Some buttons under the screen is nice, though it's away from the driver. And idk how many ppl are gonna mistake the volume for the tranny dial. I would've preferred if they bookended the buttons they have with the tranny dial near the driver, and volume dial closer to the passenger, even with the dial the same. That way it looks symmetrical and it though the vol dial would be a reach, it wouldnt be confused for the tranny dial. The steering wheel looks smaller, and a tad more circular than the one in the nautilus, but still oval. The interior materials look good though. And the door card looks like the Explorers door card as well.
I'm not mad if the upper trim (the photo looks to be a high level limited or kr trim because of the burnt orange/red leather) shares similarities and layout to the nav interior, the expy is getting closer to that 100k mark, and at that point, it better feel like a nav. Also, I'm sure the seats will be similar to what's offered now, which is also fine for atleast the first row. The ford seats are way more comfy than most of the class, but they do need to make the first row atleast 12 way now or make the contour air bladders standard, and bring back massage and make it more available. The second and third row seats are too flat, and need more contour and cushion.
Some people are upset about the body not changing much, but the body and packaging are mostly good, and it looks like they extended the cargo area a bit so that's good. What really needs work is the drive. Tranny calibration shouldve been priority 1, than suspension tuning. Also, the body still jitters and shakes too much like a truck. Gm and jeep of all places have leaped frog ford here, and with nissan putting out a new armada/qx80 that will surely be a magic carpet ride, ford needs to catch up. Let's hope they put as much time into the drivetrain, suspension, and NVH as they did the infotech.
It may be revealed during NYIAS at the end of the month. Im looking at explorer, maverick, and f150 pics to get an idea of what the expy will look like. Ford has actually done a pretty good job in making the expy look more unique, I do find it looking more explorer like than f150 since 2017. I see they will taking away the chrome strip belt line atleast for the expy. I'm guessing there will be some type of design element on the c pillar, kind of like what gm does with their suvs maybe. If they do end up with a split tailgate, I hope it's closer to what the 02-05 explorer offered, where the tail glass component was closer to the ground, but opened parallel to the tail gate, not opposite.
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One thing I do not like, the roof rails look to be integrated to the roof, instead of lifted off the roof like it is current. I know it's cleaner, but kills functionality and look. All the integrated roof rails have clamp on cross bars, which give the car a tacky look that I don't like. Gm and most of new crossovers use the integrated roof rails.
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I like how currently the rails are lifted off the body and the cross bars bolted into them better. And it gives whatever is on the roof enough space off the glass. Also, it's easier to attach straps and clamps to the railing hen it's not connected to the body without scratches.