Ford Explorer Sport Driven By 350-Horsepower Plant

The Ford Explorer was the poster child of the SUV trend of the mid-1990s into the 2000s. However, Ford thinks that its image is too family-friendly and has punched up the range with the Explorer Sport, a 350-horsepower turbo edition of the family hauler.

Everyone had one

In the 1990s, families buying automobiles turned from the minivan to the SUV, as fuel was cheap and plentiful and some of them occurred to be fairly capable off-road. The poster child of the SUV boom was the Ford Explorer, which became almost as familiar a sight as the typical suburban family home as a golden retriever.

People started to stop using gas guzzling vehicles pretty fast when gasoline prices went up. They decided to go for a family-friendly crossover SUV that would not take as much gasoline to power. Now, the Explorer Sport is Ford's brand new car. It hopes to take the family part right out of the automobile.

An engine that cannot be beat

Right now, the Ford Explorer runs on an EcoBoost motor, which gets 240 horsepower. It is a 2.0-liter in-line four-cylinder. A V-6, 290-horwpoer 3.6 liter is already available as an option already. The Explorer Sport will have a 3.5-liter V-6 with 350 horsepower.

With the vehicle, you will get a six-speed automatic transmission that comes with paddle shifters. You have the option of four-wheel drive and a Terrain Management System, meant to help with traction control on different kinds of surfaces. The SUV gets 16 mpg city and 22 mpg highway.

Cost of the vehicle

The Sport will cost you over $40,000 to buy at the top of the Explorer Range. About 40 percent of Explorer buyers spend $39,505 or more as they choose the Limited Trim, according to USA Today. It should not matter if the Sport is a little bit more expensive.

There are comparably sized SUVs that produce as much or more power, some for less cash, but none get gasoline mileage as good because they all come with V-8 engines. Only the Jeep Grand Cherokee with the optional 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 gets comparable mileage, producing 360 horsepower and achieving 14 mpg city, 20 highway. Depending on the trim, it can cost less than $40,000. The Dodge Durango R/T costs less, at $35,795, has the same 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 but gets three fewer miles per gallon city and two fewer mpg on the highway than the Ford's projected mileage. Other SUVs of similar size, power and price, such as the Toyota Sequoia or the Nissan Armada, get less than 20 mpg highway.