2025 Ford Explorer Gets New Looks and a Better Infotainment System

• The 2025 Ford Explorer lineup is smaller than before, but all models receive restyled front ends, new-look interiors, and a host of tech-centric upgrades.

• Every Explorer now has a fully digital gauge cluster and a better infotainment system with Google's voice assistant and apps to stream videos and play video games.

• Ford's mid-size SUV is mechanically unchanged, but it has more standard features, and the BlueCruise hands-free driving system is available for the first time.

The Ford Explorer deserves a lot of credit—or blame, depending on whom you ask—for helping create the American public's insatiable appetite for sport-utility vehicles, better known as SUVs.

The original Explorer debuted for the 1991 model year, and the adventurous-sounding nameplate has been in production ever since, with the most recent generation having returned to its rear-wheel-drive roots for 2020. While its platform, powertrains, and most body panels remain the same, the 2025 Ford Explorer receives what's known in the biz as a mid-cycle refresh. Along with a streamlined lineup, Ford's mid-size SUV features new faces, a redesigned interior, and significantly improved technology.

The New Explorer Lineup

For 2025, Ford makes the the Explorer family smaller in an attempt to reduce complexity, which the company believes will help improve quality and use fewer resources. That means last year's eight-trim lineup has been pared down to four: Active, ST-Line, Platinum, and ST.

While we don't know the fate of the off-road-oriented Timberline, a Ford spokesperson told Car and Driver that the company is currently developing the "most off-road-capable Explorer," with more details to be revealed later this year. Since a Raptor version sounds like a long shot, we expect to see facelifted Timberline, possibly with more hard-core hardware.

Every new Explorer has a larger grille, new headlights, and front bumpers that mimic a skid plate and appear wider and lower than before. To help identify the initial four trims, Ford gives each a distinct grille, with the Active's black mesh design featuring chrome bars, the ST-Line and ST having gloss-black honeycomb designs and unique badges, and the Platinum mixing a wing design with black and satin chrome elements.

The Explorer's taillights have also been revised to look cooler, and now they're connected by a horizontal element that includes "Explorer" script and is partially illuminated. For the first time, customers can get a black-painted roof from the factory on all but the base model. All models now come standard with the previously optional tow package, however, their 5000-pound towing capacity is between 300 and 600 pounds less than before.

As with almost every mid-cycle refresh, there are fresh paint options and newly available wheel designs. The pretty Vapor Blue metallic is a new hue, which is available on all but the ritzy Platinum trim. The performance-minded ST introduces Magnetite-painted 21-inch wheels, which are also available on the less powerful ST-Line. That requires the Street Pack, though, which also includes upgraded brakes with red-painted calipers. Anyone who buys either ST model also can attend Ford's performance driving school, with locations in Park City, Utah, and Asheville, North Carolina, free of charge.

Ford says there aren't any notable chassis or powertrain changes to the 2025 Explorer. All models come standard with rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive is optional. The Active, ST-Line, and now the Platinum have a 300-hp 2.3-liter turbo four. The ST has a 400-hp twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6, which is also available on the Platinum (previously it was standard). A 10-speed automatic transmission pairs with both engines, but the ST model alone has paddle shifters.