Ford added just enough off-road capability to its three-row family crossover.
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Useful off-road upgrades
Blue Cruise hands-free capability
Minimal on-road compromises
Inconsistent powertrain response
Middling fuel economy
No wireless phone charger
We’re now firmly in the outdoorsy SUV era, where seemingly every automaker has a rugged-sounding off-road trim for their all-wheel drive family SUVs . Thankfully, we’re deep enough into it now that they’re more than just the badge and sticker jobs of yore. Today’s jacked-up and plastic-clad soft-road SUVs have actual mechanical enhancements, most of them meaningful. Ford is no stranger to off-roading, and it’s now brought a credible competitor to the three-row SUV market in the form of the 2026 Ford Explorer Tremor .
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What’s a Tremor?
A tremor is a small movement or vibration preceding or following an earthquake, but that’s not important right now. In Ford speak, a Tremor is the second-highest off-road trim below the mighty Raptors, and the Tremorized Explorer is its latest extension .
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In terms of functional upgrades, the Explorer Tremor gets an extra inch of ground clearance for 8.7 total. It also gets new front and rear bumpers, gaining substantially better approach, breakover, and departure angles as a result. When that isn’t enough, its skidplates help protect the nose, engine, and fuel tank. Bridgestone Dueler AT all-terrain tires provide the traction, with help from a Torsen mechanical limited-slip rear differential and all-wheel drive.
For 2026, the Explorer’s available 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 is down 15 horsepower across the board to 385, as Ford is only building it in the 50-state emissions-compliant tune after offering a non-CARB version with 400 hp last year. Torque is the same at 415 lb-ft. You can get the Explorer Tremor with the SUV’s standard 2.3-liter turbo-four, but we wanted to test it with the uprated powertrain and off-road equipment combination.
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Rumblings of Capability
We took the 2026 Explorer Tremor on a little off-road adventure the first time we drove it, but repetition is fundamental to good science, so we did it again to be sure. In doing so, we confirmed all those new parts listed above do their job.
The tires, all-wheel drive, and limited-slip diff provide impressive traction on loose dirt, even on steep hills. The extra ground clearance, while no greater than the average Subaru, helps keep the Explorer’s belly off most obstacles on your typical service road or trail. The nips and tucks to the bumpers allow you to approach ruts, rocks, and steps with greater confidence, and the skidplates provide added peace of mind when everything we just said still isn’t enough.
While Ford doesn’t call out any enhancements it made to the dampers, we’ll give them credit anyway because they do a good job of keeping things settled even as speeds pick up. You don’t need to pick and poke your way down a rugged dirt road; you can drive it at neighborhood speeds without enriching a chiropractor or an alignment shop.
Of course, the Explorer Tremor isn’t going to follow a Bronco too deep into the woods, but it isn’t meant to. It will get you down that dirt access road to the lake, campsite, or hunting ground after a bad winter without too much trouble, though, and that’s more than some of its contemporary off-road-upfitted family SUVs can say.