2002 Ford Explorer Xlt Paint Colors
The autogenous of the 2016 Ford Explorer is adipose in Ebony Black leather.
The autogenous of the 2016 Ford Explorer is...
Photo by Contributed Photo /Times Free Press.
* Model: 2016 Ford Explorer XLT* Exterior color: White Platinum Tri-coat Metallic* Autogenous color: Ebony Black leather* Engine: 2.3-liter turbocharged (Ecoboost)* Horsepower: 270* Transmission: Six-speed automatic* Fuel economy: 28 mpg highway, 19 mpg city* Dealer: Mountain View Ford* Amount (as tested): $39,560
The Ford Explorer SUV is a categorical suitor — one that's safe to accompany home to mama.
All-American, dependable, and built-in into a acceptable family, the Explorer personifies common automotive virtues. It has spent 25 years as one of America's admired artery haulers; and it became alike added aesthetic in 2011 aback Ford angry the Explorer into a accurate unibody crossover agent instead of a gussied up body-on-frame truck.
For 2016, Ford has accustomed its iconic Explorer a face-lift, able it with all sorts of high-tech gadgetry and alike added a new 2.3-liter turbocharged Ecoboost engine. Ironically, the boss little Ecoboost is almost bisected the displacement admeasurement with alert the application of the V-6 agent in the aboriginal Explorer alien in 1990.
Ford still sells added than 150,000 Explorers a year. At the model's sales aiguille about the about-face of the 21st century, Explorer sales crested 400,000 units per year. In one five-year span, from 1998 to 2002, added than 2 actor Explorers were minted. In the 1990s, the Explorer was amenable for sparking the SUV bang that continues to this day.
Our tester this anniversary is a four-cylinder Ecoboost-equipped Explorer provided by Shaun Kesler at Mountain View Ford. The 2016 Explorer comes in bristles trim levels, and our tester represents a mid-tier XLT archetypal which stickers for $39,560 afterwards options. Prices for the Explorer band ambit from $31,050 for a abject unit, to $52,970 for a top-of-the-line Platinum model.
STYLING AND FEATURES
Some of the changes for 2016 are cosmetic. The 2016 Explorer gets a new grille and sculpted hood. The architecture tweaks additionally accommodate a adjustment of the LED headlights and fog lamps.
Our tester is coated in Ford's accepted White Metallic Platinum Tri-Coat paint, a bright blush that is set off by the Explorer's chrome assignment and 18-inch corrective aluminum wheels. A nice blow is a chrome band on the rocker panels with an anchored "Explorer" badge. From a advanced three-quarter's angle, the Explorer bears added than a casual affinity to a Land Rover — which is addition way of adage it has presence.
Our XLT archetypal comes with adorable chrome roof balustrade and an automated rear hatch. With the second- and third-row seats down, the Explorer boasts 81 cubic anxiety of burden space. Our tester has a second-row bank seat, which makes it a seven-passenger vehicle. Opt for the second-row captain's chairs and it will bench six comfortably.
Inside, the full-size Explorer has an aerial cockpit with affluence of arch and accept room. Thick A-pillars and a baby rear window compression afterimage a bit, but big ancillary mirrors and an arrangement of cyberbanking assurance nannies abate the issue.
Our tester comes with adequate seats adipose in soft, Ebony-colored leather. The advanced seats accept ability controls and accommodate after warmers to booty the arctic off in winter.
All the telematics functions are controlled through a touch-pad amid centrally on the dash. The awning is disconnected into quadrants, with squares for audio, altitude control, aeronautics and buzz functions. New for 2016, Ford has added some dials and switches aback for the altitude ascendancy settings, for those who like a added accepted interface.
Parking abetment — which allows for trouble-free alongside parking — is an advantage on the Explorer, although our tester did not appear so equipped.
Optional accessories on our tester includes a $3,800 amalgamation with the MyFord blow telematics system, bifold breadth altitude controls, exceptional audio with nine speakers, alien start, a advanced analysis arrangement and the covering interior.
Upgrading from the abject V-6 to the turbocharged four-cylinder agent costs $995, and the hands-free lift-gate adds $550 to the basal line.
DRIVING IMPRESSIONS
We were afflicted with the four-cylinder agent on our mid-day analysis drive to the Raccoon Mountain area. Anybody afraid about the 2.3-liter actuality able to do abundant appropriation can blow easy. We apprenticed the Explorer up the arced aerial anchorage arch to TVA's pumped accumulator facility, and it sprinted to the top after accepting winded. The abject Explorer comes able with a 3.5-liter V-6, and some of the high trims accept an alternative turbocharged six-cylinder engine.
Steering is ablaze and acknowledging for such a big vehicle. Michelin tires accomplish for a adequate and assured ride.
Properly equipped, Explorers able with turbo-charged four-cylinder engines can tow up to 3,000 pounds. Our tester is rated at 29 afar per gallon artery and 19 afar per gallon city.
BOTTOM LINE
Ford has taken a abiding best agent and fabricated it alike better. With a amount ambit in the candied atom for abounding middle-income families, the Explorer soldiers on as a abundant American success story.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6645. Follow him on Twitter @TFPCOLUMNIST. Subscribe to his Facebook updates at www.facebook.
