The 2003 Ford Explorer Sport was a lame-duck model; Ford had announced its plans to discontinue the two-door Explorer Sport, which no longer really had any unique selling qualities in an overcrowded SUV marketplace.

The flagship Explorer was still selling like mad, and the smaller Escape had pretty much eclipsed the Explorer Sport's market share, so the guys in Dearborn decided they'd pull the plug after the 2003 model year.

With this in mind, there were no significant changes made to the 2003 Explorer Sport. Two trimlines were offered, XLS and XLT, rather than the selection of options packages that had been available in previous model years. Buyers also had a choice of rear-wheel or four-wheel drive.

The '03 Ford Explorer Sport wasn't distinguished by its power; its 4.0 liter, single overhead cam V6 put out 205 horsepower and 240 lb.-ft. of torque. Gas mileage clocked at 15 mpg city, 20 mpg highway.

The short half-life of the Ford Explorer Sport ended not with a bang, but a whimper. It really was the little SUV that got left behind.