Only a madman would grab another big SUV and make a road trip from here to Miami, right?
With airfares through the roof, especially for last-minute planners like us, repeating the trip seemed a little less insane.
So fresh off our Christmas fun with the Lexus TX550h+, my wife and I strapped in the two kids, readied ourselves for lots of bathroom stops and gas station meals, and headed out for Easter break.
This time, our companion was the Ford Expedition Tremor.
It involved some climbing on our part, using the running boards on the side. That’s because Ford describes this version as “off-road-ready from the factory,” complete with big, all-terrain tires and a taller stance, leading to even more ground clearance than usual.
The great irony is that I drove this thing about 2,500 miles entirely on the road.
Still, it did great. Ford, in fact, said it tried hard to strike a balance of on and off-road performance, though this one could still get a little bouncy thanks to its trail-capable suspension. (My wife, who, as a doctor, deals with tremors professionally, thought this mostly smooth-riding trim was ill-named.)
Helping us on the highway was the BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system. It basically did the accelerating, braking and steering for me if the right conditions were met. It would even change lanes for me if I switched on the turn signal. Also, with the turn signal on at any time, this Expedition would show a camera view of my blind spot right on the dash. (I have previously raved about this feature in Hyundai products.)
If the truck thought I wasn’t paying attention, the BlueCruise system would throw a small tantrum, eventually stabbing the brakes to demand my attention. This was disconcerting and often a misunderstanding, which for some reason, was totally resolved by putting on sunglasses.
Still not content with testing the Tremor all by itself, I hooked up U-Haul’s biggest enclosed trailer to it, so I could accumulate (still more) massive car-body restoration parts during my zigzagging return trip. The Tremor shrugged off this added weight (it has a 9,600-pound tow rating, which is something that more carlike SUVs can only dream of). Cumulative gas mileage shown on the dashboard dropped from over 16 mpg to under 15.
My many hours sitting up high were very comfortable, as I enjoyed the heated and ventilated, leather-trimmed front seats with “TREMOR” stitched into the front headrests in orange. I also took in navigation and other information on a wide display in front of me, as well as on another big display in the center. Parking, as you might imagine, is less enjoyable in this beast, even though it is camera-assisted.
A Ford Expedition Tremor starts at $84,495 after shipping.
You’ll find an endless supply of John’s jokes right here.
