Ford Explorer towing

[E-rude dude]

Looking for reviews from people towing with a Ford Explorer I4 turbo. Thinking about trading my f150 in. Need to downsize some payments. The one I’m looking at has a trailer tow package. I4 turbo 300 Hp 5000lb tow cap.

My boat package is 2750-2900lbs with hydraulic brakes. 

[Captain Phil]

I have a 2020 Ford Explorer with the base Eco Boost 4 cylinder engine.  The Explorer went back to rear wheel drive in 2020. That engine has 300 HP.  It drives like a small Expedition.  I get 23 mpg in town and 27 mpg on the highway.   It is much stronger than you would believe.  I just bought a Ranger RT178 with a 75 Merc 4 stroke and it tows great. 

[E-rude dude]

Test drove it today and was very impressed.

We are waiting to close the deal.
I was impressed with my F150 2.7L Eco boost and this suv is really nice.

This SUV will get the job done and save me $50 a month payment. Save on gas and insurance too.

[Captain Phil]

I've owned dozens of new cars in my life.  My first new Ford was a 1967 Mustang.  My 2020 Ford Explorer is the nicest SUV I have ever owned.  So far I have 7,000 miles on it with no issues of any kind.

[gim]

On 6/14/2021 at 10:57 AM, Captain Phil said:

I get 23 mpg in town and 27 mpg on the highway.   It is much stronger than you would believe.  I just bought a Ranger RT178 with a 75 Merc 4 stroke and it tows great. 

Is that the mileage you get towing the boat or just everyday driving? Pretty friggin good if it’s with a boat back there. I have that boat and use an F-150, and I get 17 mpg all the time with or without the boat. Is your Explorer the limited edition or XLT version?

[throttleplate]

any 4 cylinder engine with a turbo is getting worked very hard. To get 300 hp out of it means the turbo is packing massive air into the cylinder and with only 4 cylinders that is heavy stress and fast wear on those 4 cylinders. They wear out faster than a woodpecker with a plastic beak.

[throttleplate]

Specs for the I-4. Says to use premium fuel to reach 300 spec hp.

Engine has 10 to 1 compression ratio which is stressfull for a 4 cylinder turbocharged engine.

Has a 3.58 final drive and 300 ft lbs of torque, the 3.58 gear will help with the towing but hurts non towing fuel mileage.

I would search the ford truck message boards and read about owners thoughts about how their explorer tows with a 4 banger and the longetivity of the engine before i would purchase it.

 

Never believe what the dealer says as he is now in your head. I made a mistake years ago buying a regular v6 with an automatic to pull my 20ft jet boat and it had no power with the trailer hooked up and i coudnt drive it in high gear i had t drive it in 3rd with the trailer.

What it needed was a manual transmission as the auto tranny just wasnt geared properly for towing.

 

I have a honda civic with a 1.7 liter 4 cylinder non turbo. I get 35 mpg combined city-hiway and 39 mpg highway only. I give my honda a 10 out of 10 rating for reliability and fuel mileage. The best part about my car is it is not turbocharged, i dont want a turbo if honda offered to put one on for free.

 

 

 

 

[E-rude dude]

2 hours ago, throttleplate said:

Specs for the I-4. Says to use premium fuel to reach 300 spec hp.

Engine has 10 to 1 compression ratio which is stressfull for a 4 cylinder turbocharged engine.

Has a 3.58 final drive and 300 ft lbs of torque, the 3.58 gear will help with the towing but hurts non towing fuel mileage.

I would search the ford truck message boards and read about owners thoughts about how their explorer tows with a 4 banger and the longetivity of the engine before i would purchase it.

 

Never believe what the dealer says as he is now in your head. I made a mistake years ago buying a regular v6 with an automatic to pull my 20ft jet boat and it had no power with the trailer hooked up and i coudnt drive it in high gear i had t drive it in 3rd with the trailer.

What it needed was a manual transmission as the auto tranny just wasnt geared properly for towing.

 

I have a honda civic with a 1.7 liter 4 cylinder non turbo. I get 35 mpg combined city-hiway and 39 mpg highway only. I give my honda a 10 out of 10 rating for reliability and fuel mileage. The best part about my car is it is not turbocharged, i dont want a turbo if honda offered to put one on for free.

 

 

 

 

No disrespect but I asked for reviews from people that owned the Explorer . Then you left a comment that ended with I’ve never owned a turbo engine and don’t want to. I own a Honda. Not sure that either meets the threads requirements or is information that is valid and reliable.
Until you’ve driven a Ford turbo motor you can’t really get it. I was the same thought camp as you until I bought my F150 2.7l turbo. Changed my way of thinking about modern engines. As far as the motor not handling the pressure, time will tell and it’s covered under warranty for 7 years.

[Captain Phil]

Eco boost engines are not anything like older V8 truck engines.  Would I buy a 2020 Explorer to tow a fifth wheel, of course not.  The mileage I gave is not towing, it's regular driving.  I use regular fuel.  The base engine is as fast if not faster than my wife's V6 Avalon.  My Ranger RT178 is a 17 foot aluminum bass boat with a 75 HP 4 stroke.  Florida is a flat state with few hills and I don't tow very far.  If you need a truck, buy one.  If you want a comfortable roomy gas sipping SUV with power to pass and your boat is less than 3,000 pounds, you will do fine with the 2020 Explorer.

