Hi Rene – Thank you for the information. I’m 6ft 2 in but have a totally fused spine and bilateral hip replacement’s so getting in and out of a car is my biggest challenge. We have never had an electric car but looks like the scheme is heading that way so I guess it a good time to move over from ICE cars. is the drivers seat fully electric and which spec level is the one to go for? Regards Andrew
The drivers seat is fully electric (including lumbar massage function) in Premium trim. 6ft2 is zero problem, you’ll have plenty of space.
Entry is easy, the seat in the Explorer is roughly bum-height. Another thing that might be of help to you, is the fact that the seat has an “easy entry” function. When you get out, the seat moves slightly backwards to allow for easier exit – and when you get into the seat, it’ll slide back forwards to the pre-set position.
As for trims, we’re looking at the Premium trim (£2249 i think), without the driver assistance pack. You can get it with pack for closer to £3k (don’t know the exact price), but all the features it adds are of no use to us. Namely, illuminated door handles when approaching (have it currently, doesn’t do anything) – HUD, which we also currently have but don’t use because it is just muscle memory to look down to the speedo, 360 camera (arguable, i don’t need it, the car isn’t too large and has a small turning radius, less than a Golf), and some auto-lane change feature as well as auto-parking, neither of which i’ve ever used (and i’ve driven cars with both features for almost 10 years now).
Of course, your mileage in that regard may vary, to us the only thing even remotely useful would be the 360 cam, and £800 for that alone is pointless.
Premium trim adds the electric massage seat as well as a panoramic roof, Matrix LEDs, electric tailgate, ambient lighting as well as a bose soundsystem and leather – all welcome additions for us. The roof may be a bit whatever, but the sound system is decent, we need the electric tailgate and most importantly, Matrix LEDs are just a no-brainer. Having used them now for 3 years, i don’t want anything else anymore.
If i were you, i very much would go for a test drive.
edit: it helps that it is, to me, also standing out a bit. It’s pretty bull-ish in its shape, not a mobility blob. Yeah there’s a bit of hard plastic here and there in the interior, but i mean.. it’s okay. The design of the interior itself we very much did like, just lower down where the cubby (floating centre console, storage underneath) is, there’s a bit of meh materials.
Drives great though, very comfortable yet planted, and pulls like an absolute freight train (considerably stronger than our GTE even). Even on the 20 inch wheels the Premium comes on.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.