Test drive Chevrolet Explorer, 2.0T+ light mix, how can this be all-around?

Department-wide price: 169900-239900 yuan.

Test vehicle: Explorer 2022 light mixed 550T RS intelligent extended version

Test vehicle price: 2,654.38+0.99 million yuan.

Test location: Beijing

Test road conditions: mountain roads, expressways and urban comprehensive roads.

If you compare the models with the title of "Ten Generations", the explorers are undoubtedly young. It has only experienced three generations of models and has been on the market for 18 years. 18 years old is only the gateway from youth to adulthood for human beings, which means both physical and mental maturity. These eighteen years seem to be the same for the explorer: not only can people see remarkable growth, evolution and transformation from the models that have gone through half a century, but the changes of the explorer are enough to make it no longer a teenager.

Explorers were born in the North American market in 2005. At that time, its first two generations of products had good results, and they were also famous for their bold and unrestrained design and excellent dynamic performance. In this generation of cars, looking back at North China from the American market, I found that the explorers were very different from the original ones.

Due to aesthetic differences, domestic consumers prefer exquisite design language besides "big", so the appearance of the new model is more in line with the taste of Chinese people than the previous generation. The movement element is the soul of the seeker and cannot be completely abandoned. It is a great challenge for designers to keep the sporty atmosphere and increase the sense of exquisiteness.

The design of this generation of explorers has become more pleasing. The whole car uses a lot of blackened elements, and the blackened body looks cleaner and fresher. Sharp lines can keep the sense of movement of the whole car well. In terms of details, the handling of the whole vehicle is also remarkable, such as: honeycomb chrome-plated bright black mesh, red RS logo, inverted C-pillar, double waist line design and so on. These have increased the sense of exquisiteness to a certain extent.

At this price, many sports models of the same level like to work hard on the rear design, and further highlight the sense of movement of the whole vehicle through the wide tail and exaggerated rear surround. The tail of the explorer's vehicle is relatively flat, and with the split headlights, it can't help but have a sense of sight of a home SUV, but the exhaust on both sides below also implies the motor genes in its bones.

As we all know, American design style is usually based on practicality, which has been well verified by explorers. The interior of the vehicle continues the blackening treatment of the appearance, and the black seat is supplemented by red stitching to create a good sense of movement. The spacious armrest box, large-area soft material package and ubiquitous storage compartment can better meet the actual car demand of most families.

When it comes to explorers, the memory of many consumers may be their abundant configuration. The model of this test drive is not the top version, but it basically covers all basic configurations, such as ACC adaptive cruise, reversing image, openable panoramic sunroof, electric tailgate, active noise reduction, seat heating and so on. Compared with the same class of cars, it is not so much that the explorer's configuration is rich enough, but that it is too generous and the price is limited, so it is as full as possible for consumers.

In terms of spatial performance, the length of 4646mm and the wheelbase of 2725mm are not dominant compared with the medium-sized SUV of the same class, but they are relatively brilliant compared with the models of the same price; Because the seat filling is relatively soft, the ride comfort is still guaranteed.

Whether it is design or car experience, explorers have shown good strength. The integration of sports and home also makes us understand that the seeker is no longer the "teenager" who insists on flaunting sports. When he first grew up, he could take care of his comfort while exercising.

Although this generation of explorers pay more attention to the adjustment of comfort, for the family of explorers, sports are always engraved in their bones. This test drive involves a variety of complex road conditions, and the relatively comprehensive road conditions can also better test the dynamic performance of the whole vehicle.

Our test drive this time is the Explorer 2022 light-mixed 550T RS intelligent extended version, equipped with a general-purpose 2.0T high-power engine, with the maximum power 174kW and the peak torque of 350N·m, which is not inferior to the same level in the book. Although there is no chance to carry out the actual measurement of zero acceleration this time, according to the official results, the whole vehicle can complete the acceleration of 0- 100km/h within 7.9s, which has certain advantages compared with the same class models in acceleration performance.

Thanks to the addition of 48V light mixing system, the performance of the whole vehicle in the initial stage is relatively smooth, which conforms to the characteristics of home SUV. When the vehicle starts with pure electric drive, it can also make the engine avoid the inefficient operation range, further improving the fuel economy and ride comfort of the whole vehicle.

Although this generation of explorers is about 180kg lighter than the previous generation, the curb weight of this car still exceeds 1.6 tons due to the addition of a large number of ultra-high strength steel. Compared with the visual sense of solidity, it doesn't look heavy after opening. With the support of the 2.0T high-power engine, the explorer's acceleration performance is not inferior in the middle and late period, and the power improvement is also relatively fast, giving people a stable and powerful feeling.

In the mountain road stage, we specially tested the response speed of the explorer gearbox. After all, this price model rarely uses the power combination of 2.0T+9AT. In the process of rapid acceleration, the upshift of the gearbox is positive enough and the overall dynamic response is fast enough. Although there will still be frustration, it is not obvious and will not affect driving comfort.

After getting on the expressway, we also pay special attention to the quiet performance of the whole vehicle. Because the driving model has the function of active noise reduction, when the vehicle speed is lower than 80km/h, the quietness of the whole vehicle is relatively excellent. Although tire noise and wind noise inevitably flood into the car with the deep stepping on the accelerator, it is not unbearable noise, which does not have much impact on the driving comfort of the whole car.

For explorers, 18 years have passed, and they have changed from a "teenager" who blindly pursues sports to an all-round player who can take care of both sports and family. Although the explorer locates the mid-level SUV, with the preferential treatment of the terminal, the overall starting price is the same as that of many compact SUVs. This "dislocation competition" strategy also makes the explorer more competitive. The relatively comprehensive product strength, coupled with the overweight configuration after domestic production, may be the sign of this "teenager" growing up.

Text = Ganoderma Photography = Xu Jincheng

This article comes from the author's report on cars, and the copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author for any form of reprint. The content only represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with the car reform.