2025 Ford Expedition Wants To Be Your Everything — And It Succeeds

It's tough being the Ford Expedition. You're less popular than your cross-town competition, the Chevy Tahoe/Suburban, and you're less cool than your brother, the Lincoln Navigator. Still, you've got to find your niche in the world, as hard as that may be. That's exactly what Ford is trying to do with the heavily updated fifth-generation Expedition. The Blue Oval has its work cut out for it if it wants to catch Chevy's truck-based SUV. In 2024, Ford sold 78,035 Expeditions. Meanwhile, the Bowtie moved 149,545 Suburbans and Tahoes. If you add in the GMC Yukon (87,312 sales) things get even bleaker for our dear old Expedition.

Luckily for Ford and prospective buyers, the Dearborn-based automaker has come out swinging with the fifth-gen Expedition. What we've got here is a good-looking truck packed with some of the latest tech in the industry, a biblical amount of space and thoughtful touches like a model-first split tailgate that are aiming to give The General a run for its money.

Full Disclosure: Ford flew me out to Louisville, Kentucky, fed me, put me up in a hotel and brought me to a AAA baseball game all so I could try out the 2026 Expedition.

Changes for the 2025 Expedition don't really go too far below skin-deep, but that's not a big deal. The underpinnings of this massive SUV are Ford's tried and true T3 truck platform, so at the very least you know it's built to last. Don't let this deter you. Even though most of the 2025 Expedition's revisions are cosmetic (aside from some reworked suspension meant to provide a comfier ride), they're all very well thought out and handsome — on the outside, at least.

Ford gave the exterior of the 209.9-inch Expedition and 221.7-inch Expedition Max a thorough going-over for its new generation, with a slightly more sculpted and athletic look. It's still definitely an Expedition, but even in its base Active trim it looks like a far more upscale product. A handful of really neat wheel designs (nine total that range anywhere from 18 to 24 inches), an LED lightbar up front and a semi-floating roofline add to this effort. All four trim levels — Active, Platinum, Tremor (brand new to the Expedition) and King Ranch — come with their own exclusive details that let passers-by know exactly what Expedition you're in.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

The biggest change to the outside of the new Expedition is the implementation of a clamshell-style trunk door, which Ford is calling the Split Gate. It's a seriously cool feature to see on a more mass-market car like the Expedition. By my math, the only way to get a split tailgate anywhere else in the car industry is on the full-size Range Rover, BMW X5 and Rivian R1S. The Expo' is by far the cheapest in that group. In a lot of ways, I'm shocked Ford even bothered to do this. I mean, a clamshell tailgate is cool as hell, but it certainly was not cheap to engineer, and I doubt people weren't buying the Expedition because it didn't have one in the past. Still, I'm glad it's here. My only real gripe is that the top portion is painted black no matter what color the rest of your Expedition is. I just don't love the way it looks. It's honestly my only issue with the truck's whole exterior.

Things are a bit more complicated inside, both literally and figuratively. The interior of the Expedition is totally redesigned for the 2025 model year and there are three things you're going to notice right away: the 24-inch screen by the windshield, the smaller touchscreen right below it and the squircle steering wheel that seems to be absent of buttons. I'll start with the panoramic screen and work clockwise.

Essentially this screen is what's offered in the Lincoln Navigator but cut in half. The display serves as your gauge cluster, an information display and a permanent home for a Google Maps display. Despite how big it is, it's not terribly customizable. You can't do much to change the cluster, for instance. An extremely minimalist tachometer will only appear when you're in Sport or Off-Road mode; other than that you've got a big digital speedometer and a display for your driver-assist systems. To the right of that is your "widgets" display, which is the only truly customizable thing in the entire setup. From there, you can choose to display trip information, weather, auxiliary gauges and music, among a few other things. To the right of that is an auxiliary navigation screen that cannot be moved.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

Next up, we've got the main command screen. This controls pretty much every function of the Expedition from navigation and music to your headlights and HVAC system. Hell, it's even when you store your memory seat position. Luckily, it does work rather well. It's simple to figure out and quick to respond to your touch. Either of the two screens can also play YouTube videos if you're bored.

