“A well-made SUV. There's plenty of soft-touch materials throughout the cabin; the steering wheel has quality leather; and the trim pieces look good and fit together well. The only flaw we noticed was an occasional dash rattle that we couldn't pinpoint.”-Edmunds
2020 Ford Explorer Seating and Comfort
The cabin of the 2020 Ford Explorer has been dramatically changed and now has a better layout thanks to the all-new unibody construction. The dashboard of the Explorer lacks any design flair but remains highly functional due to the neat and simple layout. Most of the controls are logically based and are easy to reach. With the improved cabin design, the outward visibility has also improved and so is the ingress and egress. One more thing that can be appreciated is Explorer’s capacity to filter out road noise thus making the cabin a quiet place and well equipped to take on longer journeys.
In the base form, the Explorer comes with seven people capacity while the higher trims with a captain's chair in the second-row seats offer seating for six. The base and the XLT trim come with cloth upholstery. If you want something more premium then the Limited trim comes with leatherette upholstery. The space and comfort are great only in the first two rows while third-row seats are not only cramped but also are very uncomfortable when seated over a long duration. That said, the second row seats can slide fore and aft and tumbles at a flip of a lever for increasing rear legroom and ease of access respectively.
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Model
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2020 Ford Explorer
|
2020 Chevrolet Traverse
|
2020 Honda Pilot
|
2020 Toyota Highlander
|
|
Passenger capacity
|
7
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
|
Front (Head/Shoulder/Leg) (In.)
|
40.7/ 61.8/ 43.0 |
41.3/ 62.1/ 41.0 |
40.1/ 62.0/ 40.9
|
41.2/ 59.0/ 42.0 |
|
Second (Head/Shoulder/Leg) (In.)
|
40.5/ 61.9/ 39.0 |
40.0/ 62.2/ 38.4 |
40.2/ 62.0/ 38.4
|
39.4/ 58.7/ 41.0 |
|
Third (Head/Shoulder/Leg) (In.)
|
38.9/ 54.6/ 32.2 |
38.2/ 57.5/ 33.5 |
38.9/ 57.6/ 31.9
|
36.1/ 55.0/ 27.7 |
In this comparison, the Chevrolet Traverse without doubt comes as the mid-size SUV with the best space in all three rows. The Ford Explorer although with better first and second-row legroom secures the second spot due to lower shoulder and headroom in the first two rows compared to the Traverse.
Interior Features
- Dual-zone automatic climate control
- Power-adjustable driver's seat
- Available Heated steering wheel
- Available driver’s seat memory function
- Available front seat w/ massage function
- Available Heated and cooled Front Seats
- Available Heated second-row seats
2020 Ford Explorer Infotainment System
The 2020 Ford Explorer in the base and XLT trims are equipped with Ford’s SYNC system that runs on an 8-inch touchscreen display and comes with a standard 6-speaker audio system. Ford’s SYNC3 system which is a standard feature on the Limited and above trim is available as an option on the XLT trim. SYNC 3 is a user-friendly system with the interface being intuitive and offering a decent response time.
Higher trims offer a vertically-stacked Tesla-like 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system which not only looks like an afterthought but also comes in the line of sight while driving. The picture above showcases the 10.1-inch touchscreen system. Other available features on top trim are the premium Bang & Olufsen sound system, navigation, satellite radio, etc.
2020 Ford Explorer Cargo Capacity
The 2020 Ford Explorer offers 18.2 cubic feet of cargo space with all the seats up. The second-row seats offer 40/20/40 split-folding while the third-row seats can be folded in 50/50-split. With the third-row seats folded the Explorer frees up 43.9 cubic feet of space.
While with both the rear rows folded the cargo area increases to 81.7 cubic feet. That being said, the higher trims come with a hands-free liftgate which is very convenient when you are carrying luggage in both your hands.
|
Model
|
2020 Ford Explorer
|
2020 Chevrolet Traverse
|
2020 Honda Pilot
|
2020 Toyota Highlander
|
|
Cargo Volume (ft³.)
|
18.2 |
23.0 |
16.5
|
16.0 |
In this comparison, the Chevrolet Traverse measures longer than any of the SUVs here and thus has the highest cargo space with all the seats up. Compared to the Explorer it offers 4.8 cubic feet more space.
