Review Of Ford Explorer Sport Trac Truck
Posted in Ford Trucks, Truck Reviews on November 13, 2009
Introduction
The 2009 Ford Explorer Sport Trac priced at $27,460 – $35,145 is a family friendly utility vehicle. It has been well designed with the back half as a pick up bed and the four door front half comes from the Ford’s venerable Explorer SUV. This edition offer competition to crew cabs pick ups like Honda Ridgeline, Dodge Dakota Quad cab, and Nissan Frontier Crew cab.
What’s on offer?
The 2009 Ford Explorer Sport Trac gets a standard satellite radio, and Trailer sway control has been added to stability control system. This edition also offers heated leather seats, and heated side mirrors. The optional navigation feature has also been upgraded and includes Sirius travel Link.
Silhouette
The 2009 Ford Explorer Sport Trac offers the front look like the Explorer with the same slatted grid and scalloped headlights. The exterior body is 17 inches longer in length and can accommodate a 4.5 foot pick up bed. The body style is complete with side rails, a composite liner, tie down hook and three in floor storage containers. Its exterior body style looks fascinating with 17 inch alloy wheels and moon roof.
Inside the cabin
The 2009 Ford Explorer Sport Trac has well designed interiors with front bucket seats in the front row and bench seat in the second row. This seating configuration can comfortably seat five passengers. The interior dashboard component is virtually identical to the Explorer with a tall centre stack that has radio controls above the air vents and connects to a floor mounted console box below.
The rear end has a 4.5 foot cargo box which is made up of corrosion proof composite materials that resists scratches and dents. The beds load floor features three cargo bins with drain plugs which allows them to be used as ice boxes or as storage for wet items.
Features
The 2009 Ford Explorer Sport Trac is available in two trims viz.XLT and limited.
The XLT trims includes a host of features like 16 inch alloy wheels, full power accessories, power rear window, keyless entry, cruise control, composite cargo box , a leather wrapped steering wheel and a CD player. The Limited trim adds 18 inch alloy wheels, heated leather seats, color keyed bumpers, power driver seat, and the Sync multimedia integration system.
The Adrenalin package is newly added to the Limited trim and includes 20 inch wheels and specialized exterior and interior trim details.
For all those buyers who need additional features can add various features depending upon their trim like a sunroof, dual zone automatic climate control, an upgraded sound system, rear parking sensors , a voice-operated navigation system with Sirius Travel Link and a cage like bed extender and hard tonneau cover for the cargo box.
Powertrain
The 2009 Ford Explorer Sport Trac is powered by a 4.0 liter V6 engine that generates 210 horsepower and 254 pounds feet of torque. it is teamed to a five speed automatic transmission. They offer an option of 4.6 liter V8 engine that produces 292 horsepower and 300 pounds feet of torque. Both the editions are available in two wheel or four wheel drive except for the adrenalin package which offer rear wheel or all wheel drive.
This model offers a respectable acceleration and sprints from zero to 60 mph in 8.1 seconds. When fully equipped this port Trac edition can offer a maximum towing capacity of 6,990 pounds.
The V6 2WD edition offers a fuel economy of 14/20/16 mpg while the V8 2WD offers a lightly higher fuel economy of 15/21/17 similarly a V6 4WD offers a fuel economy of 13/19/15 mpg and V8 4WD offers 14/19/16 mpg.
This edition is also equipped with independent suspensions which offer relatively smooth ride.
Safety
The 2009 Ford Explorer Sport Trac is equipped with safety features like front seat side airbag, side curtain airbag, antilock disc brakes, and stability control with trailer sway control. It optional offers power adjustable pedals and reverse sensing system.
During the various crash tests that were conducted to check the efficiency of these features, this edition scored a complete five stars in both front and side impact tests.
Conclusion
The 2009 Ford Explorer Sport Trac is a complete utility vehicle. The main advantages of this edition are comfortable cabin, excellent towing capacity, available V8engine power and perfect safety scores. The main disadvantages that were noted are V6 engine is less fuel efficient in comparison to the stalwart V8 and the cargo bed is smaller in comparison to other pick up trucks.
