MT Then and Now: The Ford Explorer

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As a crossover or truck-based SUV, the Explorer is a hugely significant vehicle for the Ford brand. Making the transition to a Taurus platform was not a small undertaking, but it’s just the latest in a long line of important redesigns the Explorer has endured since its early 1990s release.

When we first tested the 1991 Ford Explorer, we suggested its secret was something the 2011 Explorer attempts to master as well: “It’s a proven formula as old as…well, Charles Dickens: practicality, comfort, and performance.”

Motor Trend’s review continued by noting that Ford didn’t design the Explorer to appeal to the traditional 4×4 buyer.

We called the new 2011 Explorer sufficiently satisfying as a family vehicle: “The Explorer is quiet and cushy in traffic, and it’s softer and smoother than the Grand Cherokee over rough pavement,”

Back in 1996, we pitted the Grand Cherokee against the Explorer in a comparison impossible today: “Battle of the V-8 Sport/Utilities.” Not only is a V-8 not planned for the Explorer, an advanced four-cylinder engine is scheduled to arrive soon. Without a doubt, the soon-to-arrive EcoBoosted Explorer will be quicker than a 1995 Explorer XLT we tested with a 4.0-liter V-6 making 160 horsepower and 225 pound-feet of torque. That Explorer XLT accelerated from 0-60 mph in 11.6 seconds on to a 18.2-second quarter-mile time at 75.9 mph.

In 1996, Ford introduced the 5.0-liter V-8 into the Explorer and we suggested the result was “more smooth and jazzy Thunderbird LX than rock-and-roll Mustang GT.” Towing capacity was raised from 5300 to 6500 pounds. At the time, an engineer from General Motors said the addition of a V-8 to the Explorer is about bragging rights more than anything else. “It fits in the same category as a V-10. Our V-6 meets our customers’ requirements for power, and it consumes less fuel. We thought about a V-8 at one time, but we’ve abandoned it.”

The year 2002 brought a redesign to the Chevrolet Blazer/Trailblazer as well as the Ford Explorer. We didn’t waste time comparing the two and, for those who don’t plan on reading the comparo, this was the verdict:

“If you need a versatile, around-town seven-passenger carlike SUV you rarely use for towing or off-roading, you’d probably prefer the Explorer. If, on the other hand, you travel for hours over several zip codes or state lines with a trailer or in search of off-pavement destinations, and max power is an important concern, then you’d likely find the new TrailBlazer a better truck.”

By 2006, the SUV landscape had been completely transformed, with new entries from nearly every automaker selling vehicles in the U.S. We found the 2006 model more refined than the outgoing Explorer, but sales of the last-generation SUV weren’t nearly as high as they once were. The 2011 Explorer won’t dominate every SUV segment as it once did, but as far as we’re concerned, the 2011 Explorer is a genuinely good SUV.

“Based on this limited drive,” we wrote in our First Test of the 2011 SUV, “it appears that with the new Explorer, Ford’s D4 [platform] has finally met its perfect mate.”