Our family was away for a week long trip and we had a rental, a 2016 Ford Expedition with the 3.5 EcoBoost. This was my first experience with an EcoBoost and I was pleasantly surprised. The exterior and interior seem a bit dated compared to others in its class (style wise) but styling is subjective. Fit and finish was good, everything seemed to be screwed together nicely. No squeaks, rattles or anything of that nature. I am not sure what trim level it was but it had a leather interior, leather "trimmed" actually. The front seats were leather on all surfaces your body touches, middle seats only had leather inserts, and rear seat were full on vinyl. The leather did seem to be of good quality though, and vinyl surfaces felt very durable. It has a infotainment center like most modern vehicles. It did lag a little at times but wasn't bad overall. It wasn't all that user friendly, you can control the front climate control by hard buttons or by the screen, but you can only control the rear climate control up front by using the screen. It took us a while to figure that out, as there are buttons in the rear but they don't work until you enable them from the infotainment screen.
Ok now I'll mention the driving dynamics. Steering was meh, ride was meh, throttle response was good, breaking was...hard to get used too. I'll elaborate just a bit. The weight of the steering was where you would want it to be for a large suv, but due to the size of the vehicle and how much it rolls it almost felt unresponsive, you would turn in then wait for the body to catch up if you know what I mean. The ride was smooth but too mushy for my taste, it wasn't floaty but again it has too much roll. High speed lane changes are NOT confidence inspiring at all, not that anyone would drive this way under normal circumstances but if you are up to highway speed and quickly have to dodge an object it almost felt dangerous as the body wants to keep going strait as you quickly turn the wheel one way or the other, just a slow response time. Throttle response is good from a stop and that EcoBoost has plenty of power scooting away from a stop, but when you "give it the beans" at speed it takes a solid 2 seconds at times before you start picking up speed, but once the turbo's spool up your golden and have plenty of power. It has sufficient braking power for sure, but it takes a while to adjust too it, there were plenty of times when everyones head got jerked forward because the brakes bite too soon. Its a great thing to have brakes don't get me wrong...I just wish they were more linear. Its nice to be able to rest your foot on the brake pedal and not lurch forward in your seat. Gas mileage was great for an SUV of this size, we were getting around 18 on average with the car packed full of humans and luggage with the A/C on medium or higher for most of the trip.
Ok so maybe this wasn't the shortest review but I just wanted to throw my thoughts out there as I know some of you like reading these rental reviews. Overall I did enjoy the car, the biggest complaint I had was the sloppy handling at speed, not confidence inspiring at all! After a week of being in the Expedition it renews my love of the car (sedan / coupe) type automobile, which offer a much more engaging drive. It felt great hopping back in my Accord today where I can once again enjoy the driving dynamics it has to offer.
Exactly what ours looked like...
Ok now I'll mention the driving dynamics. Steering was meh, ride was meh, throttle response was good, breaking was...hard to get used too. I'll elaborate just a bit. The weight of the steering was where you would want it to be for a large suv, but due to the size of the vehicle and how much it rolls it almost felt unresponsive, you would turn in then wait for the body to catch up if you know what I mean. The ride was smooth but too mushy for my taste, it wasn't floaty but again it has too much roll. High speed lane changes are NOT confidence inspiring at all, not that anyone would drive this way under normal circumstances but if you are up to highway speed and quickly have to dodge an object it almost felt dangerous as the body wants to keep going strait as you quickly turn the wheel one way or the other, just a slow response time. Throttle response is good from a stop and that EcoBoost has plenty of power scooting away from a stop, but when you "give it the beans" at speed it takes a solid 2 seconds at times before you start picking up speed, but once the turbo's spool up your golden and have plenty of power. It has sufficient braking power for sure, but it takes a while to adjust too it, there were plenty of times when everyones head got jerked forward because the brakes bite too soon. Its a great thing to have brakes don't get me wrong...I just wish they were more linear. Its nice to be able to rest your foot on the brake pedal and not lurch forward in your seat. Gas mileage was great for an SUV of this size, we were getting around 18 on average with the car packed full of humans and luggage with the A/C on medium or higher for most of the trip.
Ok so maybe this wasn't the shortest review but I just wanted to throw my thoughts out there as I know some of you like reading these rental reviews. Overall I did enjoy the car, the biggest complaint I had was the sloppy handling at speed, not confidence inspiring at all! After a week of being in the Expedition it renews my love of the car (sedan / coupe) type automobile, which offer a much more engaging drive. It felt great hopping back in my Accord today where I can once again enjoy the driving dynamics it has to offer.
Exactly what ours looked like...