On Wheels by Brooks Peterson

Saturday, April 29, 2000

Ford revamps Explorer Sport for '01

So, let us now turn our attention, students, to the two-door version of the Ford Explorer. As you can see, it has enjoyed a significant massage for the 2001 model year -
   Eh? What's that? You didn't know there was a two-door version of the Ford Explorer? Ah, well perhaps that has something to do with the just-completed makeover, n'est-ce pas?
   See, here's the thing: When you say "Explorer," 99 percent of your respondents will immediately think of the four-door version o f the vehicle. And how could it be otherwise? The Explorer was one of the first, and remains one of the most successful, efforts to blend the ruggedness of the sport-utility with the ease of a conventional station wagon. The result: The four-door Explorer has become the Monster of the Marketplace, perched solidly atop the SUV charts.
   To its credit, however, FoMoCo realized there were also consumers out there who wanted something a little sportier, a little more personal, and, by no means least, less bulky than the four-door version. Thus, in less time than it takes to say, "Chop that baby down," the Explorer Sport happened.
   Fair sales
   In the intervening years, the junior Explorer has sold in respectable numbers, though nothing like the mammoth totals run up by big brother.
   With the four-door's place secure, Ford has for 2001 turned its attention to the Explorer Sport, and has worked some significant changes. The result: a vehicle that is at once more capable and more civilized.
   For instance, the 4-liter single-overhead-cam V-6, with its powerful 205 horses, is now the standard engine. In fact, it's the only engine. It acquits itself very nicely - at least, in the urban driving we did in our 2-wheel-drive tester. For an SUV, the gas mileage is reasonable, and performance is brisk.
   Of course, with a relatively short-wheelbase SUV, the question of ride and handling immediately arises. Is this thing going to beat me to a pulp on irregular city pavement and/or dry creek beds? Is it going to be so tippy in the corners as to pose a major threat to my peace of mind and my corporeal well-being?
   In the middle
   The answers: no and no. You won't mistake the Explorer Sport for a Cadillac Fleetwood; neither will you be put in mind of a Mazda Miata when it comes to handling crispness. But, at least with the 2WD version (4WD utilities always tend to be a bit harsher), the Sport is commendably agile. (You should know, however, that I moved into the Explorer after spending a week with the huger-than-huge Ford Excursion: Compared with that battlewagon, virtually any other vehicle is going to feel like a PT boat.)
   The Sport's only vice, if you could call it that, is what seems a heightened sensitivity to cross winds: hardly a shocker.
   At least for the driver and front-seat passenger, the accommodations are impressive: Good stretch-out room in every direction, and most controls within easy reach. A particularly nice touch was the dash-mounted CD deck with integral changer: no need to scuttle to the back of the vehicle to wrestle discs into and out of a remote changer.
   Climbing around
   Rear-seat passengers don't have it quite so plush: The problem isn't so much roominess as it is gaining entrée to the second row. A certain amount of clambering is inevitable.
   Functionally, then, it's tough to find fault with the Sport. Aesthetics-wise - well, I'll leave it up to you. Far as I was concerned, there was nothing wrong with the old model. FoMoCo, however, seems to have decided to make more of an effort to distinguish the two-door from the four-door. Thus, you have bulgy muscular cladding on the flanks that leaves me cold, but may appeal to the drug-store cowboys among the SUV-buying public.
   And then there's the grille. Alas, you can't see it in the accompanying photo, but the whole front end has been sort of squared off to give it more angularity and less of the by-now cliched aero look. The idea, I surmise, was to make the Explorer Sport look baaaaaad. Sometimes, however, extremism in the pursuit of baaaaaad is no virtue. You decide.
   Oh, one other thing: Do not be misled: The bike riding the vehicle's roof rack in the photo is not Ford's idea of the ultimate space-saver spare tire. Consider it a fillip to ease the guilt of environmentalists who go the SUV route: "We don't drive it very much at all, you know. We just use it to transport the bicycle."
   Right.
  
   2001 Ford Explorer Sport