2025 Ford Expedition Review

I've landed in Louisville, Kentucky to test drive Ford's flagship SUV, the 2025 Expedition, and I got a special guest, Eric Brent, KBB's very own editor. Now, he's just getting over some sickness so his voice doesn't voice so good. He's going to do voiceover and we're going to get started. If you're wondering why we're in Kentucky, well, this is where Ford's truck plan is located where they assemble the Lincoln Navigator, Ford Super Duty, and the new 5th generation Ford Expedition. Yep, all made in the good ol' US of A. We were able to get right into the mix seeing how the Expedition is assembled, quality controlled, and tested. If you haven't already noticed, the new Expedition looks a little different on the outside. This big body-on-frame, full-size SUV that seats up to 8 passengers is still massive in size but now has redesigned front and rear fascias giving it a nice balance of modern and traditional style, has available 24-inch wheels just in case you want to live out any early 2010 big wheel dreams, and can be had with an extended length max variant for extra cargo room. Throughout the lineup, there are models that look fancy and sophisticated like the Platinum trim I'll be testing on-road, the King Ranch if you want to feel like a cowboy, or rugged and off-road ready with the trimmer model I'll be taking off-road later. One neat feature seen at the Ford plant was the use of AI to find defects in the assembly process to ensure the best possible quality for each Expedition. Pretty cool stuff. I think the exterior looks good with its updates, and I love the huge wheels, but let us know what you think of the new Ford Expedition down in the comment section. Powering the Expedition is a carried over 3.5-liter turbocharged V6 engine. Standard tuning on lower trims allows for 400hp and 480lb-ft of torque, but a high output version making 440hp and 510lb-ft is available on select trims. Both engines are mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission, and RWD as standard, 4WD is optional. If you're planning on towing, RWD and 4WD Expeditions can tow a respective maximum trailer weight of 6,300 and 9,600lbs when properly equipped. The motor in this SUV makes this peppy. It has plenty of power, and it feels like if you need to get on a highway, especially with a cabin full of people, it'll do it with ease. And the good thing is the transmission is shifting nice and smoothly, and even when you're cruising down the road, you can barely notice it doing its thing. That's great. The braking feels nice. It's not very grabby, but it is predictable, and it brings you to a nice smooth stop. There's no hiccups in that application, so just driving this like a normal adult, it feels very conventional and just very easy. An Expedition in RWD form will achieve up to an EPA-estimated 19mpg in combined driving, while 4WD models take a small ding in efficiency with 18mpg combined. While at the Ford plant, we were able to ride along with a quality control technician through a small course of bumps, curves, and rocky roads to ensure that the ride quality of every Expedition that leaves the line is up to spec and doesn't have any rattles, creaks, squeaks, or issues with suspension. With other full-size SUVs offering air suspension, the Expedition's lack of this feature didn't matter because it still felt as though it handled the roads well thanks to redesigned shocks, a retuned suspension, and stiffened body mounts. And even for a little more fun when carving corners, there's a stealth performance package that offers a sports suspension system. This still definitely feels like a massive SUV. You can definitely feel the weight in these corners, like right now going into this right turn. It's big and it's also wide, but it rides really well. The suspension is doing a great job at soaking up the bumps and the ride is nice and supple and smooth. Definitely road trip worthy. I don't really have a problem with the steering. It feels pretty much predictable and it's stable on center, which is nice. You don't have to make a lot of micro adjustments. And there's also different drive modes to change up your driving experience. And the drive mode button is located down here, kind of out of your line of sight. I wish it was somewhere easier to access, like maybe a shortcut in the infotainment system or even a button next to the gear selector, but it's down here. And when you twist it, you can do normal, tow, haul, eco, sport, slippery, and off-road. But for right now, let's put it in sport and see what this thing could do. I mean, I'm not mad at the noise that it makes, but the steering still feels the same and it holds the gears a little bit longer. So if you want to have a sportier driving experience in your big old Expedition, you can do that. Along with the updated look, the Expedition also gets a new cabin layout with what Ford calls a digital experience standard throughout the lineup. This consists of a large 24-inch panoramic display up top, which takes the place of a traditional gauge cluster. And this houses driver information and customizable widgets. And down below is a supplemental 13.2-inch touchscreen that comes with wireless phone connectivity and