Less simple to use is the new two-spoke squircle steering wheel. It's still basically a circle, so you can place your hands where you usually put them. The real issue lies with the button setup Ford decided to implement. What we've got here are two D-pads that control your driver assist system including BlueCruise on the left, and on the right control your stereo. The right controls are also used to adjust your pedals and steering wheel. I promise this isn't as annoying as you think it is. Once you've got these things set, you never have to worry about them. The real problem lies with the fact it's hard to tell where you're pressing on the D-pads. Even though the functions of each part of the controls show up in your gauge cluster, it's hard to know exactly where your finger is unless you take your eyes off the road. Perhaps this would improve with time, but I found myself having to look down to see where my thumb was. All that being said, a huge benefit of the steering wheel/pano screen placement is that the screen is never obscured.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

The rest of the interior is updated from the previous truck as well. Don't worry, it still has tons of space. I'm 6'1", and I could fit comfortably behind myself in all three rows, so I'm sure you and your annoying children will too. In the regular wheelbase Expedition, there's plenty of trunk room for your stuff, but if that isn't enough, you can always jump to the Max to fit in every belonging you've ever had. For reference, with the third row up, the Expedition Max still has 36.1 cubic feet of cargo room. Admittedly, that's slightly behind the 41.5 cubic feet you get in a Suburban, but I'm sure you'll make it work. Every seat gets about 9,000 cup holders and USB ports as well. As always, there are seating options for seven or eight passengers depending on if you get a second row bench or captain's chairs.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

One neat party trick is the power-sliding center console. At the press of a button, the whole thing shifts backward to reveal a massive storage area big enough for your secret gallon of milk. It can also come in handy for sending a drink back to your younger kid in the second row who can't quite reach it.

Despite the utilitarian, truck-like roots of the Expedition, it drives remarkably well. It's not a performance car by any means, but it offers a luxury experience that you'd more commonly find in something like a Lincoln Navigator or Cadillac Escalade. What I mean by that is that the 2025 Expedition is incredibly smooth and isolated when you're driving down the road.

I had the opportunity to drive every available trim level of the Expedition: Active, Platinum, Tremor and King Ranch. From top to bottom, they all gave a surprisingly luxurious experience. Ford's engineers did a wonderful job of keeping road noise to a minimum with lots of sound dead and double-pane windows. The suspension the SUV rides on has been slightly reworked to be a bit softer and more premium-feeling.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

Aiding in the luxury driving experience is Ford's phenomenal BlueCruise 1.5 Level 2 hands-free driving system. The system works just as well as anything else in the automotive world, allowing you to travel as far as you want going down a highway without touching the steering wheel as long as you're looking forward, but make sure that's what you're doing. BlueCruise is super sensitive if its driver monitoring system notices you're looking at one of the screens in the truck for too long. It loves to yell at you. Still, that's a small price to pay for a system that can operate at up to 80 mph and change lanes for you to get around slower traffic.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

Regardless of trim level, the front seats are also stupendously comfy. They provide a ton of support and are wonderfully soft from base to the top of the line. Of course, the farther up you go in the range, you get things like ventilated seats and a massage function (only available on the Platinum).

My one real gripe with driving the Expedition is how much steering input it needs. Turing lock to lock requires nearly four turns of the steering wheel, meaning you're going to need to get used to shuffling your hands around in tight spaces. Even going around a corner requires a lot of steering input. Luckily, the truck's turning radius is actually rather tight. I don't have exact numbers, but maneuvers I thought would require multiple back-and-forths only required a simple K-turn.

Engine options for the new Expedition are carry-overs from the previous generation. However, Ford dropped the base motor for the new model year. There are two powertrains to choose from now, but they're both twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost engines. The vast majority of Expeditions will be powered by the less-powerful 400 horsepower and 480 pound-feet of torque unit. This motor still gives plenty of oomph to get the truck down the road at a decent clip.

The other option bumps power up to 440 horsepower and 510 lb-ft of torque. The only mechanical difference I can see is that you get a dual exhaust setup rather than a single tip. Still, it's very hard to come by. For reasons known only to God, Ford has decided to lock this motor into two trim levels. It's standard on the Tremor and optional on the Platinum. That's right, despite the fact the King Ranch starts at a higher price, you're left with just the low-output motor. I can't say I really understand this decision.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

Regardless of what motor you have, the Expedition is far quicker than it has any right to be, with 0-to-60-mph times coming in right around the 5-second mark. That's wild when you consider it weighs between 5,400 and 5,800 pounds depending on spec. That performance does come at a price, though. Gas mileage isn't going to be great. Both engines are EPA estimated at 15 mpg city, 22 highway and 18 combined. You still get a pretty decent driving range thanks to the 23.2-gallon fuel tank in the short-wheelbase Expedition and a massive 27.8-gallon tank in the Max.

