Exploring the Explorer

During a recent business trip, I covered about 1500 miles in two days, my rental? A 2006 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer Edition.

Working in the automotive industry, I am a car guy first and formost. I love cars, their shape, their size, their motors and their sounds. Consequently, I when I rent cars for my business travel, I try to rent a different car each time so that I can size them up so to speak.

Todays report will be on the 2006 Ford Explorer.

1. Economy - Understand that anyone that drives an SUV and expects it to get gas milage like a GEO is a moron (Do you read this Consumer Reports?). I hate those publications that get an SUV and dog it out because it gets poor mileage when compared to a Toyota Prius, they never dog out the Prius for not being able to go through 14" of wind swept snow in a midwestern winter do they? That being said over a 1500 mile drive mixed between interstate, highway, and city driving I acheived an average of 17.4 mpg, not so bad for an SUV

2. Power - The V6 does a decent job of pulling the large monolith around, while it will never beat a Viper, it wasnt intended to do so. Maintaining a speed of 90mph down the interstate was never an issue, merging was done without hardship. This is a much more powerful SUV that my personal 2006 Hummer H3, but not nearly as quick or exhilarating as my 1998 Jeep Wrangler.

3. Seating - The seats are hard, they are uncomfortable for about the first hour of driving, even becoming almost painful after about and hour and a half, but on the left side of 2 hours, the seats somehow become more comfortable, perhaps its the numbness that you eventually feel after the first 1.5 hours

4. The size - The interior seems tight and cramped, the inside of the Ford seems to be much more narrow than the exterior would lead you to belive. Front and second row seating length is fine for a 6 footer, but as is the case on vehicals with three rows of seats, the third row is best left for small dogs, children or people with some sort of contortionist abilities that they wish to practice.

5. The exterior - Classic lines and shapes that have made this the best selling SUV in the USA remain basically unchanged

6. The Ride - The Explorer rides pretty well for a cement block on wheels, the handling is very good, the ride is quiet with lttle to no wind noise at interstate speeds, probably the most quiet SUV that I have ever driven. It is stiff over the bumps as should be expecxted for a truck based SUV

7. The interior - This is the most unique interior that I have ever seen, the use of genuine chromed plastic splashing the dash looks silly, cheap and rediculuous to me as well as others that checked it out. the interior door handles are in a goofy position and open in a way that is odd beyond belife. the handle use to close the door is too low and too far forward to be comfortable closing without some major effort on your part.

There is little to no convient storage for small items that need to be easily reached such as cell phones, sunglasses, etc..

The appearance looks like trailor park chic, it serves its purpose but looks gaudy, thrown togeter and leaves you wondering about it's longintivity

8. The summery - Unless you are a diehard Ford person and wearing rose colored glasses to the horrible interior of this truck, you will not like it. The interior is so poor, and goofy that it distracts from the positive aspects such as quiet, good mileage, exterior appearance, and power.

In 2007, Ford needs to redesign this one from the INSIDE out.