The 2013 Ford Explorer Sport will deliver 350 hp and up to 22 mpg on the highway.
Gas may be inching ever closer to an all-time record but Ford Motor Co. is betting there are still plenty of buyers who want performance as well as high mileage. With the 2013 Ford Explorer Sport, it’s hoping to deliver both.
Scheduled for a formal unveiling at the New York Auto Show next week, Ford lifted the covers to provide a sneak peek at the performance SUV, which will deliver muscle car levels of acceleration using a turbocharged V-6 rather than a conventional V-8 – which Ford abandoned when it introduced an all-new version of the Explorer for the 2011 model-year.
“We’re confident there are people out there who still want the extra horsepower – but want to do it in a smart way,” said marketing manager Eric Peterson.
Instead of the traditional big-block V-8, the 2013 Ford Explorer Sport turns to the maker’s turbocharged, 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine which makes 350 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque. That’s in line with competitors like the more up-market Ranger Rover Sport, at 375 hp, and the similarly priced, Hemi V-8-powered Jeep Grand Cherokee, at 360 hp.
According to Ford, the Explorer Sport will turn 0 to 60 in about 6.0 seconds, or a full two seconds faster than the normally aspirated V-6 version of the SUV.
The Explorer Sport will rely on a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 rather than the old Explorer's big, gas-guzzling V-8.
“This is our highest- performance, most capable Ford Explorer ever,” said Explorer chief engineer Bill Gubing.
Yet it will also deliver 16 mpg in the EPA City cycle and 22 in the Highway rating. The Grand Cherokee can only make 13/18 and the Range Rover 13/16.
The new version of the Explorer is more than just a classic muscle car. Ford has taken a number of steps to enhance its ride and handling, including cross-tunnel braces and stiffer shock tower braces. The brakes, meanwhile, are 53% larger – which translates in a 22% improvement in actual performance.
The Explorer Sport also features a number of visual enhancements, including blacked out front and rear lamps, twin polished exhaust tips and 20-inch black painted aluminum wheels. The Explorer name is boldly etched across the hood, meanwhile, for the first time.
Explorer Sports' 20-inch black painted aluminum wheels.
Ford officials admit they’re not sure precisely what sort of demand there’ll be for the 2013 Explorer Sport at a time when fuel prices are spiking, but both Peterson and Gubing agreed that the market for performance isn’t going away, while demand remains for utilitarian vehicles the size of the Explorer. In particular, Ford has noticed that the new Explorer has been gaining traction with buyers who’ve been trading in more luxurious SUVs and crossover-utility vehicles, such as Land Rovers.
Peterson said he expects that the Sport model will generate “incremental volume,” and not just cannibalize sales from other Explorer variants. That would help maintain the momentum generated by the 2011 redesign. Explorer racked up 135,000 sales last year, a 123% increase.
But that’s still barely a quarter of what the ute delivered when it first came to market a quarter century ago – reflecting both the increasing competition in the utility segment and the emergence of new niches for buyers to choose from.