[Glenn]

I have a 2018 F-150 with a 6-cyl 3.5L ecoboost engine. It has more horsepower and torque than my previous V-10, and my gas mileage averages 19mpg (not towing) compared to 9mpg.

 

It tows like a beast.  Much better than my V-10 ever did. Handles well and doesn't have any issues pulling over mountain passes.  The 10 speed is smooth and doesn't "hunt".

 

32K miles on it so far without any problems.

[throttleplate]

7 hours ago, E-rude dude said:

Then you left a comment that ended with I’ve never owned a turbo engine and don’t want to. I own a Honda. Not sure that either meets the threads requirements or is information that is valid and reliable.

no dissrespect from me either. As a retired mechanic i have driven many turbocharged vehicles. Regarding my honda civic i have 138,000 miles on it and if it had a turbo i dont think it would be as in good a shape as it is now with zero oil burning. Its just alot of stress on 4 cylinders with a turbo.

 

I wish you nothing but good luck with your purchase and it would be neat if you could keep us updated with its performance. I like to keep up with real people telling the truth and not dealers telling us what we want to hear.

[huZZah]

You’re fine to tow. Within specs. Perfectly safe.

If you’re asking about the experience, towing at half the recommended weight will be pleasant. I have not done a boat but I’ve towed a camper at 3500 lbs behind an explorer with the 3.6 eco boost. It is fine.
My only complaint towing with newer fords now is the aluminum bodies make your vehicle so light to get better mileage. It makes for stressful towing in wind/rain etc. I much prefer my heavy heavy truck. The engines are not my concern. In fact, that bigger eco boost is a freaking beast to tow with. 
 

But you’ll be fine if that was your concern. I will also point out it lacks upgraded tranny cooling so I wouldn’t get anywhere close to making it work hard. 

[E-rude dude]

1 hour ago, huZZah said:

You’re fine to tow. Within specs. Perfectly safe.

If you’re asking about the experience, towing at half the recommended weight will be pleasant. I have not done a boat but I’ve towed a camper at 3500 lbs behind an explorer with the 3.6 eco boost. It is fine.
My only complaint towing with newer fords now is the aluminum bodies make your vehicle so light to get better mileage. It makes for stressful towing in wind/rain etc. I much prefer my heavy heavy truck. The engines are not my concern. In fact, that bigger eco boost is a freaking beast to tow with. 
 

But you’ll be fine if that was your concern. I will also point out it lacks upgraded tranny cooling so I wouldn’t get anywhere close to making it work hard. 

Has the trailer package with inter cooler 

 

[E-rude dude]

3 hours ago, Glenn said:

I have a 2018 F-150 with a 6-cyl 3.5L ecoboost engine. It has more horsepower and torque than my previous V-10, and my gas mileage averages 19mpg (not towing) compared to 9mpg.

 

It tows like a beast.  Much better than my V-10 ever did. Handles well and doesn't have any issues pulling over mountain passes.  The 10 speed is smooth and doesn't "hunt".

 

32K miles on it so far without any problems.

They are putting this engine in Raptors and Mustangs now. Just programmed and tuned differently

[bulldog1935]

Be careful towing with a short wheel base vehicle.  

 

My dad tows his boat with an Expedition, and at highway speeds, the long couple of the boat trailer can set up divergent oscillation in the short wheelbase truck.  It's fine as long as he limits speed to 65 mph, but much above that, the boat takes over the steering.  

 

Before the Expedition, he had a long wheelbase GMC van that would tow it at any speed.  

 

[huZZah]

1 hour ago, E-rude dude said:

Has the trailer package with inter cooler 

 

There ya go. Like I said, I’ve done it with a camper.  Windy tunnels/rain storms were tense. (Just didn’t feel as secure as I wanted to.) Huge uphill climbs take your time. But you’ll be in spec. A boat is double edged. A bass boat isn’t a sail like some others (or even a small camper), but it is light enough that it sways easy, which sways your back end as someone mentioned. That’s what I don’t like to feel. Just personal. 

[gim]

3 hours ago, huZZah said:

My only complaint towing with newer fords now is the aluminum bodies make your vehicle so light to get better mileage.

That was my experience too going from a Ford SUV to an F-150.  Just seemed like the smaller SUV "labored" too much and the mileage would go significantly down whereas the F-150 mileage stays the same whether or not my boat is back there.

 

The Ranger RT178 is not a heavy boat as Phil has stated so I think an Explorer is fine in his case.  I would be hesitant to tow a larger heavier rig though.

[E-rude dude]

Finally got the 1000 miles pre tow break in done. Went fishing yesterday. Towed 130 miles round trip. The Explorer did really well. The only difference from the F150 is you know the trailer is back there. My mpg was 18.1 @ 70 mph. My F150 averaged 18.3 mpg for the 3 years I owned it. I very impressed.

 

That said My boat package being roughly 2750-2900 lbs with hydraulic brakes, I wouldn’t want to tow anything heavier at highway speeds. 

If you had told me a few years ago I could safely tow my boat with a 4 cylinder engine, I would have laughed at you.?

Its amazing the technology today.

[Captain Phil]

I have owned a bunch of muscle cars in my life.  I have always been a V8 guy and the bigger the better.  Before I knew what was under the hood, I drove my 2020 Explorer at the dealership.  They tell me it's a 4 cylinder.   It's not going to blow away any Hemi Challengers, but it is amazingly peppy.  If you haven't driven one, you should.