The 2020s have been a decade of reinvention for the automotive brands. While companies tackle supply chain issues and shortages, they’re also reimagining the vehicles currently in their stable. Part of this is forced with new commitments to a greener future. Some is just rethinking vehicles long segmented and stereotyped into one market, and branding them into something everyone would enjoy, capable of handling the interests of growing millennial families.
According to Ford, the family/camper/stuff-hauling vehicle isn’t enough for today’s market or millennial families. While some families pivot to luxury, or simply just want the option of AWD or 4WD, some want the ability to do it all – and a little more. There’s no settling in this segment. Their next purchase must comfortably fit the family, take on hard-working truck-like duties, and now, also handle anything their vehicle encounters on and off the road. Ford’s solution to check all those boxes with the company’s now flagship SUV, the 2022 Ford Expedition.
Full Disclosure: I drove 2.5 hours from the middle-of-nowhere west side of Michigan to Holly, Michigan, to join the Ford team for a cold, wet day of on- and off-roading of their 2022 Ford Explorer and Ford Expedition at Holly Oaks ORV park and around the surrounding area .
Ford brought about the Expedition in 1997, built “Ford Tough” like its trucks, it too stood as a fierce competitor to other full-size SUV darlings like General Motors’ Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon and Escalade, or the Jeep Wagoneer. But now, the Expedition doesn’t just want to haul the family to just some of its obligations. Ford wanted its full-size baby to be capable of taking families anywhere, everywhere, any time. For 2022, the Expedition expanded it’s image to check every box with its new Timberline series.
Expedition’s Timberline series, makes the family hauler a capable off-roader. Why would you want a full-size SUV that can handle more than just muddy soccer-practice fields? I asked myself this very question and wasn’t sure of the answer either. But the folks at Ford say the younger of the Gen-Xers and Millennials having families are the ones pushing it. Most individuals who would option for off-road products naturally look to Jeep, like its Wagoneer, Grand Wagoneer and its longer brother, designated with an additional “L.” When we’re talking the trail-topping full-size SUV segment, most turn to a Wrangler or even Ford’s own Bronco, Bronco Sport and Raptor offerings that are built for the trails. But those can’t always accommodate the luggage or the whole family to enjoy the less-traveled trails together – that is, if it’s something you’re seeking.
And with more families pushing to get away and sign off from our digital-heavy worlds, it’s more important for segment buyers to have a large vehicle that can take them literally anywhere, from school drop-off zones to the deep forested mountain trails, completely off-the-grid out west.
What It’s Made Of
Already, the Timberline series Expedition stands taller than its Jeep competitor, the Wagoneer, by a whole 0.6 inches (Expedition is 10.6 inches of ground clearance compared to the Wagoneer’s 10 inches). If you don’t already have experience off-roading, a sliver over half an inch may appear minimal, but that can make or break any trailing endeavor.
Powering the full-size off-roader is the 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost making 440 hp and 510 lb-ft of torque. The power is needed to push 5,668 pounds of vehicle if equipped with 4x4 (5,434 pounds if RWD). Rear-wheel drive is standard on the Expedition, with options to add Ford’s Control Trac four-wheel drive and the electronic Limited Slip Differential. Power to those four wheels are delivered through Ford’s 10-speed auto transmission – the same found on the brand’s Ranger as well, but tuned differently. That 10-speed proves suave and capable of handling the off-road terrain.
Underneath, Ford added the same heavy-duty skid plates fitted to the F-150 Raptor, to resist or prevent any scrapes, punctures and wounds the Expedition could attain on its underbody.
Taking the Expedition Off Road
Like I mentioned above, Expedition is not a name synonymous with going off on the unbeaten path made of two-tracks and boulders. In fact, I found my brain often trying to reason with myself that off-roading an Expedition the way we were about to, was not going to end in disaster. Sure, Ford’s people reassure you they’ve done this off-road course. The Expedition’s “expedition” even had an extra set of eyes following our little group of three in a Bronco, to help spot us through some of the tightest valleys and conquer even the most fake, but fun of mountaintops.
This unexpected off-roading comes with all the expected off-road trimmings. Drive modes include a Sand/Snow selection, that we certainly put to use while on the sandy trails of Holly Oaks, along with six other selections to ease your daily driving needs. For the trails, we put the 4-High and 4-Low to use, with some sprinklings of 4-wheel drive. The locking differential is also a treat to aiding in climbing activities.
