I'm coming from a '12 Jaguar XF and have owned many high performance vehicles. With a new grandchild, I was looking for a bit more room for family trips while still not settling into a "mini-van". The only SUV I've ever had was a '93 Typhoon which, while somewhat primitive, has pretty good handling and was very quick. I researched most of the "higher performance" SUVs, under $50k so I didn't even know about the Explorer ST. Tossed out the F-Pace, the Macan, X5-M due to price. Drove the new Escape (2.0 turbo), the Mazda (2.5 turbo), the Edge ST, the Audi and the Acura RDX. Of all of them, I liked the new RDX best and was nearly ready to buy one but my experience with the sales rep was so disappointing that I just didn't want to deal with him. I went back to Ford to sample the Corsair with the 2.3 turbo, but honestly still felt the RDX was nicer looking (and has a great interior). Then the Ford rep pointed out the Explorer ST. After spending a weekend looking at the specs and getting an extended test drive I decided based on RWD biased platform, handling, etc it was probably worth it to plunk down an extra $8k to get it. I have owned over 50 vehicles in my life and this is my first Ford. Since no one else in the thread mentioned the RDX, I'm surprised- the interior is IMHO better than all the rest, but I'm really liking the ST.