No great changes were made to the 2000 Ford Explorer; after the previous year's exterior redesign, Ford looked at its big-shouldered sport-utility vehicle and found it good. Its impressive cargo capacity (81.6 cubic feet for the four-door models) and solid roadworthiness made it the SUV of choice for hundreds of thousands of buyers.

Another selling point for the 2000 Explorer was its emphasis on safety. No new safety features were introduced for the 2000 model year, but the Explorer was already chock-full of them: from anti-lock brakes to side-curtain airbags to the Reverse Sensing System (a sonar-based array that warned of approaching objects when backing up), the Explorer was all about security.

That said, there was plenty of performance to be found in the Explorer, if that's what you were looking for. Rack-and-pinion steering and (optional) all-wheel drive made the Explorer more agile than many of its competitors. Its all-wheel and four-wheel options gave it the ability to go off-road with ease, even if most of the Explorers out there never got out of the suburbs.

Trim choices for the 2000 Explorer were the two-door Sport trim, and the four-door XL, XLS, XLT, Eddie Bauer, and Limited. Engine offerings included a 5.0 liter V-8 engine with a 215-horsepower output, a 4.0 liter single overhead cam V-6 clocking at 205 horsepower, and the base 4.0 liter V-6 which put out 160 horsepower.