We Own a Ford F-150, Expedition, Subaru Forester and BMW X3: Here's What We Like (and Don't) About Each

• We own and run a fleet of 15-20 cars that we cycle through for a year (or more).
• Right now, a Ford F-150, Ford Expedition, Subaru Forester Hybrid, and BMW X3 are part of that fleet.
• Here's the latest on all four of these faithful long-term partners. 

Months in fleet: 52 (almost 4.5 years)
Odometer: 47,288 miles

We were supposed to sell the F-150 Hybrid we bought at the tail end of 2021, almost two years ago, but we just couldn't part ways with it. See, Big Red, as it's lovingly been named, is one of the most complete vehicles in our fleet. It has only once put a foot wrong (when the center screen stopped working and was fixed under warranty) and has done everything we've asked of it continually, without hesitation or complaint. This is the one member of our fleet that doesn't split opinion: We all love this truck. 

It went from a regular member of our One-Year Road Test fleet to a support truck for our video team at around 26,000 miles and has kept on trucking with basically zero fuss. We loved our F-150 Hybrid so much we found it genuinely difficult to part ways. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and our time with Big Red is finally over. We're going to miss it, that's for sure. 

2025 Ford Expedition

Months in fleet: 3
Odometer: 3,844 miles

The new Ford Expedition is one of the Blue Oval's most complete SUVs. It's quiet, comfortable and cavernous, and it deploys new tech in an interesting yet easy-to-learn way. We were mighty impressed with it when we first drove it back in 2025, and we put one in our One-Year Road Test fleet shortly thereafter. So far, it's been a great companion — spacious, comfy, and utilitarian while boasting a torque-rich and smooth powertrain — but there's one thing our staffers are split on. 

That steering wheel, or steering "oval" if you will. Because of the way Ford set up the instrument display in the new Expedition, it also saw fit to change the shape of the wheel to allow better visibility of that display. The problem is, while some staffers don't mind the oval, some have taken issue with the not-so-wheel-like wheel. It might just take time to learn, but there's no doubt that three-point turns and maneuvers in tight spaces are made trickier when you're not twirling a true wheel. 

2025 BMW X3 

Months in fleet: 10
Odometer: 12,962 miles

The BMW X3 is the trickiest of this bunch to really pin down. On the one hand, it's nice to drive and the perfect size for a suburban area or big city; it delivers great fuel economy (for a non-hybrid), averaging 27 mpg in our testing; and it offers more than enough room for friends, family, and the weekly shop. But there is one area that's a deal-breaker for many on staff here — the interior. 

Frankly, it just feels cheap, and everyone on staff has noticed. Hard, nasty plastics in places they shouldn't be, cheap-feeling buttons, chintzy and silly air-vent controls, and pieces of trim that genuinely look unfinished — this interior does not say luxury. And that's before we dive into the intotainment system. The screen itself might be beautiful and high-res, but that doesn't exempt the app-centric iDrive system from being convoluted. Luckily, BMW will be fixing all of this soon with a refresh of the X3, but for now, it does more to get on our nerves than most of the cars in our fleet.