Sport trac fuel consumption

My experience has been 10-15 around town and 18-20 on the highway. My wife's 2002 Taurus SE wagon does 14-16 around town and 27-29 on the highway. If you've got to travel a lot and gas consumption is not covered by your employer then I'd run like hell from the SUV vehicles. You know gas will hit $3.00 w/i a year or so, so why get stuck with something that will cut deeply into your income?

I have had a 2001 4x4 Sport Trac since 8/2000. The lowest gas mileage I have gotten was 15 MPG; the highest was 20 MPG. The average over the course of a year has been 18 MPG. This is almost all rural driving, with very little sustained highway cruising and virtually no city driving.

It's a truck, so gas mileage is not going to be anywhere near Toyota Prius territory. OTOH, it is a very comfortable and versatile truck, and I wouldn't hesitate to replace it with another one when the time comes.

-- Jim

Why do you care what mileage Explorer owners are getting? If you are driving huge miles, and gas mileage is a concern, you certainly don't want to drive an Explorer. You can probably achieve nearly *double* the mileage of the Explorer with a small wagon or a 4 door hatchback with a 4 cylinder and manual transmission, and have plenty of room to carry all the sample cases, etc.

I'd consider waiting for the Escape Hybrid.

||> > Troops..I am looking at purchasing a Ford Explorer 4X4 sport trac. Since ||I ||> > am a travelling sales man putting on huge miles gas consumption is a ||prime ||> > consideration. What are you guys seeing for hi-way mpg,s? ||>

||> Why do you care what mileage Explorer owners are getting? If you are ||> driving huge miles, and gas mileage is a concern, you certainly don't want ||> to drive an Explorer. You can probably achieve nearly *double* the ||mileage ||> of the Explorer with a small wagon or a 4 door hatchback with a 4 cylinder ||> and manual transmission, and have plenty of room to carry all the sample ||> cases, etc. || ||

Rex in Fort Worth