Family-friendly vehicles continue to be a popular desire for many people. A large SUV meets many needs for a family on the go. The 2025 Ford Explorer is a safe and practical choice with a great starting price, but that’s still equipped with plenty of power and safety features.
Key Takeaways
- The Acadia leans more towards luxury than practicality, which gives it a higher price than the Explorer.
- The Explorer has two powertrain options and the ST trim has the most horsepower.
- The Explorer takes safety seriously with many standard and optional safety features available.
- The Acadia is a larger SUV and can seat eight passengers.
Which SUV has the better price, The Explorer or the Acadia?
The Ford Explorer has a lower starting price than the Acadia. The 2025 Ford Explorer continues to be a practical family vehicle. There are four trims available: Active, ST Line, Platinum and ST. Depending on the trim and options, it has starting prices from $41,745 to $56,465. Whereas the Acadia starts at a higher price point for its three available trims: Elevation, AT4, and Denali with prices starting from $44,495 to $59,085.
While the Acadia focuses more on luxury features and options, the 2025 Explorer still has plenty of creature comforts. You’ll find new accents as well as available multicontour front seats and an available PowerFold third row seat. You can get one of two Bang & Olufson speaker packages available that both come with a subwoofer and available fabric-wrapped acoustic sound bar. You’ll also get a wireless charging system and ambient lighting to complete your in-car experience.
Which SUV has more power? The Ford Explorer or the GMC Acadia?
The Ford Explorer ST trim has more horsepower and pound-feet torque. The base model Explorers come with a turbocharged 2.3 L four-cylinder engine that is rated to get 300 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque. The ST trim has a turbocharged 3.0 L V-6 that gets 400 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque. The V-6 is also optional on the Platinum trim. The motors are paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission. Rear-wheel drive is standard across the board, but all-wheel drive is available.
The Explorer has a maximum towing capacity of 5,000 pounds across all models, which come with the Class III Towing package, including a hitch, a trailer wiring harness, and a trailer sway control system.
The Acadia is equipped with a 328 horsepower turbocharged 2.5 L inline-four engine paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission. Front-wheel drive is standard across all trims, but all-wheel drive is optional. Similar to the Explorer, it also can tow up to 5,000 and comes with a standard towing package.
Is the Explorer a safe family vehicle?
The Explorer features many standard and optional safety features. Some of these are self-sealing tires that do not come on the Acadia and larger brake discs and pads for stronger braking. The Explorer also features blind spot information system and adaptive cruise control in all trims. The available Co-Pilot 360 Technology offers even more safety with these features: a lane keeping system, evasive steering assist, a rear-view camera, hill descent control, blind spot information system and cross traffic alert, pre-collision assist with emergency braking, blind spot information system with trailer coverage, and auto high-beam headlamps.
Which SUV can seat more passengers? The Acadia seats eight in the standard model.
While the Explorer is spacious, the Acadia is a larger vehicle with more cubic feet of cargo space and slightly more passenger space. The standard Acadia can accommodate eight passengers compared to only seven in the Explorer.
Summary
If you don’t want to pay for the pomp and luxury of the Acadia, the 2025 Ford Explorer is an excellent option for a large family SUV. It has plenty of creature comforts while still boasting a lot of muscle and covering safety concerns for your family. You can find the SUV that best fits your needs at Jarrett-Gordon Ford of Winter Haven.