Ford Explorer V8

The Explorer sold quite well in Australia and wasn¹t even affected by the Ford/Firestone debacle in the USA where neither party seemed willing to accept responsibility for a raft of crashes involving Explorers fitted with Firestone tyres.

Yet for all that sales success, the vehicle was ‹ how shall we put this ‹ not especially good. Its on-road manners were suspect and a lack of genuine off-roading ability meant it was not the great bush vehicle it might have been.

On the other hand, its pokey V-six engine and smooth-shifting five-speed automatic gearbox meant it had one of the best drivelines of the established four-wheel-drive contenders.

And it was that driveline combined with its obvious mass and four-wheel-drive traction that made it a half-reasonable tow-vehicle.

So much for the good news, because there¹s now even better news in the form of an all-new Explorer that¹s so much better than the vehicle it replaces, we wonder if Ford should have called it an Explorer in the first place.

Independent suspension and a new all-alloy V-eight motor (there¹s still a V-six option) are the highlights, and while they maintain the Explorer¹s place near the top of the heap as a tow-vehicle, they also mean it¹s a much nicer car in every other respect, too.

The V-eight engine is the same unit (in a different state of tune) as that fitted to the Mustang that is also in Ford showrooms at the moment.

At 4.6lt, it¹s not a huge engine, but with an overhead camshaft on each bank of cylinders and electronic injection, it manages to crank out 178kW of power at 5100rpm and a very healthy 382Nm of torque at an accessible 3700rpm.

While the V-six Explorer can be had with a manual transmission (for the first time), the V-eight is, reasonably enough, automatic only.

In this case, that¹s even better, because the five-speed unit shifts with accuracy and clarity, and the five ratios make the most of the engine¹s performance. Ford has also lowered the ratios in the gearbox, giving the V-eight Explorer, with its more muscular engine and shorter gearing, some serious pulling power. Just what you need on a steeper boat-ramp.

The independent suspension is a compact design at the rear so as not to eat too greedily into the load area. With each wheel now able to do its own thing, the Explorer is a much nicer on-road vehicle, although it still isn¹t an amazing thing off road (but then neither was the old one with its live rear axle, anyway). Power is no problem, but the Explorer suffers from a relative lack of wheel articulation that ultimately hamstrings it off-road.

Not that this will worry anybody using the thing to tow a boat rather than go bush-bashing.
The four-wheel-drive system is Ford¹s Control Trac set-up, which uses a lockable centre diff, which means the vehicle runs in four-wheel-drive permanently. In most cases, all the torque goes to the rear wheels with the fronts chiming in only when the onboard brain detects wheelspin or big throttle openings.

For getting serious, a dashboard-mounted switch controls the 4X4 Low and 4X4 High settings, which are used for off-road work or driving in snow/slush respectively.

The new packaging has allowed for a rear floor a huge 18cm lower than the previous model, making the third row of seats far more useable than before.

In that configuration, the Explorer becomes a seven-seater capable of taking the whole crew along for the ride. Oh, and just so you know the Explorer is serious about towing, it comes standard with a tow-bar and gooseneck rated at 1600kg and an optional towing package rated at 2500kg.

Standard tow-bar, V-eight, four-wheel-drive... got to be worth a look.