The 2026 Ford Explorer Tremor Is An Adventure Seeking Off-Road SUV With Tremendous Power

When Ford first introduced the original Explorer to the world all the way back in 1991, it essentially started America's obsession with SUVs. Now the original model was quite a different animal versus what we know today. It was a body-on-frame SUV with a live axle at the back and a real four-wheel drive system with a low range transfer case. It actually had some very impressive off-road credentials. Now sadly Ford left that heritage behind when they introduced an all-new version of the Explorer back in 2011 that was a unibody construction and it grew into a more family-oriented vehicle. Now of course roughly three years ago Ford gave us an all-new fifth generation Explorer moving the vehicle back to a rear drive architecture but still giving us a unibody construction. But for 2026 Ford is looking to lean back into their off-road heritage with the introduction of this model. This is the first ever 2026 Explorer Tremor. It borrows a lot of the off-road hardware that we see from a lot of Ford's off-road oriented pickup trucks and to test out this brand new model Ford has actually brought us all the way out to Death Valley California to see what this new Explorer Tremor is made of and the big question I want answered has Ford managed to successfully create an off-road oriented Explorer that blends the attributes of a family SUV? Stay tuned to find out. Now technically this isn't Ford's first attempt into doing an off-road oriented Explorer built on their unibody architecture. They first offered a Timberline Explorer back in 2020 when this sixth generation came out. However of course for 2026 the Tremor is what replaces it and Ford's trying to simplify basically simplify their off-road trim lines because Tremor used to be associated with trucks while Timberline was kind of on SUVs. Now of course the off-road models are going to be known as Tremor. Before we start talking about the styling changes and the hardware upgrades let's go ahead and talk about what's going on underneath the hood because underneath here you're going to find a very unique powertrain. In fact Ford has been known for a few years now for offering the most power in the segment and that continues even for the Tremor. The base engine is the company's 2.3 liter turbocharged EcoBoost 4-cylinder that makes 300 horsepower. However this is the engine you want if you guys are enthusiasts. It's the 3 liter twin turbo direct injection EcoBoost V6 from the Explorer ST and then in the Tremor here it continues to make 400 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque. That's the most power you're going to find in the segment. Keep in mind a lot of competitors only offer around 280 to maybe 300 horsepower so this is a big upgrade if you guys are looking for speed. It all goes out through a 10-speed automatic transmission and because this is a Tremor it comes standard with Ford's intelligent all-wheel drive system with I believe six different drive modes and this is the only trim to give you a limited slip rear differential at the back for improved traction. Now fuel economy is the worst of the Explorer family rated at 17 in the city, 22 on the highway, around 19 combined. This has a 20.2 gallon fuel tank. You're looking at around 380 miles of range on a full tank. That's of course on premium recommended but you can get with running this vehicle on regular gas. Now Ford doesn't quote a zero to 60 time. The last ST that we tested took 5.1 seconds. I suspect this model should be almost as quick. Towing capacity is around 5,000 pounds. You should have a top speed of around 120 miles an hour and as this car sits I also expect this to be the heaviest Explorer of the family but still weighing in at around 4,800 pounds so it's not as heavy as some of the Explorer's electrified competition that you may find. But let's go ahead and close up the hood here which as you can see is held up by a prop rod and talk about the exterior styling. Now I apologize for how dirty the vehicle is. We actually took this vehicle out on a few off-road trails which you'll see later on during the driving scene but as you can see this is the kind of pearl white exterior that you get that's part of an extra charge and it pairs beautifully with the updated sheet metal on the 2026 Explorer. First of all Ford gave it a big refresh last year where they enlarged the grille. They made the headlights a little bit larger as well. You have full LED headlights as standard which have a reflector LED low and high beam LED daytime running light LED turn signals. You also have LED fog lights down here at the lower fascia and then as you can see on the grille of the tremor there's actually an LED off-road light bar. As you can see there's two individual LEDs over here. This is only activated when you have the vehicle's high beams turned on but it actually illuminates the road impressively. You can only use it in off-road situations obviously and I actually like the way it looks with the kind of electric spice accents that you get with the metallic pearly white. It almost kind of looks like a cop car to me from certain angles especially if you guys have it in a dark color. Down here you can see you have the functional electric spice tow hooks of course. These are going to allow you to basically pull yourself free or pull other vehicles if you're stuck off-roading. There's also another silver metallic piece here. This is actually metal and that's part of the underbody skid plates