing all 6 gears. Just down shift it to the gear you think you'll need and it will hold that gear or lower. If you want a higher gear hit the + button and you'll add a higher gear to the mix. I think its a great system as you can manually select your top gear and it will still be fully automatic in all lower gears. Its a great feature in the mountains. Or drop the shifter to M and shift it manually.
I've read repeatedly that the ecoboost expy is gods gift to mankind.
You read correctly
LOL! Well, the trans shifting program at least leaves something to be desired. We also have an '18 Expy and while that is slightly better going up the hill it still struggles a bit, just like our '16 Explorer did. What do they all have in common? The Ecoboost powertrain. . .
Yet you you've owned 3 of them. I think you just need to press the go pedal a little harder.