EXPLORER

About the Explorer

The Explorer put Ford in the SUV business and, arguably, started the American love affair with trucks that aren't trucks. The first generation arrived in 1990 and became the defining vehicle of the 1990s — the family car that replaced the station wagon, the school parking lot staple, the car that made "SUV" a household word. It also rolled over. The Firestone tire controversy nearly killed it, but Ford redesigned, regrouped, and kept selling Explorers by the hundreds of thousands. The fifth generation moved to a unibody platform shared with the Taurus, trading real off-road capability for a car-like ride. The sixth generation went rear-wheel drive with a longitudinal powertrain and suddenly drove like something from a different brand entirely. The ST variant added 400 hp and a suspension tune that had no business being in a three-row family hauler. On Revnut, the Explorer's journey from body-on-frame truck to performance crossover is a story the community ranks generation by generation.