Tow ratings are the same for both motors. Ford says the standard wheelbase Expo' can pull up to 9,600 pounds if it has four-wheel drive. Max models have to get by with just a 9,000-pound tow rating.

To me, the biggest addition to the Expedition for 2025 is the introduction of a new off-road-focused Tremor trim level. This is far more than just an appearance package. The trim level adds a ton of under-body shielding, 33-inch all-terrain tires and a slight suspension left to give the truck 10.6 inches of ground clearance. You also get a locking rear differential and some really neat off-road tech like a rock crawl mode, a one-pedal driving system and trail turn assist that'll lock a rear brake to help you pivot your truck in a tight space.

On the outside, it looks tougher than other Expeditions. There are tons of orange accents, a different grille with auxiliary lights built in, new 18-inch wheels with an orange accent to let you know where the tire stem is, metal running boards and a few new paint colors. It really does look very cool.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

It doesn't just talk the talk either. The Expedition Tremor can walk the walk when you're off-road. We were able to go through some pretty demanding trails at the Interlake State Recreation Area in rural Indiana, and the Tremor did extremely well. If you're in the right mode and give it enough gas, it's pretty damn impossible to get this thing stuck, even in the gnarliest terrain. My only real issues with it were the aforementioned steering problems (you're turning it a lot) and the simple fact it was really freaking big. Unless you're comfy giving your Expedition Tremor pinstripes courtesy of the trees around you, look for more wide-open trails.

Ford simplified the Expedition's trim levels for 2025 to the aforementioned Active, Tremor, King Ranch and Platinum trims. On the low end you've got the Active, which starts at $63,995 including destination. From there, you can bump up to the Platinum, which will set you back $76,425. Above that is the Tremor, which starts at $83,025, and finally we get to the King Ranch, which starts at $85,650. If you need to add extra space to your Expedition, getting a Max will cost you an extra $3,000 on all by the Tremor, which can't be optioned in the Max body style).

Something I've noticed is that there's a ton of pricing overlap between the three main trim levels depending on the option groups you go for. On the Active, you can select the $4,215 Active Touring Edition package, which gets you niceties like Ford's Co-Pilot 360, a panoramic roof, 20-inch wheels and a heated steering wheel and front seats, among a slew of other things. There's a ton of value here, and if you want even more advanced tech, you can add in BlueCruise for $2,495. That's all sort of straightforward.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

Things start getting confusing when you get to the Platinum. It starts at far less money than the top-of-the-line King Ranch, but there are several packages, including the $13,570 Platinum Ultimate Package, that brings its trim and equipment to a level above the King Ranch. With this, you get the more powerful engine, 24-inch wheels, BlueCruise, second-row captains chairs and massaging seats, among a slew of other options. It also brings the truck's price to right around $90,000, which feels like a ton for an Expedition.

Finally, we've got the King Ranch, which starts far higher than the Platinum but can't be specced as high. No matter what you do with the King Ranch, you can't get the more powerful motor or massage seats. Instead, you get some very cool-looking dark brown leather, King Ranch logos everywhere and really neat copper accepts on the outside. I suppose Ford just wants to offer customers the flexibility to spend their money on the things they want regardless of the truck's exterior appearance. The King Ranch definitely appeals more to in-your-face American-ness, while the Platinum is more of a quiet luxury.

Ford seriously needed a home run if it was ever going to catch up to the likes of the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon. Luckily for the Blue Oval, that's exactly what I think it has done. Sure, the tech might seem a touch intimidating to Luddites who are just experiencing the truck for the first time, but you quickly realize that it isn't that confusing, and once you're past that initial hump, you can really appreciate what Ford has done to elevate the full-size SUV buyer's life.

Through neat touches like the split-fold tailgate, comprehensive trim packages, an extremely capable off-road trim level and a second-to-none ride quality, Ford may finally pull its Expedition out of the shadow of its competition. You're just going to have to pay for the privilege.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik