The interior of the 2016 Ford Explorer is upholstered in Ebony Black leather.
FAST FACTS
* Model: 2016 Ford Explorer XLT * Exterior color: White Platinum Tri-coat Metallic * Interior 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 * Price (as tested): $39,560
The Ford Explorer SUV is a clean-cut suitor – one that’s safe to bring home to mama.
All-American, dependable, and born into a good family, the Explorer personifies middle-class automotive virtues. It has spent 25 years as one of America’s favorite highway haulers; and it became even more refined in 2011 when Ford turned the Explorer into a true unibody crossover vehicle instead of a gussied up body-on-frame truck.
For 2016, Ford has given its iconic Explorer a face-lift, equipped it with all sorts of high-tech gadgetry and even added a new 2.3-liter turbocharged Ecoboost engine. Ironically, the mighty little Ecoboost is roughly half the displacement size with twice the horsepower of the V-6 engine in the original Explorer introduced in 1990.
Ford still sells more than 150,000 Explorers a year. At the model’s sales peak around the turn of the 21st century, Explorer sales crested 400,000 units per year. In one five-year span, from 1998 to 2002, more than 2 million Explorers were minted. In the 1990s, the Explorer was responsible for sparking the SUV boom that continues to this day.