and bash plates that you get as standard with the tremor model. Ford actually gave this vehicle some genuine hardware to actually improve the off-road capability and they also raised the suspension. Ford says you have a total of around 8.7 inches of ground clearance which is technically among the best in the segment. That's around a half an inch more versus some of its other off-road oriented rivals. Now moving around the side profile as you can see the Explorer got a big refresh last year so the dimensions haven't changed. This is about the right size for a three-row mid-size SUV at 198.8 inches long with a 119.1 inch wheelbase. This is a couple inches shorter though versus some of the newer and bigger rivals. Although I personally like the proportions of the Explorer in general. You can see the wheels. These are the unique 18 inch alloy wheels that you get on the Tremor trim. They have a gloss black finish to them and they're wrapped in a Bridgestone Dueler all-terrain tire. So this is a 31.5 inch tall all-terrain tire. You'll notice the black wheels have a little a little bit of an electric spice accent there on one of the spokes and that's because it's intentional. You can see that's where your valve stem is located so that's where you can easily locate it especially if you have the wheel extra dirty like this. Brakes are basically the same upsized brakes that you get on the Explorer ST which also shares those brakes with the Explorer police interceptor vehicles because as you guys know a lot of cop police departments use this for their vehicles. You can see the cladding along the side is pretty tasteful. I actually applaud Ford for not using too much overdone cladding around the side for the wheel arch trim around the side sill. As you can see the mirrors are also black painted here. They're power folding with integrated turn signals. A full 360 camera is actually standard on the Tremor and that's an important feature which we'll show you guys later when we're off-roading the vehicle. You can see these roof rails also are standard. You do have a panoramic glass roof. That glass roof is part of a Ultimate package that's around $11,000 extra that's included with the V6. That roof sadly does not open up to vent air for 2026. Ford actually said they took away the opening portion this year because they said customers didn't really open the roof so that's why they took it away. Coming over to the back of the vehicle you can see for the most part this is pretty standard stuff to the updates that Ford made last year to the vehicle. The Tremor does have some unique styling elements. You can see it's got a pretty pronounced spoiler at the back. Your third brake light sits over there. The rear wiper sits at the base of the windshield back here. I actually would have liked it if Ford kind of hid that over there. You can see it still boldly spells out Explorer back here. The taillights have like a darker look to them. They also have a LED turn signal, LED brake light, LED reverse light as well. And then down here you can see massive Tremor badge. I actually think the Tremor badge looks a little bit too big for the back of the vehicle but it lets everybody know you again you have a special Explorer. And then down here you can see the rear bumper has a slightly different look with the integrated toe hooks or toe hitch of course. There is no full-size spare. This car comes with a temporary spare which is an area where I think Ford could have improved. And as you can also see unlike the ST it doesn't have a quad outlet exhaust system. Instead it just has a dual outlet that kind of tips downward and that's because again this is the more more off-road oriented model. You won't be able to really tell this is the V6. There's no badging here anything like that. So I love how Ford kind of kept it pretty stealthy if you guys are looking for a model that has you know the this kind of performance. Now in terms of the cargo area as you can see this hasn't really changed from other Explorer models. You have around 16.6 cubic feet of storage space. That's with the third row up. A third row is going to be standard. There is an option to get the third rows to be power folding and once you get that option you can see it's part of that ultimate package. You basically push that button. It power folds the third row down and it folds down relatively quickly. It also creates that flat load floor as you can see. Ford says it expands the cargo to around 43 cubic feet of storage space with that third row down. That's probably how a lot of people are going to have it if you just plan to carry two in the back. If you fold down everything Ford says the maximum cargo is a little over 86 cubic feet of space. So keep in mind some rivals like the new Grand Highlander for example offer as much as 10 cubic feet of additional space but this is pretty similar in terms of storage space to something like the Honda Pilot Trailsport or the new Nissan Pathfinder. So on the outside Ford made some pretty tasteful upgrades to the styling of the Tremor trim and on the inside you're going to also see a couple of changes here and there. The most notable one of course is are the seats. You can see the seats are kind of unique to the Tremor. It's a combination of their ActiveX with the Nico suede material. The seats themselves are also heated and ventilated. That's going to be standard equipment. The driver also has like a 12-way power adjustment which is the same thing on the passenger side. You get a three-person memory function