2004 Ford Explorer Sport Trac Review (continued)
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Walkaround

Ford Explorer Sport Trac has a rugged, utilitarian look with chunky cladding trimming the lower portions of its bulging body. Sport Trac looks like a box, twice over. First comes the five-seat cabin, and then the bed trailing behind, like a separate unit. The bed walls are nearly 20 inches high. The overall effect is high and bulky.

The cargo bed is just over four feet long and made entirely of a seemingly indestructible composite material, so it does not need a liner and won't rust. Ford engineers say they dragged cinder blocks over it and threw in steel pipes and heavy angle iron without causing any appreciable damage. Any marring or scratching blends in with the black grained finish, anyway. Ten winged cargo hooks are sturdily mounted on the top rails of the bed, six on the outside and four on the inside; there's also a waterproof 12-volt power source in the cargo area, useful for power tools and even refrigerators.

The optional cargo cage/bed extender ($195) is a hinged, stainless-steel tube-frame that flips back to the edge of the dropped tailgate, increasing the bed length to 72 inches. It can be a useful device, but won't hold back dirt or other loose material. When flipped inside the bed, the bed extender creates a compartment 25 by 45 inches that can keep grocery bags and other small items from sliding around. It's removable, but requires much fiddling to get it out and back in. A lightweight, lockable two-piece hard tonneau cover is also available ($590).

The standard roof rack consists of just two longitudinal bars, with the crossbars sold as an accessory. You'll need the crossbars if you want to carry anything up there. When we loaded a nine-foot-long duffel bag full of sailing gear, we had to lay it directly on top of the paintwork.

Interior Features

Sport Trac's cabin is designed to be durable. Door panels are resilient plastic. Flooring is made of a textured composite rubber easily swept with a whisk broom or cleaned with water. Ford says it also reduces noise. Cloth is found only on the seats and headliner. The rest is ready for mud.

A power rear window slides up and down, which the kids in the back seat will love. Besides providing flow-through ventilation, it allows rear-seat passengers to reach through and grab things out of the bed, such as drinks from a cooler.

The front bucket seats were upgraded for 2003, and the instrument cluster has been revised for 2004. The center console provides big fixed cup holders in front, forward of the armrest, along with a little slot good for coins and tickets. Forward of that is another tray with two more slots, one of them fairly large.

Sport Trac's optional Safety Canopy air bags ($560) are designed to provide head protection in rollovers. We strongly recommend getting them.

The Comfort Group ($1,230) for the XLT adds six-way power for the driver's seat plus a deluxe floor console with auxiliary rear-seat climate and audio controls; an overhead console with map lights, a digital compass and an outside temperature gauge; automatic headlights; and an electrochromic rear-view mirror. The compass and outside temperature gauge are highly useful and appreciated tools that more carmakers should fit in their vehicles, especially any vehicle that may head into the backcountry. The leather seating option ($795) for the XLT Premium and XLT Adrenaline includes electric heat, six-way power and adjustable lumbar support for both driver and passenger. The leather seats have a two-tone appearance with a dark side bolsters and light center inserts.

The rear seats are roomy in the Sport Trac. Rear legroom is ample at 37.8 inches, a full seven inches more than in the Nissan Frontier crew cab pickup, and only a little more than an inch short of the Chevy Avalanche. At 38.7 inches, rear-seat headroom in the Sport Trac is marginally better than in the Avalanche. The Sport Trac's rear seat splits 60/40 and folds down without having to remove the headrests, quickly expanding cargo space inside the cabin. The back seat incorporates three child seat tether anchors. Unlike the Avalanche, however, it is not possible to open up the Sport Trac's rear seat into the bed area.

A removable nylon pack under the center armrest enables Sport Trac drivers to carry their console contents with them. It even has a shoulder strap. But we found it more awkward to use in the vehicle than a fixed, rigid compartment would have been. We rarely used it, because we didn't want to deal with first raising the armrest, then lifting the limp material top secured by Velcro.

One irritation is the parking brake, which requires a long reach to release.