The Blue Oval included new features on the Expedition like the 15.5-inch touch screen to provide a wider look you can toggle and utilize to navigate the front cameras as you work your way slowly down narrow trails, or find what direction to navigate this near 6,000 pound beast of a vehicle over the tops of hills and on with the trail. Pair that with Ford’s Trail Turn Assist, that gives the beefy SUV the turning radius of a Jeep Wrangler, which could steer a driver confident… nearly overconfident, in their off-roading capabilities.
That front camera is an option you can select in your vehicle preferences via the center console while en route, and really provides insight to your surroundings while navigating a larger-than-life vehicle through rugged areas. However, the camera is only useable and/or activated at speeds under 8 mph. The option or the actual live-view camera will gray-out if you are over that speed at any given time you access it.
The Technology
Expedition models come standard with Ford’s SYNC 4 system on a standard 12 or 15.5-inch center console screen. You are also able to connect your phone wirelessly to utilize Apple’s CarPlay, while both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both options for your media playback. For the audiophiles in the room, Ford’s Bang & Olufsen aimed to please with an incredible surround-sound experience in your Expedition, with the new “Unleashed” Sound System, using 22 speakers from tweeters to subs, to create the most dynamic sound experience in a vehicle.
For some individuals, like myself, that are perhaps vertically challenged, and this is still a lot of vehicle to operate, Ford include Driver-Assist features like Road Edge Detection, Intersection Assist to help detect oncoming and crossing traffic using the front camera along with radar sensors to alert driver’s of a potential collision.
Off-roaders can also enjoy utilizing Ford’s Hill Descent control. Drivers are able to select a speed, adjustable by pedals, to help set and forget the speed, so you can focus on crawling up or down difficult surroundings and landscapes , rather than trying to figure out your next plan of attack, while staying hyper-aware of speed and your surroundings. Anything to make that work a little easier, is better.
Thoughts
While I still feel like a 7-seater full-size SUV has no business taking on the trails, I left the ORV park and the day drive impressed and yet still perplexed at how something so large is so trail-capable. In having ventured in the likes of the Rangers, F-150s and Broncos of late, their off-road DNA capabilities are very recognizable in the Expedition — even further demonstrated with the oversized SUV. Is any of it practical? Not at all. But when are you shopping for anything that is off-road capable for the sake of practicality? And why not have your cake and eat it too with every off-roading feature you could need, while also having to succumb to accommodating hauling everyone and the dog?
This is a vehicle designed to handle everything. Plush leather interiors comfort your and your family’s rear on every trip, no matter whether your destination takes you up a mountain or down the flat pot-hole marked roads. You’ll have enough space for the family, and extended family or friends (if you dare) and all their shit as well. While I personally will never be in a place necessary to own this size of a vehicle, I can certainly see many of my older millennial-aged friends and acquaintances putting something like this to use, not just as a mall crawler, but an actual adventure vehicle for the family.
Now that I think on it, if you are single or coupled, etc., this is a large enough vehicle that could potentially be your off-roading vehicle, and your campsite as well. With just over 100 cubic feet of cargo space behind the front row seats, there’s plenty of room to accommodate a blow-up mattress, with additional storage capacity, so those of you who don’t camp, like our writer Andy Kalmowitz, you can enjoy off-the-grid glamping, from the safety of your vehicle.
My personal adventure-mobile on this trip, the 2022 Expedition Timberline series in Oxford White, was optioned at an MSRP of just under $80,000. That price includes premium leather seats in Deep Cyprus (unique to the Timberline trim), all the cupholders you could ever want, and heated steering wheel and seats. While $80k looks intimidating price-wise, many fully-loaded competitor SUVs like the Wagoneer or Grand Wagoneer, come in at similar or higher prices, and you’re seeing trade-offs to option it into a practical, but semi-luxurious off-roader. Other full-size competitors may come in at similar pricing, but you lose that off-road capability and instead just see more flashy trimmings (looking at you, tricked-out Chevy Suburbans).
While truck and other off-road capable vehicle prices continue to rise, and availability continues to be scarce, $80k for any family to have something for everything doesn’t sound half bad. Maybe it’s a stretch in this economy, but you’re also shopping for something to off-road, so you were already looking at spending money, regardless.
And like I said, for myself or other somewhat outdoor-averse individuals, the investment to have something more comfortable to get out in, and not have to worry about animals, the wet ground, or anything getting in your way — even nixing a camper to haul around, makes for an incredibly enticing, maybe even divine investment for those of us traveling in this life a little lighter.