2026 Ford Explorer Tremor First Drive： Who Are You Callin’ a Crossover？

Greetings from beautiful Death Valley, and somewhere underneath this layer of dust and grime is the new 2026 Ford Explorer Tremor. As you can see, we've been trying it out a bit before we started this video. Now, Tremor is Ford's off-road-ready line of vehicles. They are meant to be not just appearance packages, but functional packages. Tremor started on the pickup trucks. In 2025, we have the first Tremor SUV, which is the Expedition. And now the newest addition to the family is the Explorer Tremor. What has been done to the 2026 Explorer to Tremorize it? Well, it has a unique bumper that's made to give it a little bit better approach angle, so obstacles are closer to the tire rather than ripping off any plastic. You can see these functional tow hooks and trimmed it up in orange spice, not to be confused with orange slice, which is a soda, or at least was when I was a kid. It's got about one more inch of ground clearance, and it has 18-inch wheels with these all-terrain tires. The wheels are unique. You notice this orange spice section right here. And the purpose of that is to make it easier to find the valve stem. So, if you have to let a little air out of the tires for better off-roading and then pump them back up again, that becomes a lot simpler. Has a little bit lower gear ratio, comes standard with all-wheel drive, of course, and has a Torsen limited-slip differential. Minimal changes out back, little bit different rear bumper to keep those exhausts better tucked away and keep them free of damage. Inside, we have this fantastic new interior that was introduced on the 2025 Explorer and lots of orange spice stitching. Ford gives you a choice of engines. You can have the 4-cylinder 2.3-liter EcoBoost with 300 horsepower. This vehicle has the optional 400 horsepower 3-liter twin-turbo V6 EcoBoost engine. Both of them come coupled to a 10-speed automatic and standard-fit all-wheel drive. Pricing for the 2026 Explorer Tremor starts at $50,160, and you get all the functional off-roading stuff. That's all included in that price, but there are plenty of options. In fact, all the creature comforts that you can get in a Ford Explorer ST Platinum, you can also get in a Tremor. That brings the price up to just under $65,000, which is where this vehicle is. Now, it's all well and good for Ford to say that it's a functional package, but we need to find out. So, let's hop back in and head back into them thar hills. There's gold there, son, don't you know? The Explorer Tremor is a very interesting prospect as an off-roader. It strikes me as having an ability level somewhere between a high-clearance crossover and a full-on off-road SUV or pickup truck. One of the advantages is you have a north-south engine transmission arrangement, so you have a really nice, sharp wheel cut. It can turn very sharply and get around obstacles really well, considering its fairly big size. But you still have a four-wheel independent suspension, and even with that extra inch of ground clearance, you're a bit limited by what you can get over, and the axle articulation is not nearly what it would be for something with live axles. We are doing some pretty gnarly trails here in Death Valley, not a place I would take an ordinary crossover, and it's doing really well. We have definitely needed those three steel skid plates a few times. In fact, we just crunched over a rock about a second ago, and here's one that I think we might scrape on. Are we going to? No, not quite. Plenty of low-end torque from the big V6. It's actually crawled its way at idle speed over most of the obstacles. It works pretty much like any other all-wheel-drive crossover. If you cease to make forward motion, you just feed in a little more throttle and wait for the system to figure it out. I have to say, I'm very impressed with how this thing off-roads. This is not a place I would take your run-of-the-mill crossover, aside from occasional bang on those skid plates. The Explorer Tremor is doing quite beautifully, riding comfortably, not tossing us around too much, and for something that is as entertaining and enjoyable to drive on-road, really quite remarkable. I have to say, Ford is very big in the off-road segment with the Raptors and the Broncos, and there really is a lot of know-how that they have brought to this vehicle. It's doing really well. This is the real deal. A great adventure vehicle, and what's nice is it doesn't make you suffer when you're driving on-road. Now, as we leave our off-road trails for pavement and we turn back into normal, and talk about how the Explorer Tremor drives on-road. Now, one of the challenges that the engineers faced, they told us, was tuning the suspension for good off-road performance without losing Explorer's core competency of a comfortable, family-friendly ride, because, of course, Explorer Tremors will spend most of their time on the pavement, and they've done a really nice job. The ride of this thing is very comfortable. Those off-road tires do add a little bit more road noise. They also make the turn-in a little squidgier, and that's important because you can make some serious time in this thing. Now, if you work for the National Park Service or the local constabulatory, I'm going to ask you if you could skip the next 30 seconds for the rest of us. I've got to tell you, around here, Death Valley, people don't always pay attention to the speed limits. So, this has the 400-horsepower, 415-pound-foot, 3-liter twin-turbo V6, and when you put your foot down, boy, it really goes. I have been slowing down for the turns because, like I said, that turn-in with the off-road tires is a little bit squidgy. One other thing Ford told us is that the Explorer Tremor for 2026 has the latest version of Blue Cruise. This is their hands-off driver assistance system that works on mapped roads. Well, we tried it. We drove a couple hours of freeway from Las Vegas out to Death Valley, and we weren't able to get it to work. We had lane centering on. We followed all the instructions, but it would just not go to hands-off mode. So, we didn't get a chance to try it, and that's too bad because one of the things it is supposed to do is automated lane changes, just like GM's Super Cruise, where if it comes up to a vehicle moving five miles an hour or more slower than your set speed, it'll signal when it's safe, move out past the vehicle, and move back to the right lane. At least that's what they told us. We weren't able to try it. Not the first time we have had trouble activating Blue Cruise, so hopefully Ford will take a look at that. Other than that, well, what's the verdict on this here Explorer Tremor? I have to tell you, my first impression, I am favorably impressed. You know, the Tremor package is a functional off-road package. This thing certainly went a lot further off-road, tackled more severe obstacles than I would expect from a large, family-friendly crossover. So, my first impression of the Ford Explorer Tremor is very, very favorable. And listen, at $50,000 to start with, $65,000 with all the goodies, including Blue Cruise and massaging seats, well, in today's market, as expensive as vehicles have gotten, that is not a bad deal, I am afraid to say. So, for more about the Ford Explorer Tremor, other Tremor vehicles, and all things automotive, please visit us on the web at MotorTrend.com.