You know how you attach fond memories to objects? Well, my 1995 black Ford Explorer is one of those things for me. I had it all through college and at the beginning of my marriage, and I loved that car. So, you can imagine that I was just a little excited to have the chance to drive the 2011 Ford Explorer LTD on our trip to Florida!

I’ve got to say right off the bat that this is not the Ford Explorer I remember… it’s so much more. I’m continually impressed with how technology is incorporated into vehicles, and our experience with the Explorer taught us just how far technology has come. Several features stood out to me, but one was my absolute favorite and has been something I’ve gushed about to friends and family, so I’ll tell you about it first, and then move on to others.

Adaptive Cruise Control: I loved the cruise control on the Explorer to begin with because of the simple fact that it’s digital. I want to go 70? Easy – and it’s easy to adjust it up or down a couple of miles. But my absolute favorite part is that it adapts to the vehicle’s surroundings. See the little car graphic & the white bar? That’s the gap between you and the car in front of you. Let’s say we are driving 65 miles per hour, and we come up behind a car going 55. Normally I’d have to cancel cruise control, but not in the Explorer – it senses the car in front of us, and slows down accordingly. Once we’re able to change lanes, the cruise goes back up to 65 MPH. It’s absolutely amazing, and is such a valuable safety feature for families. It also makes caravaning much more pleasant – everyone knows it’s difficult to sync two cars up at the exact same speed, but with this feature it’s not an issue.

Blind Spot Alert Lights: So ingenious! Whenever a car passes on either side of the Explorer an orange light appears in the sideview mirror. I loved this feature too – I think we can all remember a situation in which we’ve thought it’s all clear to change lanes, only to realize suddenly (hopefully prior to hitting someone) that there is indeed a car there after all. That’s not an issue with this feature, because it’s easy to glance up, take a look at the light, and realize there’s a car there even if I can’t see it.

Heated and Cooled Seats: A lot of cars have heated seats, but the Explorer takes it a step further; there are three levels of heating available, and there was a noticeable difference in the level of heat between each of the options. I also liked that the heat traveled up the back and wasn’t just contained in the seat. We tried the cooling just for the experience of it – it’s a strange sensation, but I can imagine that in the heat of summer (especially Texas summers) it’s a really useful tool.

Control Panel: I’m not sure what the official term for this would be, but the touch screen truly is a central hub for information. It’s well-organized and easy to find different elements. Yet again, Ford takes it one step beyond and also incorporates two smaller screens behind the steering wheel that allow the driver to easily access important information, answer calls or change the radio. There are controls on each side of the steering wheel that make it easy to navigate through to the element you want to access.

Folding Rear Seats: Yet another area that Ford takes what’s expected and bumps it to the next level. There’s a third row of seating in the Explorer, which is fairly standard in many SUV’s now. However, there’s no awkward folding or tugging to get the seats in the position you want – it happens with the touch of a button:

That’s the “stow” arrangement, but you can also fold the seats up or down individually or together, making the back of the vehicle truly versatile for families. Additionally, I feel the need to mention that the back row of seats is actually a comfortable space with a reasonable amount of room, unlike many vehicles. I rode in the back several times with J in his car seat, and we both had plenty of space.

Ambient Lighting: This is totally just something for fun, but you’re able to select a color scheme for all of the ambient lighting in the vehicle. I had fun playing with it while Brian drove one night, and the kids thought it was cool to pick a color and watch the lighting change.

Navigation System: Since we were on a road trip we used this feature quite a bit. I have a mostly positive opinion of the navigation, but there are two areas with room for improvement. First, there was a little bit of a lag between starting up the car and the navigation beginning. It was only a matter of 2-3 minutes, but it did mean that we needed to sit and wait before getting started on our next leg of the trip. That’s not generally a big issue, and wouldn’t even bother me at all, except for the other aspect I think could be improved – you’re not able to type in an address while the vehicle is in motion. I completely understand that being an important safety feature to prevent drivers from being distracted, but it’s still not allowed even when there’s a passenger in the car. The Explorer senses whether there’s a passenger for the air bags, so it seems like it’d be a natural step for navigation to sense this too, and allow text input when passengers are present. There is the option to speak commands, and it works quite well… unless you have a vehicle with two screaming/singing/whining/giggling preschoolers. Overall we were content with the system. We liked the split screens, the voice directions that could be muted, and the ability to pick between multiple suggested routes.

Back-Up Camera: Loved having this, especially when the car was full and heads were blocking the view a bit. It was also nice that guides popped up as you turn to show you the projected path of your vehicle. I SO miss this feature and actually looked at my console for a screen out of habit when we first got back.

Space: The Explorer had plenty of interior space. If you follow me on Twitter you saw me mention that we were able to fit six people, including two in car seats – plus luggage and souvenirs – comfortably. We noticed the amount of space right off the bat, when transferring our luggage from our car to the Explorer:

There was plenty of room for the boys – they loved having the cup holders fold down in between their seats, too.

We logged over 2,300 miles in the Explorer so we really got a feel for how it handles (excellent, even in rain) and its features. I was really sad to return it! It’s a great family vehicle that has the space, safety, reliability, and luxury to suit every member of the family, and it reminded me yet again – in a whole new way – why I love the Ford Explorer.

Note: Ford loaned us the 2011 Ford Explorer LTD to drive on our trip, for the purpose of facilitating our review. All opinions are honest and are our own. We were not compensated monetarily for this post.