Dan Edmunds was born into the world of automobiles, but not how you might think. His father was a retired racing driver who opened Autoresearch, a race-car-building shop, where Dan cut his teeth as a metal fabricator.
If you've been hunting around the Ford Explorer product lineup, you may wonder whatever happened to the Timberline. It was there from 2021 to 2024, but in 2025 it simply disappeared, right when everyone else was leaning into SUVs with off-road chops.
Wonder no longer, because the Timberline has been transformed into the 2026 Ford Explorer Tremor. The Explorer marks the fifth model that has been given the Tremor treatment, after the F-150, Super Duty, Expedition, and Maverick. A high-horsepower variant is available too—for an extra $12,000 or so. We put the new Tremor through the wringer in Death Valley to see if that additional outlay is worth it.For its latest Tremor, Ford added the Explorer ST's mighty twin-turbocharged V-6 to the slate of options. This EcoBoost twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 churns out a whopping 400 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque. Ford hasn't given us any reference points, but we figure it'll dash to 60 mph in about 5.2 seconds—a little slower than the 2025 ST we tested, on account of tires. If that's more power than you need, or if you simply want to remain cost-conscious, Ford still offers its turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-four that makes 300 ponies and 310 pound-feet. The last Timberline we tested equipped with the turbo four reached 60 mph in 6.0 seconds, and we expect the same from the base Tremor.Apart from the engine upgrade, much of what made an Explorer Timberline a Timberline continues on in the Tremor. Torsen limited-slip differential? Affirmative. Eighteen-inch wheels with 265/65R-18 all-terrain tires? Yeah, and they're exactly the same, apart from the Tremor's trademark Electric Spice paint job rimming the inside of the spoke containing the air valve. A front end with prominent tow hooks and off-road lights? Yes sir, and these get the Electric Spice treatment now too. Front and rear steel skid plates with increased approach and departure angles? Yep. Unique off-road-tuned suspension with an extra inch of height? That's here too. The Timberline sure did get a lot right.The Tremor's off-road suspension tuning does carry some slight differences. The V-6's extra weight alone would have forced some tweaks, and our drive suggested they went for a bit of a character change too. We spent a good long while on both freeways and desert two-lanes, and the damping felt composed and smooth throughout. It leaned competently into corners and never once gave a hint of float or anything untoward.We also took the Explorer Tremor off-road on a variety of challenging surfaces and came back with nary a scratch. The 8.7 inches of underbody clearance came in handy, and the Tremor's approach and departure angles were ample. The Ford proved effective because, unlike most of its front-drive-based competition, it is a rear-based all-wheel-drive setup that can be especially advantageous when climbing uphill. What's more, the damping kept us from banging the nose on step-downs, and it hid rocks most effectively.The rear axle's Torsen differential, a carryover component from the Timberline, is a curious piece. It's outstanding on paved roads and gravel alike, but this differential doesn't work as well when one tire lifts clear off the ground, so you need to drag the brake in that situation to get any sort of bite. This two-footed approach is natural for some people, but you have to employ it—or choose your line more carefully—to minimize rear-axle air time.Another thing that irked us was the steering. It's fine, as in good enough, but nobody's going to be out here claiming it's matched well to the tire loading. But that's one of the sacrifices made in adding dirt-trail charm to something pedestrian. Besides, you won't touch the steering wheel when traveling straight ahead, and even if you want to, there is a plethora of tech—BlueCruise's hands-free system, the adaptive cruise control that persists when BlueCruise's many conditions are unmet—that mostly brings you along for the ride. The Explorer utilizes its front-facing camera in Trail, one of the Tremor's handful of modes. It displays the feed on the central touchscreen, and unlike in other modes, this feed won't stop after reaching a certain speed. The main view isn't that useful because it's too wide of a viewing angle, but it does help catch a glimpse of the action over blind crests. The close-up view of the Tremor's sides is where it's at, though; this helps when you are tiptoeing between large rocks, and you can look at either the front pair of wheels or the trailing pair. That's handy.One of the Tremor's best assets is its interior, sporting the same facelift that all Explorers received for 2025, which the Timberline never lived to see. There is a real attractiveness to this redone interior everywhere you look or touch. That trail camera is just one of the beneficiaries of the standard 13.2-inch landscape-oriented center screen, and it also performs well when using the standard Google Maps or Ford's wireless smartphone mirroring. The software looks sharp, and the menus are next level, with easy access to your favorite climate controls along the bottom edge.Below the screen, the interior is dominated by a cockpit-spanning fabric-covered 'sound bar' that holds some of the speakers. The Timberline only gave you six speakers standard, but the Tremor bumps that up to 10, with the option for a 14-speaker BO upgrade. Electric Spice isn't just for the exterior, either; that color extends inside, applying to both the contrasting stitching and the Tremor badging sewn into the front seats. Interestingly, the 2026 Explorer Tremor is actually less expensive than the 2024 Explorer Timberline, asking $50,160 instead of $51,025 for what is essentially a rebadged Timberline with a much nicer interior. But if you want that 400-hp V-6, you'll have to add an $11,850 package. You must also buy a BlueCruise plan, which will cost $495 for 15 months or $2495 for seven years.Sure, the V-6 package also includes a lot of nice things like the 14-speaker BO sound system, a fixed glass sunroof, rain-sensing wipers, massaging seats, power-folding third-row seats, and more, but all that extra kit is required to access the 400-hp EcoBoost. Going with the less expensive BlueCruise option, that amounts to $62,505 for a 3.0-liter Tremor. We don't know if we need the V-6 that much.➡️ Skip the lot. Let Car and Driver help you find your next car.Shop New Cars Shop Used Cars
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