and you also have the yellow electric spice accents or orange electric spice accents with the Tremor badging. My particular test car however has the ultimate package which also rolls in a massaging seat. That's right you can get massaging front seats which is a feature you simply cannot get in a lot of its rivals. So I love how Ford is offering a lot of luxury features even on the more off-road oriented trim. Now getting inside as you can see the step-in is nice and easy with that 8.7 inches of ground clearance as I shut the door. The door has a nice solid sounding thunk. Remember this is built on their newest rear drive unibody architecture. Now starting the vehicle up you can see this is Ford's latest intelligent access key. It's a little bit of a fat key fob for me but it has all the typical buttons here for unlock, lock, remote start, power liftgate for the trunk area and then a panic function. When you want to start the vehicle up this start stop button is right here where you'd expect it to be. And remember this vehicle is not a hybrid or a hybrid so it has a very traditional starter noise and really I like the sound that it makes. I mean this is that twin turbo V6 from the ST and it definitely has a nice noise too. I mean if you guys aren't really fans of four cylinders this is definitely going to be an improvement. But remember the base engine is that 2.3 liter EcoBoost which actually didn't sound too bad in the last one that I tested. Now in terms of the rest of the interior materials the Explorer tremor is actually pretty decent here. You can see the door panel has like a soft touch injection molded plastic here. There's a silver painted plastic door handler here. You can see there's like a texturized trim here which is plastic but it tries to make it feel like a brushed aluminum look with some more silver painted plastic trim here. You can see the window controls they are one touch up and down for all four or I'm sorry they're one touch up down for the front but not for the rear. So I kind of wish that Ford would have made them one touch for all of them. This model also has a 14 speaker Bang & Olufsen stereo. It's part of that ultimate package that sounds really good if you guys are an audiophile. Down here in the lower portion it is hard touch plastic with some additional door storage but it looks good with the electric spice accents. You can see the steering wheel also looks almost like it's kind of a variation of the steering wheel from the ST. I love the flat bottom design. I love how it feels in the nine and three position. You have paddles here to control the 10 speed auto. This model however does lack a power tilt telescoping steering wheel. You find that I believe in the Explorer Platinum trim. You can see a head-up display is also missing. You can't get that in this vehicle but you do have the same kind of soft touch injection molded plastic here. You almost have like a sound bar that kind of goes across the dash here for the Bang & Olufsen stereo. More of that texturized plastic trim here and you can see more leather or the ActiveX material with the electric spice contrast looks really nice there. Ford gives you still a dedicated volume knob and a couple of actual hard buttons and then the big upgrade that Ford gave the Explorer last year was the new infotainment system. So this is now their 13.2 inch my four or not my four touch for digital experience. So this is replacing SYNC 4 obviously from their previous software system but this is just a big improvement. It has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as you can see. It's pretty quick and snappy. You can also expand it out to take up more of the screen if you'd like but if you want to leave the native system there you can. There's the home display there. It actually has Google built into the navigation software which is pretty quick and snappy. Again this is pretty similar to what you might find on your you know home computer. So this is all very impressive stuff. It's a big improvement versus what Ford was offering in the past and you can see here if you go to this little page you can adjust the ambient lighting. You can adjust the massage seat function there. It offers three different types or three different intensities and like five different types of massage. It's actually a very impressive massage and what I like about Ford's system is it actually stays on until you turn the massage off. It doesn't shut off after like 10 to 15 minutes like some other manufacturers so that's a big big improvement there. The driver display is also a fully digital 12.3 inch cluster that is slightly customizable. If I start adjusting the drive mode you can see it actually shows you what mode you have it in. There's a total of I believe seven different drive modes or six different drive modes. We'll try out the off-road mode and the sport setting later on during the driving scene. Most of you will probably just have it in normal but again it's just much faster. The software has improved so much versus Ford's in the past. I remember if you'd switch the drive modes it'd be a little bit laggy and slow so this is again a big improvement of Ford's new digital experience. Now down here you can see there's a little storage shelf but if you're probably noticing there used to be a wireless phone charging pad on this side over here. Ford has removed that for 2026. They told us that their wireless charger on the old models or the pre previous model year a lot of owners complained that it didn't work. It overheated