Redesign's on the right Trac

0 Comments | USA TODAY, May, 2006 | by James R. Healey

Ford has redesigned its Explorer Sport Trac sport-utility pickup using the hardware and features of the latest Explorer SUV, which translates into a huge improvement over the previous Sport Trac.

The vehicle blends the regular Explorer's passenger compartment, suspension and powertrain with a stubby pickup cargo bed on a wheelbase about 16 inches longer than Explorer's. You could consider it a midsize, crew-cab pickup as easily as you could regard it as a type of SUV. Though Sport Trac is truck-based, rather than a car-based crossover SUV, it is mannerly enough to rival Honda's Ridgeline crossover-utility truck.

Ford always has marketed the Sport Trac as an Explorer model because studies showed that people would pay more than if it were sold as a Ranger crew-cab...