2022 Ford Expedition Review _ Extra-large performance!

When big isn't big enough, there's a Ford Expedition. This is a full-size SUV that fully fits eight adults in really true comfort, and it tows up to 9,300 pounds. But I think you'd better be doing both of those things all the time at the same time, because there's no other way to justify buying a vehicle this size. Or maybe you just have $1,000 a month you want to spend on a luxury SUV. The Expedition gets a refresh for 2022. More tech, more power, new look. Let's see if any of that makes a difference. You might get a better deal if you sell your car on CarGurus. Type a few details, get a cash offer from dealers nationwide. If you like the price, they'll pick it up and they'll pay you. Believe this, the Expedition is five inches shorter than an Excursion. Remember that thing? Everyone thought Ford was crazy for building it in the 2000s, and yet the newest Expedition Max you see here is four inches shorter than the newest Chevy Suburban. And now it's gone stealth. This is the Stealth Package. That's a new option for 2022 that darkens a lot of the trim, including Expedition in all caps on the hood. Very trendy look on big SUVs these days. Now, this vehicle may look very dark and gray, but it's actually called Stone Blue. I like the U on here. It changes color in the shadows and the lights. I like colors like this. They're very deceiving, but it looks good on a vehicle this large. What else is new with the Stealth Package? You get the blacked-out grille, and that grille is the same on all 2022 Expeditions with these new LED DRLs, new headlights. Everything's just more reflective and shiny, like these 22-inch wheels, all blacked out with a silver ring and red brake calipers. Now, that may spell performance. This is called the Stealth Performance Package that upgrades from the regular Stealth Package, but you don't get bigger brakes. To me, they look very undersized. The Expedition Max is a foot longer than a regular Expedition. The wheelbase is 9 inches longer. But you don't get the extra space here. You get it back here. Here's the cargo space on a small Expedition. Now, the Expedition Max. Look how much more space there is behind the third row. If you get the XL STX, it only has two rows, so there's even more. Total, 121 cubic feet. But that's roughly equal to a Chevy Tahoe or GMC Yukon, whereas the Suburban or the Yukon XL, they're over 144. Can't miss this. It's like an electronic highway billboard permanently fixed to your dash. And while it's 15.5 inches, I will admit this only once. Bigger is not always better. The Expedition comes standard with a 12-inch display with manual controls for the audio and climate. I think this is more functional, and it looks good. I tested the 12-inch and the 15.5-inch displays on the Ford F-150. I did it back-to-back, and I thought SYNC 4 worked a lot faster on the smaller screen. It was easier to navigate all the menus. It's the same with the Expedition. SYNC 4A on this large screen is more cumbersome. For example, let's say you want to change the climate. You have to press this to show your fan direction and the recirculation button. Then there's all this empty space here. And then by the time you get around to changing something else down here, this whole menu just decides to disappear. Just like that. Now say you want to change the radio station. SiriusXM, for example. There's no Tune and Seeking buttons, so even though you just press one, I have to do this and scroll. I can't just press Channel. Oh, no, see? Won't do that. Also, in general, the system just kind of lags. I don't think it's fast enough. SYNC 4 on the smaller 12-inch display just works quicker. Now the upside is is that you can see a lot of all these settings here. But check this out. There's a lot of scrolling that you have to do, especially, say, if you want to adjust the sound. If you scrolled the wrong way, now you're adjusting the balance and the fade. There's just a lot of things here to scroll and miss. There's one analog control, just a volume knob, but it's not like it changes into a fan speed or a seek or anything. This system as a whole really needs a polish. What's good? Everything wireless is here. Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, a vehicle hotspot, and system updates that don't need an external Wi-Fi connection to work. That's a big one. Plus, it's got a Ford assistant. OK, Ford. Serious Channel 35. Tuning to Channel 35. Of course, it's not always perfect, but it is there. When you get the big 15.5-inch display, you get the big 12-inch instrument cluster. And it's got some reconfigurable graphics here that you can see the trailer status. Nice little graphics there. However, I'd like to see full-screen maps. You can't get that on here. What about this interior? Well, for 87 grand, it's not that nice. This Expedition is the Limited, which is the best trim on the F-150. On the Expedition, the Limited is below the King Ranch and the Platinum. The leather feels like really cheap vinyl, and it's everywhere. This trim, is it supposed to be forged carbon? It certainly isn't. Everything is just plasticky, it's rubbery, and hard. What's funny is that you can spend the same amount of money on this truck as you can the Platinum version, which