utilizes Google Assistant or Alexa for in-vehicle controls like finding a destination or setting the temperature. Ford used virtual reality to help design the interior so that they can see what the screens look like in 3D form and how the large panoramic screen fits behind that flat top and bottom steering wheel. Technology, am I right? I'm not sure how I feel about this square steering wheel just yet. I get what it's for. It's so you can see your driver display and it makes ingress and egress easier, but I think it's something you would have to get used to. Also, there are haptic feedback buttons on this steering wheel that not only controls your adaptive cruise control, but it also controls the steering wheel column itself and some other applications like the pedals. So you can move them forward or backwards and you can operate the steering wheel column just by pressing these haptic feedback buttons. Not my favorite. I wish it was just a regular electronically adjustable button or switch down at the bottom. So if you're not a fan of technology, you kind of have to deal with that. And while mentioning the driver display, I like it. It's nice and long. It's clear, easy to read. There's even widgets that you can configure in the infotainment system just in case you want to change it up from the gauges to the weather to your trip meter. And I think it's pretty cool. And another cool feature is this blind spot monitor that shows up on your driver display. Whether you're turning left or right, we see it in a few Kia and Hyundai vehicles, but it's kind of cool to see that application here in this expedition, keeping you a little bit safer. And with this infotainment screen, it works just fine. The maps are nice and clear. It uses Google like, Hey, Google, lower the cabin temperature. Okay. Turning down the temperature by four degrees. And that's kind of cool. I didn't even say temperature, right. And it's still understood and it lowered the temperature in the cabin. Pretty cool. But besides that, the cameras give you a lot of options to work with and yeah, it's really easy to operate. This won't disappoint you. One of the biggest reasons to get such a massive SUV like this is to haul lots of stuff. And who better to tell you all about the new Expedition's cargo area than my colleague, Eric. Take it away, buddy. Ford's biggest SUV has a big cargo hold, but it actually has less cargo space than its closest rivals. When comparing their respective standard wheelbase and long wheelbase variants, the Expedition's rivals from Chevy, GMC and Jeep all have more cargo space. That being said, the long wheelbase Expedition Max has sufficient cargo room behind the third row for camping, grocery trips, and just about any other family adventure. One thing the Expedition has over all of its rivals is a class exclusive Ford split gate. I love this feature. It's been common on BMW and Land Rover SUVs for years, and it's great to see it on a family SUV from a mainstream brand. The split lift gate prevents stuff from rolling out of the cargo area when you open it up. And it makes the Expedition a great tailgating SUV, especially with its optional cargo tailgate manager that can turn into a table or a little bench. Yeah, who doesn't love a good guest voiceover? And that split gate is also able to support up to 500 pounds, so that means two of me can sit on it. The Expedition has up to 108.5 cubic feet of space in the standard length model with the second and third rows folded and up to 123 cubic feet in the Expedition Max. But when the cabin is full of people, everyone, especially the driver, will be comfortable. The seats in here are very comfortable. They have some good support and even some good lateral support, so when you're laid on it like this, it keeps you from swaying left and right. And the cabin feels nice and big and airy thanks to these huge windows and this panoramic sunroof. It feels comfortable. It feels like a living room on wheels. And this is kind of what you want if you're going to be taking long commutes or if you're going to be in traffic for a long time. It just feels like a very nice place to be. But one thing that I'm looking for are the massage seats. Well, hold on, Mike. We found out that the massaging seats only come in the Platinum Ultimate Package, which also adds unique seating upholstery, 24-inch wheels, fancier exterior trim, and some other luxurious upgrades. The one we were driving was the Platinum with the Stealth Performance Package, so it didn't have those fancy massaging seats. Surprisingly, massaging seats are unavailable on the Expedition King Ranch, which starts at over $85,000. Well, thanks, Eric. Anyway, since you want to contribute that buttery smooth voice, I'll let you talk about the back rows. Go for it. The second and third row seating in the new Expedition is, predictably, very spacious for kids and adults alike. Climbing in the second row is easy, and there's plenty of space to stretch out. The seats themselves are comfortable and comparable to the first row. The second row has two big cup holders in the back of the front center console, but they could use better cup holders in the doors. One unique feature of the Expedition is a pair of digital