their phone so they took it out for 2026 and they're saying that they're looking for a different supplier so it's probably going to come back for 2027 but just know if you're looking at a 2026 Explorer it doesn't have a wireless phone charging pad because they are looking for a different supplier for it. Now down here though you're going to find your two USB-C charging ports or it's a USB-C and a USB-A along with a 12 volt additional storage over there which is nice. You have the same kind of leather and contrast stitching over here. This controls the 10-speed auto. If I put the vehicle into reverse you can see there's your backup camera which gives you a full 360 trajectory, distance markers, parking sensors. You can also bring that here and bring up several different views. You can also bring up a trailer view if you guys plan to tow which is very impressive. If I switch the drive mode into its off-road setting when you go into off-road setting it actually opens up to other views. You can see a front curb view there. You can also see the rear tires as well. This is a great feature if you guys are actually doing some off-roading. We'll show you guys that later on. You can also bring up a top-down view as well. So this is all pretty impressive technology and I love the fact that Ford makes it standard on the tremor. It really helps out when you're off-roading. Now over here in the center console you can see it's nice and padded which offers a pretty deep storage console area with lots of additional storage. The glove compartment you can see here is huge. It's damped but not lined with felt. More additional storage over there which is fantastic. There's also a little bit of a small little storage area over there just for the passenger side. And then above me you can see there is LED lighting and this big panoramic glass roof which has a retractable shade. However you're probably noticing it doesn't actually open up to vent air. Again that Ford said that they removed that opening feature for 2026 because they said their owners said that they don't actually open the sunroof. I personally think it's a cost-cutting measure. Perhaps they'll rectify that for the 2027 model year at some point but at least it does have a glass roof. That is part of a pretty pricey ultimate package for around 12,000 bucks. But overall the interior definitely has a very you know high-tech feel. I like the size of the screens and how they're standard. I like the build quality. I think the seats are comfortable. The massage function is what really nice. I'm just a little sad to see Ford remove the wireless phone charging pad and the moonroof doesn't actually open up. There's also no head-up display but in general Ford is offering a lot more features on the tremor version versus a lot of other rivals that offer like an off-road oriented model. But let's go ahead and hop into the back seat area. I can show you guys what the space is like back here. Now as you can see this model has captain's chairs which does lower the seating capacity to six. That's because the third row in this vehicle doesn't actually carry three people across. I like the fact that the second row captain's chairs basically have the same you know tremor badging there on the actual seat back. You have the same Nico suede with the ActiveX material. These seats also are two level heated which is a nice touch. But once I get back here as you can see space in the Explorer is definitely usable but it's also not class leading and that's kind of where the Explorer is starting to show some of its weaknesses compared to its rivals. First of all door panel materials are soft touch back here which is nice. Same silver painted plastic door handle here with some aluminum look trim. Nice padded area where you'd rest your elbow and then the windows like I mentioned earlier they're not one touch up or down in the back. I would like to see retractable shades. That's a feature that a lot of families really like. There is obviously an armrest here that folds down so you can get comfortable. You can slide this seat forward and back which Ford says you have around 37 and a half inches of leg room back here. 37 and a half is usable and it's good but some rivals offer as much as like 40 plus inches of leg room. So you are giving up some space but this is basically my driving position. Plenty of foot space for me. I can easily cross my legs and get comfortable. There's not a completely flat floor here though. If you have a bench seat you have to kind of deal with that and then you can see back here you do have your own set of climate controls. Three zone two level heated seats but no cooled seats. Ford does not offer that here on the Explorer. You have two USB-C charging ports an actual power outlet there and you can see those are your cup holders that fold down. They're pretty puny. Honestly these are really really bad cup holders. I suspect that a lot of owners will notice that but thankfully Ford gives you another cup holder here on the door. You have two storage cubbies here and then you can see the glass roof does take up some headroom space. In fact at five foot seven I only have maybe like two inches of clearance so it's actually a little tight. So this glass roof keep in mind does take up headroom space. If you don't want this you can't get the V6. It's paired together with that twin turbo V6 but let me go ahead and hop into the second row or the third row area which by the way if you want to get into the third row there's a little lever here at the top. You