Interior
reviewed by
Everything inside the Explorer is new for 2006. Every switch, button, face, texture and panel of the interior has been changed, changed to a much more modern, crisper presentation, one of Ford design boss J Mays's personal design campaigns brought to life. There is a dark wood for most models and darker, richer wood for the Eddie Bauer version. The graphics are accented with metal surrounds both shiny and matte, depending. On the downside, we saw a fair amount of glare reflected off the dash top onto the windshield of the early models we drove.
Second-row seats are available as a 60/40 split bench seat, a 60/40 split bench with recline and third-row access, or two bucket seats and a console. The bucket seats are more comfortable for adults, but the bench seats fold down better for cargo.
The third row, when ordered, sits almost two inches higher than before so kids can see out better. The third row is always a 50/50 split, but is available with manual or power folding and unfolding.
And now the floor really is completely flat when all the seats are folded, with almost no forward rise (2 degrees as opposed to 10 before). With three seats, you get 13.6, then 43.9, then 83.7 cubic feet of space as the seats fold down; the five-seater has slightly more room with the seats folded.
The DVD-based navigation system is very easy to use, with excellent colors and graphics, though the screen is on the small side.
Ford designers may have gone over the top on the front door armrests, the latch pull, and the opening handle. The armrest is very large and filled with foam to assist in side crash protection, with the chrome latch pull rounded around the leading edge, but the door handle is buried underneath it, where the human wrist cannot comfortably go. Otherwise, the new Explorer interior works very well.
The new seats are at once more supportive and more comfortable than the old, hard Explorer seats, the colors and trims and combinations are elegant and tasteful, the metallic trims just about right, not overdone.
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