device holders for the second row in lieu of a built-in rear entertainment system. If your passengers use tablets or smartphones for their road trip entertainment, this is an awesome feature for turning them into little TVs, and they can even be plugged in while in use. Climbing in the third row is simple when the Expedition is equipped with second row captain's chairs. Even with the bench second row seat, the tilt and slide feature still makes third row access pretty easy, even with child car seats installed. I test out a lot of three-row SUVs, and the third row of the Expedition is one of the roomiest and most comfortable you'll find anywhere. This third row has a little more space than the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon, and about the same amount of room as the Jeep Wagoneer. I'm an even six feet tall, and had plenty of headroom and legroom in every seat of the Expedition. Even the middle third row has decent width for those times when every seat in the Expedition is occupied. As for amenities in the third row, they get their own cup holders and USB-C ports. And I'll add the third row has a class-exclusive 40-20-40 split bench seat configuration for extra passenger and cargo hauling flexibility. So if you're going fishing or transporting lumber, you don't have to sacrifice too much extra passenger space. And the materials used around the cabin look nice. This is the platinum trim, so it may be a little bit more dolled up than the others, but you have a soft touch dash, and there's not a lot of gloss black around your high touch point areas, especially the window switch gears. But there is a little bit of gloss black near the gear selector, but you do have this rotary dial to select your gears, so hopefully you're not touching this as much. But if you're changing up your gears right here or accessing the cameras, hazard lights, or traction control, then this may get a little smudgy. But besides that, it's comfortable. You got soft touch points on your inboard and outboard armrests, and the steering wheel feels nice in your hands. So you can get in a really comfortable driving position, and you're surrounded by nice trim pieces. But one thing I want to note for the front seat passengers, when I was in that position, it just seemed a little bit empty. It would have been great to have some shelf right in front for your phone, for the passenger's phone, so you could just slide it right there. But it just seems like this big void. Now, I'm not knocking the Expedition's storage capabilities at all, because there is a sunglasses compartment, which I always love. And you also have a console that can move back with a really deep center compartment. And you also have storage up here, which is one party trick the Expedition does nicely. When you move this back, store something up front, and then move it forward, it's going to lock into place when you turn the car off. So it's a little hidden storage cubby. Good job. On top of large door bins and just this situation, you can put a lot of stuff in here. One thing I really appreciate about this new Expedition is how quiet the cabin is. There's not a lot of road or wind noise coming into the cabin, despite this having 22-inch wheels on this platinum trim. And the drive is just really nice. If you want it to zone out and relax, this is definitely the place to do it. And the build quality is pretty nice. With this being so quiet, I don't hear any squeaks or rattles. One complaint, though, is there's no digital rear view mirror. So if this cabin was packed out with people or supplies or whatever you have, camping gear, who knows? How are you going to see out the back window? Over both my shoulders looks fine, thanks to these large windows. But going straight back, it will be nice to have that digital rear view mirror. If you're in need of safety features, the Expedition has a litany of standard driver assist tech, including a 360-degree camera, automatic emergency braking, lane keep assist, and pro-trailer hitch assist and pro-trailer backup assist. And if you're looking to relax, Blue Cruise hands-free driving assist will be available on higher-trimmed models. And this latest iteration of Blue Cruise works great. And it's actually pretty easy to operate. You just press the adaptive cruise control button on the steering wheel, and right away, it lets you know that it's hands-free. Now, you have to use these haptic controls on the left side of the steering wheel to control your speed and your distance. So I'll just go the speed limit, and there you go. It makes it almost foolproof to let you know the system is in hands-free mode. Now, with this new system, it also slows you down a little bit more going into turns, and it also works with the lane centering. When you're approaching a semi, it scoots you over away from the semi, which is great. So you won't feel paranoid driving next to a semi with an autonomous driving system. So we're going to test that out right now. So as I'm approaching a semi, it's showing that I'm in the center of the lane. And as I scoot a little bit closer, come on, go, go, go, it will scooch me over to the side. And it shows you a little graphic of your expedition of your lane positioning. And