kind of just slide that forward the seat will push itself out of the way when you push it and getting back here let's go ahead and show you guys what that space is like. Now first of all I'm going to move the seat all the way back here to show you guys what the space is like. Now Ford says you have around 32 inches of legroom back here. 32 inches is acceptable. Some rivals offer as much as like four or three more inches of legroom back here so this is with the seat all the way back. At five foot seven my knees kind of graze the seat back a little bit so that's a little annoying. You do have air vents in the third row and in the second row. They're in the ceiling. The head restraints they're at a decent position and the seat itself feels pretty low. That's the one I'm noticing about it doesn't offer much thigh support. It's not wide enough to carry three people across like some rivals. The windows back here are a little bit on the small side so it can feel a little bit claustrophobic. You do have however a cup holder back here. No soft touch materials whatsoever. On this side however you have two USB-C charging ports and another storage area but in general this is kind of where the Explorer is showing a little bit of a disadvantage here because if you're comparing this vehicle to like the new Hyundai Palisade which offers heated third rows and like an additional three more inches of legroom this is going to feel a little bit more like a penalty box so keep in mind if you're looking to carry you know up to six seven people in comfort the Explorer is going to be on the tighter side in the third row area. So starting off the driving portion for the Explorer Tremor I'm going to actually start on the road first because I want to test out what this vehicle is like to drive on the road. We're going to take the car off-road later on but this model that we're driving is equipped with the three liter twin turbo EcoBoost V6 from the ST. It still makes 400 horsepower 415 pound feet of torque which means this should be pretty quick in terms of acceleration. We are sitting at around 3,000 feet above sea level however so let's go ahead and see what we can get here. All right on that run there which is honestly almost perfectly level we got 0 to 60 in 5.3 seconds. 5.3 is pretty impressive considering the fact that we are at around 3,000 feet above sea level. This model is probably going to be the heaviest version of the Explorer because it has the extra weight of the all-terrain tires, the lifted suspension, the skid plates of course so it's probably closer to like a 5,000 pound SUV which is pretty heavy but at the same time it's not as bad as some other electrified competitors but what I like about this engine is just the the sound. That's a V6 that's twin turbocharged. It's the most power you're going to find in the off-road midsize three-row crossover segment. It really makes this thing feel punchier than a lot of its rivals. Keep in mind this is the uprated engine you can get this with a 2.3 liter turbocharged V6 or turbocharged four-cylinder. This is again the V6 which is still pretty fantastic. Let's try one more run here. Really launches pretty well and that 10 speed has just really fast shifts. Now this is with it slightly more downhill but we got 5.08 seconds there. Wow that's pretty impressive. I mean that's basically almost as fast as the Explorer ST. Now keep in mind I'll have to wait until I get one back home to test for a week to see if we can get a consistent time but we'll just say five point low five second range is pretty consistent. Keep in mind if you want the four-cylinder turbo that's going to probably add around a second to a second and a half extra in the 0-60 time. Now here out on the road remember the Explorer Tremor has a uniquely tuned suspension. Now it gives you an extra inch of ground clearance. This I believe has the most ground clearance in its segment at just under nine inches of ground clearance which is pretty fantastic. It has a nice commanding view of the road. The ride quality in this Explorer Tremor is also on the softer side. The last ST that I drove back home definitely had a firmer tune to the suspension. This is definitely better in that regard. It has that smoother ride because of the bigger all-terrain tires with more sidewall protection. It's nice to have that a little extra protection there which is going to help you of course when you're going off-road. Visibility out of this truck is also pretty good. I can see out of the front and the rear easily actually. This model however is missing a digital camera rear view mirror but in general the Explorer Tremor is easy to drive and you don't really feel a compromise in the driving dynamics with this vehicle even though it's more off-road oriented. In fact when you have the transmission even in its normal mode it still really pulls hard and it's really responsive as well. I love how this thing just pulls so hard anytime you put your foot down and then when you go around some corners here or this turn you can feel the steering in this car definitely is light and numb. The ST is going to give you more of that better handling dynamics. Remember the Explorer is now a rear drive architecture but at the same time it feels still pretty car-like and it has a nice balanced feel because of that rear drive architecture. It's a little bit it's got a little bit of a better weight distribution than some of its rivals but it's also pretty quiet in here. Aside from that snarl that you get from the V6 which I love