comes with much softer leather all over the place. It's got massaging seats. It's got the Blue Cruise hands-free driving system that you can't get on the Limited. So, this is bad spec. I don't want to sell it short. Priced in the 50s and 60s, this interior is fine. But when the price is almost 90, you can get into a Lincoln Navigator that's real luxury. Space and location. That's why I can't afford a new home right now. But when you sit in the Expedition, you realize why it costs so much. The legroom is palatial. Even back here, there's enough legroom and headroom, and buttons here for power recline. The only issue is, there's no armrest. The seats are heated back here. I've got my own climate zone, but these seats are not cooled or massaged. That's only on the Lincoln Navigator. Now, the recline is nice, but coming back is sort of a little difficult. New for 2022? More power. 440 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque when you order the Stealth Performance Package that's in my Expedition. That's up from the standard Limited trim's 400 horsepower. All the other lesser Expeditions get 380. But really, no matter which of them you choose, the response from this engine is really good. Ford got rid of the V8 a long time ago. This 3.5-liter V6 with two turbos has really proven itself, not just in fuel economy, and it does decent. You get 19 city, roughly, in the two-wheel drive version of this truck. But when you need to get on it, this thing moves. And it actually sounds pretty good. Every Expedition has a 10-speed automatic transmission. There's a lot of driving modes in this one, including a sport mode. No paddle shifters. But it works pretty well. It's honestly surprising how good the powertrain is. You don't feel like you're lacking power at any time. My Expedition has another option. It's got an electronic limited-slip differential. You can press this button here. That helps get you more traction around turns into some slightly hairy off-road situations. But this is a 22-inch street tire truck. It is not off-road whatsoever. There's a Timberline model that's also new for 2022 with raised ground clearance, significant clearance, and all these other off-road features. That's the one you want. Even though there's multiple driving modes on here for mud and sand and all that, this one is meant to be on road at all times. Even though it's pretty sporty, the only way to put it into manual mode is to press the manual button here and then press these plus and minus buttons down here, which, honestly, you could be selecting four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive. They all kind of look and feel the same. I wish there were some paddle shifters here, but you've got to get a Ford Raptor for that. Believe it or not, there's a sport-tuned suspension on the Expedition. It's so stealthy. It's so performance. That's what Ford's calling this. In addition to that, you also get adaptive dampers with a camera that previews the road surface ahead and is constantly changing the dampening. In practice, it works. Works well enough. Even on these 22-inch wheels and tires, it doesn't crash too much over rough terrain or bumps. Cornering is actually pretty flat. It doesn't squat or dive that much. That's also nice. The Expedition already had a fully independent suspension, whereas the Tahoe and Yukon, those GM vehicles, only recently gained an independent rear suspension. So this was already set up better from the start. It surprises me that a closed vehicle that structurally should be a lot stiffer than an open-bed pickup truck handles worse. I don't get it. But it really just comes down to the steering. Whatever the calibration is here versus the F-150, and I've tested the F-150 Platinum and the Limited before, they steer better. They have more feel. I will tell you now, when this wheel points straight, and you can point this thing straight for many hours, you'll be in complete comfort. However, when you drive vehicles like the Cadillac Escalade, the steering precision on that truck is so good. I'm not exaggerating. You really got to try it out. Even on such a very big, heavy vehicle, you can do steering better. You really can. The brakes work, but I do feel they need to be larger. The 2022 Ford Expedition starts at $53,375 for the 2-row version and $57,440 for the 3-row. My Expedition Limited Max started at $69,000 with $13,000 in options and with destination $87,025. A Suburban or a Yukon XL, they're the only direct competition, and they're better vehicles for slightly less money. A regular-size Expedition is a good value next to the Nissan Armada or a Chevy Tahoe. But when you spend $80,000-plus on the regular Expedition, a BMW X7 and other luxury SUVs are a much better value. The Expedition is overpriced. Part of that is because there aren't many SUVs that can tow that much and fit so much cargo inside. Space and capability, they are big selling points for the Expedition. But if you can afford to lose a few inches in size, well, you can get a lot of other luxury 3-row SUVs like a Mercedes GLS that feel and drive a lot better. Or for the same price as this one, you can get into a Navigator or an Escalade, two very good SUVs. So what do you guys think? 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