Video: 2025 Ford Expedition Review: A Good Full-Size Family Hauler?

It has three rows of seating for up to eight people, so it has plenty of room for your crew, your stuff, and it can also tow most anything you might want to. Ford has made some big changes to the Expedition for 2025, including new exterior styling, a new split liftgate tailgate design out back, and an all new interior that changes how you use this big SUV. Here's what you need to know if you're thinking about a new Expedition for your family. (upbeat music) A 24 inch panoramic display is standard in the Expedition and it serves as your instrument panel. It also can show audio and navigation information, but what it doesn't show is Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. You have to instead use the 13.2 inch touch screen to bring those up. The Expedition has a new squared off circle steering wheel, and that's to better see that 24 inch panoramic display. And it also has some mostly unlabeled steering wheel controls. They're touch pads and when you touch them you get a small menu up on that display. On the right it's for audio controls, mostly. On the left, it's for cruise control. And I thought it had a fairly low learning curve to use these though some of our staff members didn't really care for the shape of the steering wheel. What I didn't care for were the seats in this platinum trim level. Now they have all manner of power adjustments, but I kept having to try and adjust 'em to find that comfortable driving position and never really got there. And it really stuck out for me because normally it's a non-issue in cars that I test. So when you're on your test drive, be sure to check that out and pay attention to it to see if they're gonna work for you. I had some similar comfort issues with the second row captain's chairs. While there is plenty of space back here for adult passengers, the backrest has an odd shape and the seats themselves are kind of narrow for a vehicle that's this big. From a car seat installation standpoint the latch anchors were good to use with our infant seat, but harder to use with our convertible car seat because they're tucked right up against the seat upholstery and harder to access. But with any of the seats we used, there was plenty of space back here to install them and we didn't have to move the front seats forward at all. There's not a lot of cargo space when all three rows of seats are in use, but that's not uncommon among full-sized three row SUVs like this. And if you need more cargo space, Ford sells the Expedition Max version. It's a long wheel-based model that has 70% more cargo room, 36 cubic feet versus the 21.6 cubic feet here. The platinum trim level comes with the cargo tailgate manager, which you can use for a table, a shelf, or as a back rest when the tailgate is down. And that tailgate seat was useful when one of our staff took her family apple picking because they used it as a a spot for lunch. Besides offering a space to sit, the tailgate also offers the benefit of helping keeping any cargo in place when you open the lift gate, don't have to worry about it falling out, but one of the downside is when the tailgate is lowered, it pushes you farther back from the rear of the vehicle. So if you have some cargo that's further up, the third row is down, you're gonna have to reach further in to get it. Our Expedition has the stealth performance package, which includes a number of functional changes in addition to all the blacked out exterior trim. And that's good because it's an expensive package at nearly $7,000. You get a high output version of the twin turbo V-6 that makes 440 horsepower, a continuously controlled suspension, a high flow exhaust system, and also 22 inch wheels and tires. And this high output V-6, it makes plenty of power, moves this big SUV easily. It also sounds pretty good when you get on the gas thanks to that high flow exhaust system. One thing I don't like though as much about the setup is this vehicle is very bouncy. Even on smaller bumps, there's a lot of up and down motions to the suspension, so a little bit surprising to experience that in this vehicle. But this is also quite a large vehicle and despite its size, it's pretty easy to get familiar with kind of how it maneuvers, where you have room, where you don't have room to go. But if you want a little extra confidence, the supplemental camera views are helpful. You can get camera views right by pressing a button on the console. And it also has blind spot camera views that show up on the panoramic display. Those are helpful though they aren't as large as we would like them to be. Considering you have such a big screen in front of you. We've done some towing with an Expedition Max, the long wheel-based version of this SUV and has the same powertrain though that we're driving now. And it towed an Airstream camper really well. And that was a trailer that weighed nearly 7,000 pounds. But you need to be prepared to really see a significant drop in fuel economy. We got around nine and a half miles per gallon when we were towing that camper and it really diminished the range that this vehicle had. So what'll it cost to get something like this for your family? Well, the base for an Expedition starts at around $65,000 with rear wheel drive, but this mid-level platinum trim is right around $84,000. And while it has its highlights, like a powerful engine that's great for towing, it's uncomfortable seats and bouncy ride would have me looking at some of the competition first before putting money down on this Ford. For more coverage on SUVs like the Ford Expedition, be sure to check out cars.com/news.