when you pass the semi, it goes right back to the middle. It's a good system, great for long road trips. So the Expedition is great on road. It's a highway warrior, and it's very comfortable, but this is on road. We're going to see what the Expedition Tremor model is about when we take it off road. The fifth generation Ford Expedition introduces a first ever off-road capable Tremor model to the lineup, replacing that timber line that everyone had such a fun time pronouncing. It only comes with the standard wheelbase and gets a more rugged look on the outside with dark trim pieces, 33 inch all-terrain tires with electric spice orange accents letting you know where the valve stems are located, 10.6 inches of ground clearance, orange colored recovery points, unique lighting near the roof and in the grill, under body protection for the fuel tank, front axle, and transfer case, and of course, Tremor branded seats. It comes with that high output engine, four-wheel drive, and a two-speed transfer case, all as standard kit. So now I'm in the Expedition Tremor, and I'm in off-road mode, and my rear lockers are locked. So this Tremor model has no problem putting power down, especially with those 33 inch tires. It gets really good traction, and this is really confidence inspiring. It feels easy. The suspension is actually really comfortable. We're going over all of these rocks. It's doing a good job at keeping out a lot of the big jarring motions from entering the seat, and yeah, it's soaking them up really nicely. The Expedition in front of me is slipping and sliding, so my daddy's gonna go. Let's do this. Oh yeah, no slipping and sliding for me. Now that's how you take a line. Eric is having such a good time. He can't talk so good. I hope they put that in there. The Expedition Tremor has a uniquely tuned suspension for off-road use and some useful added tech. There's an added rock crawl mode, trail turn assist, trail one pedal drive mode, and trail cameras to help you stay on path. Right now I have this really deep and slippery mud section, and the Expedition is doing great. Even in four high, there's still enough torque to just get us through. Power's getting put down to the ground. Oh, we got some water right here. Get a little bit of momentum going. Oh yeah, front sensor's not available. That's fun. Copy that. Big log in front, but my danger's up ahead. One cool thing is the cameras, the trail camera, which has a forward facing camera to help me out of a really tight situation like I was just in, but as long as I'm looking at this and the top down view, it helps out a tremendous amount. One thing to help out with going through these trails is this one pedal mode, which actually acts like the EV's one pedal drive mode. You just use one pedal for the acceleration and the vehicle does the braking for you. It doesn't really give me that conventional feel that I want off-road, especially when I need to utilize momentum, so I'll turn it off. If that's your thing, go ahead and use it. One cool thing about it, I'll actually do an example right now, is that when you are using one pedal and you're on a hill, it will stop on a hill, but make sure you don't stop on a really slippery hill because you're going to end up going backwards or getting stuck and it won't be in your control. I'm going to just get through this and then one pedal drive mode, you can be turned off and there you go. Easy peasy. So the Expedition has pleasant road manners on road and this Expedition trimmer is very off-road capable, but is the price going to send you running to the bank? Pricing for a base Expedition active model starts at $63,995, which includes destination and moving up to the extended length max version will add another three grand to that. The platinum trim before options start at $76,425. The new off-road ready Expedition trimmer begins at $83,025 and the priciest Expedition of the bunch goes to the King Ranch model starting at $85,650. Yippee-ki-yay. If you're going to be in the market for a full-size SUV like the Ford Expedition or maybe even a competitor, be sure to go on kbb.com and let Kelly Blue Book help you get a fair purchase price. kbb.com, click that link that Eric's pointing to. He can't talk so good. Some competitors that were mentioned earlier in this large full-size SUV segment include the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, Chevy Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Yukon XL, and also includes the Nissan Armada and Toyota Sequoia. Yeah, the Expedition can get a little pricey for upper trims, but Ford gives shoppers plenty of options to hone in on their ideal people mover and keeps this big boy fresh with a new look, cool tech, and various ways to keep their drivers lingering longer to fully enjoy their family ride inside and out. If you're interested in the Expedition, they're available at dealerships now. The Ford Expedition, it's big, roomy, comfortable enough to fit full-size adults in the back, has lots of tech, it'll keep you safe, it's hands-free, and there's that new split gate just in case you want to do some camping, tailgating, or whatever the adventure calls for. And if all of that sounds good to you, check out one for yourself.