America's best-selling SUV adds a new body style, blending a 4-door SUV cabin with a pickup-truck bed to create the Explorer Sport Trac. A 2001 model, Sport Trac is 15 inches longer overall than the 4-door Explorer, with a 14-inch-longer wheelbase. A 4-foot-long open bed with a drop-down tailgate replaces the enclosed cargo area. The composite plastic cargo box has a molded-in bedliner. An optional tubular cage "extends" the bed 23 inches with the tailgate down or flips to secure objects with the gate up. Inside the bed is a 12-volt powerpoint; a locking 2-piece hard tonneau cover is optional. Sport Trac's interior has new low-back front bucket seats, a removable pouch that doubles as a console storage bin, and a split-folding 3-passenger rear bench seat. Twisting a dashboard knob powers Sport Trac's rear window fully up or down; tapping it drops the glass 1.5 inches for ventilation
Also making an early 2001 debut was the revamped 2-door Explorer. Again called the Sport, it uses the Sport Trac's front-end appearance and white-faced instruments. Sport and Sport Trac come in a single trim level. The mainstay 4-door Explorer offers XLS, XLT, Eddie Bauer, and Limited versions.
Antilock brakes are standard on all Explorers and front side airbags are optional on all but Sport Trac. All models are available with rear- or 4-wheel drive. XLS and XLT come with a 160-horsepower overhead-valve V6. Optional on XLT and standard on all other Explorers is an overhead-cam V6 rated at 205 hp in Sport and Sport Trac, 210 elsewhere. Optional on XLT, Eddie Bauer, and Limited is a 215-hp V8. Manual transmission is standard on the XLS, Sport, and Sport Trac. A 5-speed automatic is optional with V6s, though it's standard on XLT, Eddie Bauer, and Limited. The V8 comes with a 4-speed automatic. V6 4x4s get Ford's Control Trac system with 4WD that need not be disengaged on dry pavement. V8 4x4s have permanently engaged 4WD.
Optional on 4-door models (except Sport Trac) is an audible Reverse Sensing System that warns of obstacles when backing up. Rear load-leveling is an option for 4WD XLT, Eddie Bauer, and Limited models. Mercury markets a slightly retrimmed version of the 4-door Explorer as the Mountaineer. Due in January 2001 as '02 models are redesigned 4-door versions of both, which will be slightly larger than today's models and offer three rows of seats.