2008 Ford Explorer Sport Trac Interior Review at Automotive.com

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2008 Ford Explorer Sport Trac Review: Interior

Below is a full, detailed review and road test of the 2008 Ford Explorer Sport Trac written by either the experts at New Car Test Drive or by one of Automotive.com's very own. A full evaluation of the driving experience, price, equipment, and specs are here in a structured, easy-to-navigate format from ... more

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LEARN WHY

IntelliChoice Value Rating

The chart above shows the purchase price versus ownership cost for each car from a specific vehicle class. The cars with better than average ownership cost/purchase price correlations are the best values, and these best value cars are represented by the dots below the curve. (i.e. the cars that have a lower ownership cost compared to its purchase price.) Those cars, which are worse than average or poor values, appear above the curve.

One way to view the graph is to draw a vertical line through any purchase price. You may see several dots that fall on this line - each of which is a car with a similar purchase price. However, notice the difference in ownership costs of each car represented by the vertical position of the dot. Two cars with the same purchase price can have thousands of dollars difference in ownership costs. This is what separates "good value" cars from "poor value" cars.

What is a good car value?

A "good car value" is one whose cost to own and operate is less than expected. The lower the cost to own and operate a car compared to what is expected, the better the value of that car.

But how do we know a car's "expected cost"?

For each car in the class, IntelliChoice plots the car's purchase price against the total five-year cost to own and operate it as determined by IntelliChoice research. Each dot on the above chart represents a specific car. Generally, we find that as the purchase price of the car increases, the cost to own and operate that car increases. This is why the dots on the graph tend to rise upward and to the right. This phenomenon also makes intuitive sense - as the purchase price rises, financing costs tend to rise, as do insurance, depreciation, taxes, and most other car ownership costs.

This is an important concept. It's normal for car ownership costs to rise as purchase price rises. Therefore, we can't just establish one "average" ownership cost number for each class, since cars in the class have different purchase prices. (This is why the "Relative" shown on each chart is different for cars in the same car class.)

Using statistical techniques, IntelliChoice "connects the dots" to form a curve that defines, for this car class, the relationship between the car's purchase price and car's ownership costs. This curve is our "expected cost" curve. The curve defines, for any car in the class, the five-year ownership cost that we would expect to see at each possible purchase price. If every car in the class were an average value, then all the dots would fall exactly on the curve. However, it's rare that any dot is exactly on the curve. Some dots are a little higher or lower, and some are a lot higher or lower. The dots that are a little lower are better than average car values, while the dots that are a lot lower are excellent car values (A dot that is a lot lower than the curve has ownership costs much lower than expected for a car of its purchase price). Conversely, a dot a little higher than the curve is a poorer than average car value, while a dot that is much higher than the curve is a poor car value.

Value is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is performing better than the logical expectation.

So is a Mercedes-Benz E320 expensive to own and operate? Certainly in an absolute sense. Most other cars cost less. But, when its cost to own and operate is plotted against cars with comparable invoice prices, the E320 costs less. So the E320 is not expensive to own and operate - it is a good car value. The Mercedes does not have low ownership costs, but it has low ownership costs for its invoice price.

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2008 Ford Explorer Sport Trac Review

SUV passenger room with pickup utility.

Interior

Inside, the 2008 Ford Explorer Sport Trac looks a lot like the Explorer cabin. Not that it lacks anything by way of necessities or has been saddled with an abbreviated option list, but there's more borrowed than new. The Sport Trac shares virtually all of its interior, from trim to seat frames, with the Explorer.

The instruments are simple and easy to scan. The fuel and coolant gauges are tucked away in the lower, outer quadrants of the tachometer and speedometer; they could be larger and located closer to the driver's line of sight. The center stack is packed with functions but it's intuitively organized, with readily deciphered controls and displays. However, we'd prefer a tuning knob for the radio instead of the Sport Trac's slow scanning rocker switch.

The optional navigation system pushes the audio controls to the side and either gangs some functions or transfers them to the LCD screen, and it's a clean look. The only real concern here is with the number of components making up the dash assembly. The fewer the components the better, generally speaking, to reduce the number of squeaks as the miles pile up, and the Sport Trac's dash has one of the highest counts we've seen.

Review Sections

• Introduction

• Lineup

• Walkaround

• Interior

• Driving Impressions

• Summary & Specs

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The seats are comfortable, though the bottom cushions front and rear could provide more thigh support. Foot clearance in the rear doorways when climbing in and out is cramped, but once inside, there's decent area beneath the front seats. All five seating positions get three-point seatbelts, but only the front seats and the outboard rear seats get the adjustable full-size head restraints. Comparatively speaking, the Sport Trac's interior lands squarely in the middle of the segment. The Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma have a few tenths of an inch more front-seat headroom, the Honda Ridgeline almost an inch. The Frontier and the Ridgeline are tops in rear-seat headroom, but by only tenths of an inch. The Chevy Colorado has an inch and a half more front-seat legroom but almost two inches less rear-seat legroom. The Ridgeline wins in hiproom, by about two inches front and rear, the Frontier offers fully two and a half inches more rear-seat hiproom, and the Dakota squeaks in with a half-inch more hiproom all around. Bottom line, Sport Trac interior roominess is comparable to that of midsize crew cab pickups.

The Sport Trac's door panels, borrowed from the Explorer, aren't so good. While certain elements are reasonably ergonomic, the placement of the door handles is a prime example of logic gone wrong. Intended to improve occupant protection in side impact crashes by adding crush space, the placement of the door pull below and forward of the armrest puts it where it's awkward to grab hold of and operate. Some passengers don't have an issue with it, however, and we grew accustomed to it with a little familiarity, but the interior door handles are our main gripe with the interior.

Storage is about what's to be expected. The glove box is adequate. The front center console hosts two cupholders adjacent to the shift gate. Two more cupholders for the rear seat fit behind the front center console's hinged, padded top. The center console is big and deep. The front door map pockets have a space for a water bottle molded into their hard plastic enclosures.

Back in the bed, a shallow, covered bin running the width of the floor is placed inconveniently all the way forward and thus out of reach from the tailgate. A small, covered bin is also recessed into the floor at each side behind the wheelhouses. Both types of bins are good ideas, but they hold very little and aren't on a par with the Ridgeline's lockable, 8.5 cubic-foot trunk in the bed floor aft of the wheel housings. On the other hand, with the Sport Trac's optional two-piece, lockable, hard tonneau cover in place, the enclosed volume of the cargo bed measures 37.5 cubic feet. Depending on how the truck was going to be used, we'd consider ordering this tonneau. The bed is only 4.5 feet long, which means the Sport Trac isn't the best choice for those who haul a lot of cargo regularly. An optional aluminum bed extender helps, opening up another six cubic feet of cargo room, though bed extenders have limitations and can get in the way when not being used.

Rearward visibility is somewhat limited by the high bed, particularly with the hard tonneau cover.

Ford Sync is a hands-free communication and entertainment system that works with cell phones and MP3 players. Sync can recognize Bluetooth-enabled cell phones, access their phonebooks, and play calls and read text messages through the speakers. It also has a USB interface to connect with iPods and other MP3 players. Voice commands and/or steering wheel buttons can be used to control all functions. next page