the snarl that this car has it certainly is a pretty fun car to drive. The brakes in this vehicle they don't feel as initially grabby as the ST's brakes but at the same time this is still a 5,000 pound SUV so you're going to have to remind yourself that even though the Explorer is one of the sportier driving vehicles in the segment it's still relatively easy to drive this vehicle and it's also easy to see out of which is important. This is a car that people are going to use as a family vehicle in everyday basis. Put my foot down here it's still so fast. I love the sound it's just it's a shame that if you want this V6 in this car it's expensive. It's an extra it's part of like a package that basically pushes the price up by almost $12,000 so keep that in mind. In terms of efficiency this model is going to be the least efficient Explorer in the lineup rated at $1722. I have been driving this vehicle basically for the past couple of days we took it on some longer road trips. We had to drive this vehicle from Vegas all the way to Death Valley which is almost a little over two hours and the vehicle was averaging around 21 miles to the gallon and mostly highway driving there so you do have to pay a penalty. Now if you get the four-cylinder Ford says it's going to get two mpg better in combined rating so they didn't have any of the four cylinders at least initially for us to drive here. The V6 though is a really you know tempting option if you guys are an enthusiast. So in general out on the road I can happily say the Explorer Tremor doesn't really sacrifice much in terms of you know the overall feel but at the same time I think people who are considering this vehicle are going to really appreciate how the on-road dynamics of this car haven't really been affected but I mean we're here in a Vegas area so let's go ahead and see what this vehicle is like in off-road situations because Ford actually gave the Tremor some pretty nice hardware to kind of back up that badge. So you can't come to Death Valley and not experience some of the beautiful scenery that you have here so Ford what they've done is they've taken us out on this scenic off-road trail to where we're literally driving up a few mountains like our elevation now is at around 4,300 feet we started out at around zero but here we are trying to traverse up some of these pretty treacherous rocks and hills that we have to go through and this is going to be a good test of the Explorer Tremor's capability here because remember this car offers 8.7 inches of ground clearance it offers a unique suspension tune it offers underbody skid plates I have the car in its off-road setting right now I've got this guy here trying to spot me because I can utilize the cameras of course and there we go it's figuring itself out as I put my foot down wow it actually does a pretty good job remember this is a unibody SUV with a full-time all-wheel drive system now it does have an off-road drive mode and that off-road drive mode allows the system to basically lax the traction control system it also allows quicker torque transfer because even though this is you know this this system is primarily rear drive bias which is actually kind of impressive because most vehicles in this class are front drive bias but what I'm noticing is the 8.7 inches of ground clearance in this car is definitely a nice amount it's actually among the highest you're going to find in the segment although the Subaru Ascent I believe has the same ground clearance this does have around a half an inch more ground clearance versus something like the Honda Pilot Trailsport it has more ground clearance than the Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek and in general what I'm noticing is you kind of still have that comfortable ride remember this is still a unibody it's got an all-independent suspension a unique suspension tune but it doesn't beat you up the way like a Toyota 4Runner was now granted I don't feel like this car is going to be as capable as a 4Runner or Grand Cherokee I mean those are going to be the more capable you know vehicles in the mid-size SUV segment but remember for this being you know a unibody with an all-independent suspension with without a low range transfer case now this model does have an electronic limited slip rear diff although there's no way from what I can see to manually lock the diff it is nice how Ford is giving this vehicle some actual hardware to kind of go with its off-road credentials now one of the features that I really appreciate about the Tremor is the standard 360 camera you can see it offers multiple different views here you can even do like a 360 top down view it even shows you where the tires are going to line up but I really like that rock view there where you can see exactly where the front tires are on both sides to kind of keep you from curbing or popping a tire on a really sharp rock because this vehicle even though it's not as big as like an Expedition it's still relatively wide and there are some some parts of the trail I'm noticing requires a spotter which Ford had out here helping us kind of get through some of these conditions you can also notice that it's getting a little bit more tough the terrain over here so this is giving us a chance to kind of test out the ground clearance the all-wheel drive system the skid plates are certainly doing their work here at protecting the other body oh wow this uh this is definitely looks steeper than I thought it would be down there yeah so now we're it seems like we're going up around