Well to be fair in the case of the explorer I'm not so sure it would be producing these kinds of numbers on a supercharger, it's really an apples to oranges comparison in terms of motors yes they are both forced induction but you have v6 vs v8, supercharger versus turbocharger, etc etc
I personally think ford underrated these cars for marketing purposes, I'm very confident had ford run a more aggressive tune it could pull about 450-475 hp stock and close to 500 lb ft torque. The fact that we can get so much out of a simple tune shows how conservative the tune was.
In this regard ford failed, I almost think ford did a half assed job in this category, and it wouldn't be so far fetched to be doing 0-60 in 4.5-4.7 on that more aggressive ford tune.
I agree with most of the statements you've been making, and it's actually a breath of fresh air from those who are constantly bitching about a vehicle they theoretically researched, test drove, and finally purchased in lieu of using that same money for the down payment on a home. (Waaah, my expensive Fook Mi 16" phone won't fit in the cubby!)
I would disagree with one of your points- certainly Ford left something on the table when it came to the tune, otherwise we wouldn't be seeing 80-100hp gains. However, "half-assed" is not how I would assess it. If you had a business that could be completely destroyed by warranty claims, you'd probably want a pretty nice margin between a bleeding edge tune and something that has to work for people from huge variances in different climates, altitudes, octane numbers, quality of fuel, and maintenance. Wouldn't you?
The average joe isn't filling up his ST with 93. Just look at some of the posts on this site- a supposed enthusiast site. Nor is it possible that everyone even has access to it. And let's be clear about this- even though the number of feedback mechanisms for knock detection, IAT, EGT, wide-band etc, is pretty friggin sophisticated on these engines, when the cutbacks occur due to poor gasoline and it drops a ton of hp to preserve the engine, the average joe is just going to bitch and trouble the service dept at his local dealer who is clueless. So isn't it better that they leave a bit on the table for those who are willing to put the extra bucks into the tune, fuel quality, etc so they don't have to replace engines or listen to whiners?