History
The Ford Sport Trac is a name that Ford used to introduce the new model of a pickup truck in 2001. The Sport Trac is in short of Ford Explorer Ford Sport Trac.
Ford developed this class 1 pickup truck for the North American market. Ford started and ended the journey of the Sport Trac in its Louisville Assembly Plant.
The new pickup truck is in a middle category between the Ford Ranger and the Ford F-150. After two very successful generations, Ford discontinued the model. The fourth generation Ford Ranger took its place because they were similar in size.
2001-2005 First Generation Ford Sport Trac
Ford introduced the model as a variant of the Explorer. The Sport Trac is a middle size pickup truck with a crew cab body style. They developed this new truck based on an SUV platform. That started a trend among the competitors if Ford to derive trucks from SUVs. The wheelbase of this Ford was almost 3.2m, making it almost as long as its big brother, the Ranger. Engine wise, this model used only one engine. A 4.0L V6 powered the truck with a 5-speed manual transmission as a standard and 5-speed auto being offered as an option. The engine produced 210hp while being enough for the engine to pull some small things. It couldn’t be near enough for this truck to feel any kind of sportiness. The Sport Trac had an optional 4-wheel drive with the ControlTrac system that was designed by BorgWarner.
In the years, the motor got some updates. In 2001, minor changes were made to the materials used for the intake manifold and Ford changed the location of the oil filter cap. There were more changes in 2002. The more important ones were the brake upgrade to four-wheel disc brakes. Ford also enlarged the fuel tank with 2 gallons.
The Ford Sport Trac uses many parts of different models. Only its bed is unique and is made of a special plastic composite. Because its bed was not that long, Ford offered some metal extenders to elongate the truck’s bed. Ford presented the Sport Trac with three different trim levels: XLS, XLT, XLT Premium. The XLS is the base with cloth seats, steel rims, air conditioning, and power doors and windows. The more luxurious XLT offered to its passengers more additional comfort by adding automatic transmission, keyless entry, leather seats, and speed control. The most luxurious XLT Premium had all the options that were available for the model. The exclusive ones for this trim level were the power driver’s seat, automatic headlights, and tow hooks.
2007-2010 Second Generation Ford Sport Trac
Ford skipped one year of production of the model and released the second generation Ford Sport Trac in 2007. In the new model were included many safety systems and features. It also received a redesign for the frame and suspension. The looks of the Sport Trac were also modernized. The new Sport Trac was now with four-wheel independent suspension. The newer generation was first to offer a V8 option for the powertrain of the pickup truck. The new engine made 292 horsepower paired to the new 6-speed automatic gearbox. They kept their old V6 with a new 5-speed automatic gearbox and minor tweaks because of the harsher emission standards. Ford still offered a four-wheel drive for the Sport Trac. This time the trim levels that were available for the pickup truck were only two: XLT and Limited. The truck included almost every option in its base trim level. It was very well equipped. It had options as a power driver’s seat, power mirrors, power locks, air conditioning and more. The Limited edition added leather wrapped steering wheel, fog lamps, and a floor console.