Just about everything has changed on the Explorer since its 1991 introduction. Still, if asked to describe a sport-utility vehicle, most people could save time by just showing a picture of the Explorer.The XLT is the typical Explorer, well equipped but not overly fancy or too expensive. It features a bright front and rear bumper with an integrated rub strip. Its compound headlamp array includes the headlights plus parking lights, turn signals and side marker lights in a single aero-curved assembly set into the bright grille surround. The grille itself is simple, with a large crossbar decorated with the Ford blue oval badge and three smaller vertical bars. The rear bumper echoes the front in appearance, but comes standard with a 3500-pound trailer towing capacity. Tri-color taillights and a liftgate with a flip-open rear window finish off the rear.
The Explorer uses an independent short/long arm front suspension with torsion bars and a live axle mounted on two-stage variable-rate leaf springs at the rear. A 4.0-liter pushrod V6 is standard in the XLS and can be upgraded to the 4.0-liter overhead-cam V6 for those wanting more performance.