2022 Ford Expedition Stealth Efficiency Brings Sneaky Pace

Efficiency packages are sometimes accompanied by fanfare and peacockery, particularly in terms of tuned-up SUVs. An SUV already makes an announcement about your way of life aspirations, so naturally, the high-horsepower ones usually aren’t shy about upping the braggadocio. Again in 1992, when GMC stuffed a 280-hp turbocharged V-6 into the S-15 Jimmy, they did not simply slather it in outrageous graphics and aero cladding—they renamed it the Hurricane. When Dodge put a 475-hp V-8 within the Durango, it additionally had a hood scoop, racing stripes, and an exhaust observe that may be heard from the police helicopter that is in all probability chasing it. However the Stealth Efficiency bundle for the 2022 Ford Expedition Restricted is totally different, as its identify implies. Other than its purple brake calipers, the ensuing car is definitely extra delicate than the remainder of the Restricted lineup. Trim is blacked out and energy is cranked up, leading to what may be the sneakiest drag racer available on the market. With twin turbos huffing increase to its high-output 3.5-liter V-6, the Stealth Efficiency car hits 60 mph in 4.9 seconds and clears the quarter-mile in 13.7 seconds at 101 mph. Attempt that after a run by way of the Dairy Queen drive-through and you will be wiping Blizzards off the again window.

To get your fingers on this fleetest of Expeditions, you will must order a Restricted (both rear- or four-wheel drive, common wheelbase or Max) and add gear group 304A, a.okay.a. the Stealth Efficiency bundle, for a further $9880. That brings an additional 40 horsepower and 30 lb-ft of torque. Be not tempted by gear group 303A, which prices $4670 and is merely Stealth with out the Efficiency. What is the level in being stealthy if there’s nothing to cover?

Apart from its high-output V-6 (440 horsepower, 510 lb-ft of torque) and twin exhaust, the Stealth Efficiency pack brings a sport-tuned suspension, a 3.73:1 final-drive ratio, black-painted six-spoke 22-inch wheels, and people decidedly unstealthy purple brake calipers. It additionally will get a variety of blacked-out trim (grille, roof rails, power-deployable working boards, headlight bezels) and a 22-speaker B&O sound system. Oddly for a mannequin positioned because the efficiency zenith of the lineup, there are a number of key items of {hardware} that stay elective. We are saying you would possibly as properly go all the way in which and add the electronically managed limited-slip rear differential for $1500, accessible solely on four-by-fours.

Regardless of the promise of a “sport-tuned suspension,” the Stealth Efficiency stays a comfortable pleasure palace and drives as such. Whereas the potent twin-turbo V-6 can disguise our Expedition’s 5837 kilos, you are feeling that weight within the corners, the place the massive Ford can handle solely 0.75 g of lateral grip. A Porsche Macan this isn’t, however that quantity at the least betters the 0.69 g we recorded from the 2023 Cadillac Escalade-V, which has way more overt sporting pretensions. The Stealth Efficiency’s mien is akin to that of an enormous outdated Bentley, one thing like a Mulsanne that would mild the afterburners for an on-ramp however needed to heel over onto the door handles when the off-ramp arrived. And the Expedition is equally hushed taking place the street, with an inside sound degree of 68 decibels at 70 mph and simply 74 decibels at wide-open throttle. This sizzling rod may need a twin exhaust, however not the type that annoys the neighbors.

FoMoCo aficionados might have famous that the Stealth Efficiency appears to have borrowed the Lincoln Navigator’s engine, they usually’re proper—this is identical powertrain that hustled our most up-to-date check Navigator to 60 mph in 5.3 seconds. And at $78,070 for a standard-wheelbase rear-wheel-drive mannequin and $80,620 for a four-by-four, the Expedition Restricted Stealth Efficiency can overlap the Navigator in value too. Luckily, Stealth Efficiency consumers cannot actually go a lot larger as a result of the Restricted is already decked out with many of the Expedition’s accessible choices: a heated steering wheel, heated second-row seats. And yeah, the Expedition’s black leather-based seats with purple stitching look sharp, however have you ever seen the Navigator’s inside?

Then once more, we suppose the Expedition Stealth Efficiency courts a unique form of viewers. The Navigator is all bombast, chrome, and flash. In the meantime, the Stealth Efficiency would not even put on any badges that establish it as such. However for those who see an Expedition Restricted with purple brake calipers easing as much as a stoplight prefer it’s the Christmas tree on the native quarter-mile strip, possibly suppose twice earlier than entering into an impromptu drag race. Whereas different Expeditions may also seat eight passengers and tow 9300 kilos, solely this one may give EcoBoost Mustangs a run for his or her cash.

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