Bought a 6 month old Ford Explorer Premium Extended Range RWD last week, to replace my 5 year old Puma. The Puma was a great car, bought at 3 years old. The only downside to it was that I struggled to get comfortable in the seat on long journeys, the seat base is very flat… As I cover about 25k a year, it gave me a reason to look for another car, I generally only keep cars a couple of years and had the Puma seat been better, I could have seen myself keeping it a bit longer than usual.

SWMBO was a key factor in this purchase, she liked the Explorer when we tested it, so the deal was done. Who knows, this car may be one to keep for more than 2 years. We still have SWMBO’s Puma, and I’ve got an older XC70 for alternative use, so going electric won’t present any issues.

So far, the real range is working out at about 320 miles, that’s with air con permanently on, mobile phone plugged in, radio on etc, so I don’t think there are any range anxiety issues here. It’s a very comfortable car, still getting used to it, but the early signs are promising.

Once we get the home charger installed, I’ll be charging at 7p per kWh, and so far the car is averaging 4.2 miles/kWh with me. I reckon £5.50 of electric on the home charge should give me 300 miles range, not too shabby!

I shall try and update on life with the Explorer as time goes on!