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It could hardly have been a more propitious omen. Just in time for "The Big Fishing Trip," I received for evaluation Ford's new-for-2001 Explorer Sport Trac. It's one of those trendy, hybrid S-U-Whatever vehicles that seats five in a sedan-like cockpit but also boasts an abbreviated cargo box outside, à la pickup.
The implications were obvious. I would soon be motoring back from Dale Hollow Lake with a load of messy fish, because now I had just the place to stash 'em without sliming up the interior.
The wife and kids misunderstood my excitement, of course. They merely assumed that I was giddy about playing midweek hooky for two days. The prospect of my returning with a brimming kettle of slithering fish never entered their collective mind. Not having managed to land so much as a single pitiful perch during the entire extent of my married-with-children life meant nothing now.
The Sport Trac is a curious mixture of old and new. Based on Ford's phenomenally best-selling Explorer compact sport/utility vehicle, it appears from inside out to have been merely updated for the millennium. There's a distinct Ford feel to the Explorer cabin that one either likes or not. I fall into the former category, but I can understand why others
might not favor the taut, firm upholstery and spare layout of switchgear and instrumentation. What is efficient and uncluttered for some is spartan and unfriendly for others, particularly those weaned in the plushy, soft embrace of General Motors.
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2001 Ford Explorer Sport Trac interior 1 |
