The Most Sensible New Ford You Can Buy Today

Whether you’re tempted by the allure of speed, cool body design, rugged off-road capability, or you tend to lean toward spacious vehicles with a lot of creature comforts, most of us need our vehicle of choice to meet a certain level of sensibility. That is, it needs to be a purchase that makes sense from the perspective of safety, cost, and reliability. Even in, say, the sports car segment, a Toyota Supra or a C5 Corvette definitely earns some points for being more dependable than most speedsters.

If you’re a lifelong Ford buyer, there’s an implicit trust built into the purchase of any model, be it an F-150, an Expedition, or a Mustang. But, some Fords are more affordable than others, some are more reliable than others, and some are safer than others. So, what’s the most sensible purchase of the current Ford lineup?

The “most sensible” model chosen for this overview is based on a combination of price, safety, and reliability, drawing on data pulled from sources including J.D. Power, the IIHS, and the NHTSA. If you need a vehicle for hauling and towing, you’re best bet is a Super Duty, in the same way a Mustang Dark Horse is perfect if you want to go BMW M4 hunting.

Why The 2024 Ford Explorer Is The Most Sensible New Ford

When we look for a sensible car, truck, or SUV, we’re looking for something that hits a few points:

• J.D. Power ratings should be somewhere in the 70/100 range, at a minimum.
• Safety awards are preferred, but we at least want it to earn more Good than Marginal ratings in the IIHS crash tests.
• The price should be within the median range for the segment, or better.

The 2024 Ford Explorer is the only Ford that won any safety award this year in the first place, but that’s not the only reason we’re picking this one as the most sensible offering from the iconic American automaker. Here’s how we arrived at this decision:

The 2024 Ford Explorer Earned An 87/100 Quality & Reliability Rating With J.D. Power

The Explorer has been earning impressive Q&R ratings from the consumer watchdog group year after year. Here’s what the last five years of ratings look like for the mid-size SUV.

The sixth generation Explorer launched in 2020, but 2022 was a significant year for the nameplate, expanding the lineup with a hybrid Platinum, and the ST Line trim, a 2.3-liter EcoBoost-powered with a range of styling upgrades. 2025 is a facelift model year for the Explorer, with all new fascias and updated onboard tech, but it has, apparently, not missed a step when it comes to reliability. Overall, Ford did not do well in J.D. Power’s dependability study for 2024, with 239 problems for every 100 vehicles. That might sound bad, and it is, as the average is just 190 problems per 100 vehicles. The Explorer is not one of Ford’s problematic models, however. While Ford will likely be the brand with the most recalls for the fourth year in a row, the last Explorer recall was for the previous-generation model.

The 2024 Ford Explorer Earned A Top Safety Pick+ With The IIHS

The 2024 Ford Explorer earned a very impressive string of Good ratings in the crash test, and a disappointing string of Acceptables and a Poor rating in the safety feature department. Still, this is the best rated new Ford according to the IIHS.

All four of the Explorer’s crash tests earned a perfect overall score, with only a handful of points earning anything less than a Good rating.

• Lower leg/foot injury measures earned an Acceptable in the small overlap front test.
• Rear passenger head/neck injuries earned an Acceptable in the updated moderate overlap front test.
• Rear passenger restraints and dummy kinematics earned an Acceptable in the updated moderate overlap front test.
• Driver pelvis injury measures earned an Acceptable in the updated side test.

Standard safety features for the 2024 Ford Explorer include:

• Pre-collision assist
• Lane-keep assist
• Automatic high-beam headlights
• Rearview camera
• Rear parking sensors
• Blind-spot warning

The 2024 Ford Explorer Can Be Had For Under $40,000

The average starting price for a midsize SUV right now sits at around $38,940. The starting price for a 2024 Ford Explorer? $36,860. That’s more than two thousand bucks below the median, so if that’s not a fair price, we don’t know what is. Even the next trim level, the XLT, sits at a couple of hundred bucks below the average cost of a midsize SUV.

Not Quite Perfect: Everything Wrong With The 2024 Ford Explorer

The sixth-generation Ford Explorer has largely been pretty problem-free, with most of the terrible issues listed on CarComplaints dating well before the 2010 model. In fact, the website has no complaints on file whatsoever for the 2024 edition. There are a few complaints on file with the NHTSA, though. Five, to be precise. Here’s what you need to know about the SUV’s NHTSA records:

• Someone driving a rental car had the hood flying open while driving at around 15-20 mph, reporting that the hood smashed the windshield, sending glass shards spraying into the cabin.
• A driver bought a model that was supposed to include a 360 camera, but the camera was not included owing to an internal recall.
• One driver reports the lane departure system veering the vehicle out of the intended lane.
• A driver reports hard jerking when passing vehicles or slowing down on the highway.
• The Explorer’s only major recall was for a missing airbag warning label on the dashboard in 27,678 units.

As for the SUV’s crash test ratings with the Administration, they run parallel with the IIHS’ crash tests.

Maintenance costs for the Ford Explorer are roughly on par with the segment. Drawing on RepairPal for the one-year maintenance averages and CarEdge for the ten-year estimate, here’s what you can expect to pay to keep your Explorer running.

RepairPal’s most expensive common repairs for the Explorer include

• AC evaporator replacement: $1,026 – $1,036
• Engine front cover gasket replacement: $660 – $796
• Power seat switch replacement: $556 – $586

What If You Don’t Want To Drive An SUV?

Let’s say you’re not in the market for an SUV. Luckily, Ford’s output covers the whole range of segments. Here are some alternatives to the Explorer.

Is The 2024 Ford Mustang A Sensible Buy?

There’s only one car left in the Ford lineup, and that’s the Ford Mustang. So, it’s technically the most sensible Ford coupe available right now by default. But does that mean it’s actually a sensible purchase? The car’s IIHS crash test rating is actually listed as “Incomplete,” but it scored a Good in both the updated moderate overlap rating, and the side impact test. The starting price of just $30,920 for a 315-hp base Coupe is hard to beat, and the J.D. Power reliability rating is perfectly acceptable. The Mustang isn’t the most practical option on the market, but it’s sensible enough that you’re unlikely to feel any buyer’s remorse.

The 2024 Ford Maverick Is Ford’s Most Sensible Pickup

The F-150 and the Ranger haven’t been rated by J.D. Power for the 2024 or 2025 model years, but even if that wasn’t the case, we’d be going with the Maverick for its very-reasonable pricing, starting at just over twenty thousand bucks for an entry-level XL with front-wheel drive. The fact that the Maverick has proven such a hot-seller, moving 94,058 units in 2023, and 146,064 in 2024 (and we’ve still got one more quarter to count) helps to prove our point. IIHS ratings range from Good to Marginal, and the front-crash prevention system isn’t the best on the market right now, but a solid NHTSA rating and a great price go a long way to making up the difference.

Sources:
J.D. Power
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IIHS
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NHTSA
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RepairPal
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CarEdge
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CarComplaints