The 2021 Ford Explorer ST Absolutely Earned its ST Badging!

So what do we got here today guys? The Ford Explorer ST 2021. My name is Christopher. This is Cars Unlocked. Let's check it out. So the Explorer has been a staple in the Ford lineup for a long time. I've driven a lot of the STs and they're super fun to drive. They've now recently added to their SUVs in the past couple years with the Edge and the Explorer STs. So this one is the black on black and with the ST red badging here. It really contrasts well. You get this nice large black Explorer lettering here and then our standard Ford emblem. It's going to come with full LED headlights. There's a nice LED accent strip as well and LED fog lights down below. Blacked out front grille here for the ST package. We have our front camera as well and then we have some rear sensors down below and this whole front fascia has been black. So a lot of black on the vehicle which is going to be a continuing theme throughout the video. Super massive black 21 inch rims come with the ST and you can tell it's the ST because it does have the red brake calibers as well. Obviously front and rear disc brakes. It's going to come with your black roof rails, our black body colored mirrors with our LED turning accents and then we have the keyless entry right on the door handle. All you have to do is just have the key in your pocket and then put your finger there and it will unlock and lock the doors. You can also use the power folding mirrors. Right when you lock the vehicle, the mirrors automatically fold in. Just keeps it a little more safe in parking spots and things like that. So side and rear parking sensors on the back. There is a backup camera. It's going to come with the Ford Park Assist and then our ST and our Explorer badging are right on the trunk here. You have these chrome tipped quad exhausts and then you have your tow hitch already equipped. It's going to tow about 5,600 pounds. It's pretty easy to open the trunk using the foot activated lift gate. You just got to wave your foot right under the tow hitch there and it's going to open up. So it opens up to a pretty large trunk. This one being the six seater, you do have some room for a stroller or something back here. There's a little bit of hidden storage and then it has the carpeting mats as well. There's a bit of hidden compartments here for small items and then if you are not using the rear seats and you want more cargo capacity, it's pretty easy. You just flop the headrest down and then you can just touch the buttons here and they're going to go down automatically. I like the one touch feature. You don't need to hold the button down. They automatically go down and then you have a lot more cargo area. You can also just push it again and it will come right back up. It's a $58,000 vehicle and you still got to use the prop rod but this is the magic here guys. It's going to give you a three liter twin turbocharged EcoBoost V6 engine with the 10 speed automatic transmission and select shift capability. There's multi-terrain modes that you can select. You're going to average about 13.4 liters per every 100 kilometers in the city and 9.8 on the highway. Whenever I'm getting in these third row vehicles, I always want to test out how easy it is to access the third row because that's huge for me. With the Explorer, you just push the button here and it slides up. There actually is quite a bit of space for me to climb in so that does make it easier and then it folds back pretty easily here. There's also these curtains on the window here that's going to help with your UV rays for your young kids and you can also fold them down as well if you have large items. This one's going to come with the two captain chairs so there's a little bit of storage in the center console. They are heated captain chairs and then I can control my heating. There's an outlet here and then the USBs to charge my phones and things like that so I'm pretty happy with the cargo area, the passenger volume, how the seats operate. I do like that. Ford's always been really good at this with the Explorer. So let's jump in here and start it up. Oh wow, I like the ST symbol right on the wheel. Push button start. You can also use the remote start as well and then I feel the seat and the wheel automatically adjusting. There's three memory positions for your wheel here. Nice fat wheel. The wheel, one thing we notice is that it heats up very very quickly when you use the heated wheel and the seats are heated and air conditioned. I do like the layout. I do like the vehicle information screen which is right behind it. You have the paddle shifters behind the wheel. Everything is pretty easily accessible and laid out with the wipers, the signal, our cruise control buttons. You do get the Ford Park Assist as well. I gotta talk about this 12-inch screen. So hopefully you guys can see this here. Super large screen. Basically when you jump in the car you think there's an iPad attached to the vehicle but here you can see we have nice big buttons that just makes it easier to access with the large buttons. Full nav screen as well. So really the big buttons help it make it easier to locate different items, things like that. You can connect your phone. Obviously you have the sync as well. One complaint with this screen here is the backup camera. So when I put it in reverse you have this super large screen and then you get this tiny little backup camera. It does have the button here so you can get a better view. That will help me if you're like loading the trailer or anything like that. And then we have the bird's eye monitor there so you can see all around the vehicle but why wouldn't they utilize the whole screen? I feel like this is all just a waste of space here with the large screen. You have the 12-inch screen maybe it's just for show. Below the screen is our heating and air conditioning controls. So we got our radio buttons. I do like a hard button for my volume and my tuning. The temperature is dual temperature control. You can also control the back as well. And then we have some center space here. It's an electronic shifter so that takes away from it does have make room for a lot of space. And then we have this nice large compartment here for our cell phone. There's a USB to charge. Two cup holders as well. We got the tea here and then we got the drive mode selector here so you can select different drive modes. Things like a sport mode, there's a slippery mode, a trail mode, there's a couple different modes you can select. Snow mode is great. So let me know what you guys think if you've tried out the different modes of the vehicle. When you're driving this thing, if you step on it, it will go. That's the advantage of having that twin turbo. You can hear that little growl that it has. We're just getting on the highway here. Pushes up to 140 kilometers an hour and then fifth ease. Really easy when I put my foot down. I barely noticed that I was going 140. It does take the turns nice. It is a comfortable drive. Viewing angles are great. You can see deep down into the front hood so that will help if you're pulling into a forward parking spot. You can see out the rear pretty easily and with the mirrors as well you don't have too many blind spots. I do like how it takes off. That is awesome guys. That's why you're going to buy this vehicle is for that power that you get when you step on it. You get all the safety technology as well. You get the parking assistant, the blind spot monitor, the steering assistant. Let's try that out right now. Turn on cruise control, turn on lane centering and it should lock in here. You also have the speed sign recognition so it's telling me right now that my speed is locked in here. 98 kilometers an hour and then now I can take my hands off the wheel and it will keep me centered in the lane here. It'll keep me a safe distance from the car in front of you. That's with the Ford Co-Pilot. I do really like that feature. It's probably been about 10-15 seconds or so and now it's finally telling me to put my hands back on the wheel. So I really like that and then if I want to pass I can just put my foot down and there we go. Obviously the lane centering assist deactivates and the Co-Pilot deactivates once I signal the pass and now I can just hit set and I'm back ready to go and centered in my lane. So really nice feature there. You can really hear how it grows. I'm very happy with how it drives. If you have like a five-person family, a four-person family and you want extra cargo space this would be a great vehicle for you. You're going to be probably a little bummed out when you go to the gas stations because it's not the greatest on fuel. But other than that, that's really my only complaint. When we stop here it does have the auto start stop technology. So if you're not a fan of the vehicle shutting down and turning back on when you come to a red light you can shut it off. I've noticed in some of the other vehicles you can't shut that feature off but I'm happy that you can shut it off because I noticed that customers are like hit or miss. Some people like it, some people don't. But wow we're going up a hill and it just powers and pulls right through it. Like this thing just keeps on pulling you as you put your foot down. Super fun to drive. So I hope you guys like the video. Let me know what you think of the Explorer ST in the comment section below. If you guys are new here don't forget to hit that subscribe button and follow me on Instagram. Have a great day!