a 16 percent uphill gradient and this is really getting a chance to show us just how incredibly capable the Explorer is remember even though this vehicle doesn't have the body on frame design or live axles of the of the original generations of Explorers it really is impressive how manufacturers can make these unibody family crossovers as capable as they are I mean this definitely has more capability than I feel like any owner will put this through but at the same time I appreciate how Ford is taking the Tremor badge seriously because their original um I guess off-road line the Timberline uh when it was first introduced seemed like it was kind of not quite the real deal just yet even though it had all-terrain tires this definitely has the necessary hardware that they borrowed from their trucks and it's really impressive to see just how capable Ford has made the unibody Explorer in you know these kind of conditions now the Ford Explorer has always consistently been one of the top-selling three-row midsize family SUVs and that tradition continues for 2026 in fact last year in America in 2025 Ford sold over 222,000 units 222,000 units that means this vehicle sold around 100,000 more units in the U.S. last year versus competitors like the Hyundai Palisade the Kia Telluride and even the Honda Pilot and almost the Toyota Grand Highlander Toyota did around 136,000 so obviously Ford has a winning formula here with the Explorers and they made it a lot better last year for 2025 for 2026 I think they actually made it even more appealing especially with this Tremor trim especially as well if you guys like performance because as you guys saw the on-road performance of this vehicle totally is unaffected even though it is a more off-road oriented vehicle with its tires and suspension we got a 0 to 60 time of 5.3 seconds 5.3 seconds is easily over a second to maybe even almost two seconds faster versus a lot of its rivals now keep in mind you can get the four-cylinder turbo which will probably slow the 0 to 60 down into the six-second range which is honestly still pretty fast the transmission is very smooth the ride quality is also much better versus the somewhat rougher ride that you get with the Explorer ST and as you guys also saw off-road this thing is surprisingly capable with its you know skid plates underneath its four-wheel drive system of course it's all-terrain tires it had plenty of grip the only thing I noticed is it could use a little more ground clearance but hey we were kind of testing out those skid plates here and there so it was doing its job at protecting the vehicle and really this car has more capability than I think most owners will want to push the Explorer to but it's really nice to see a unibody you know family style SUV having this kind of off-road capability I think the Explorer needs it pretty badly and it kind of leans back into their heritage but what I love here is the fact that Ford has combined the off-road driving experience here with the performance that you get from the ST's powertrain because that 3-liter twin-turbo V6 is my personal favorite engine in the segment and it's made even better I think with the Tremor model now if you guys are looking to get your hands on the new Explorer Tremor they actually already at dealership showrooms and Ford has kept the pricing pretty in check because if you want to get into a base Explorer with rear-wheel drive you're going to spend around $38,500 now the Tremor version obviously it's it comes with a lot more equipment like the heated and cooled seats with the suede and alcantara the leather it's got the upgrade of the upgraded suspension the wheel and tire package it's going to start at around $48,500 for a base trim that price is actually cheaper versus a Honda Pilot Trails Trail Sport a Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek is a little bit cheaper but this vehicle is also a little bit cheaper to start versus the new Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro now keep in mind my particular test car here is not the base trim in fact the Explorer Tremor can get pretty expensive if you add in some of the options first of all if you want that V6 it's the most expensive option but it's part of an ultimate package for around $12,000 there's also a couple of other options like the color up charge for the star white tri-coat with the destination and whatnot it brings the as tested price of this vehicle to $64,705 so just $65,000 for this vehicle is a lot but keep in mind I tested an ST last year that had the two-tone roof color package which is $5,000 extra you can't get that on this car it was $68,000 so in reality Ford is basically charging about the same as a fully loaded ST but you get the ST's on-road performance with the off-road performance that the Tremor offers and also keep in mind if you want to save more money just don't get the V6 the V6 is a pricey option but if you can afford it and you want the V6 Ford actually says that currently around two-thirds of Tremor customers are choosing the V6 and I don't blame them it is a fantastic powertrain on this vehicle with all that said hope you guys have enjoyed my very detailed review on the latest 2026 Ford Explorer and the Tremor trim if you're also looking to see the latest cars I'm testing be sure to follow me on Instagram at Redline underscore reviews like us on Facebook and as always guys please keep subscribing to the Redline Reviews YouTube channel for all the latest reviews thank you so much for I'll catch you all in the next video.