Special thanks to Midwest Ford Dealers for sponsoring this post and for letting us test drive the Ford Explorer for the day!
When Midwest Ford Dealers reached out for me to test drive a Ford of our choice, we happily accepted! We chose to test drive the Ford Explorer Platinum Edition. I’ve never owned or driven an SUV before, so I was very anxious to get behind the wheel of a larger, more luxurious, read more spacious vehicle. A few things that are on the top of our list when we are looking for a new SUV for our family are safety, space, and size.
As I’ve mentioned before, you don’t realize how much stuff you have until you have a baby. The realization usually sets in the moment you go on your first trip with your kid and you are trying to jam everything into your tiny little car. Between a pack-n-play, diaper bags, stroller, car seat, suitcase for yourself, and everything else you may need for 48 hours, fitting everything in your car is like a serious game of tetris.
There are so many safety features that the Ford Explorer offers. Driving with Jack, our precious cargo, means we want to make sure we are putting him into a vehicle that is there to help keep him safe no matter what.
The Ford Explorer offers not only a back-up camera, but a front 180 degree camera as well. The SUV can even help you parallel park with Active Park Assist, inflatable seatbelts for when Jack and/or future babies are hold enough to use them (vs being in a car seat).
The Ford Explorer can fit up to 7 people! We test drove the version that had two captain seats in the center vs a benching option. We liked the idea of having better access to the PowerFold third row for additional seating. But – ah! – one of the best parts was the button you could press to not only fold down the third row, but to stow them away for more cargo storage. Life changing!
Another fun perk is the toe-kick activation to open and close the trunk. Such a useful feature for all the times your hands are full with bags, groceries, or babies!
Overall, the car handles like a dream! I thought it would be hard to manage since I’m used to driving a smaller car, but it was a super smooth ride and with a fancy V6 engine, it had a lot of get up and go! She’s a beauty too – we test drove the Platinum edition with all the bells and whistles, the sun roof, leather seats, and even seat warmers and air conditioned seats (in both the front and captain’s seats). My favorite add-on (ok, so I have a lot of ‘favorites’) may have been the heated steering wheel. Other features that we loved included Wi-Fi/hotspot capability, an APP to help control features from your phone (automatic car-start, locking/unlocking your car), XM Radio, sync your phone – Siri can read your incoming text messages!. The list can go on and on!
We’ve definitely added this SUV to our wish list for when we are ready to upgrade to our next vehicle! If you have any questions, let me know! To see a video of our entire day, make sure to head over to my Instagram account to see the video in my highlights – I’ve linked to it here!
If you are in the Midwest area – make sure to head over to Midwest Ford Dealers’ website, Facebook page, or Instagram to stay up to date on the latest offers from your local dealer!
Thanks for supporting content that makes The Brunette One possible! All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post is sponsored by Midwest Ford Dealers.
