Ford Expedition

We have seen many outstanding vehicles from the Ford in many car games, mostly in free room car racing games commonly known as Midnight Club and Test Driver Series. Ford built its one millionth Expedition in May 2001, not a bad accomplishment in such a crowded SUV market. It took Ford slightly less than five years to reach this milestone, and the company was so proud they celebrated by giving away unit number 1,000,000 to a luck individual in a special ceremony.

Changes for 2002 are modest, because a 2003 Expedition incorporating several upgrades will make an early debut year. The new gear on the 2002 is mostly limited to the availability of a rear seat entertainment organizer on both XLT and Eddie Bauer versions. The structure includes a 6.8 in. drop down LCD monitor accumulated in the above your head console, a bottom mounted VHS players, two chairs of wireless earphones and game output jacks. A few paint insignia have been deleted, and some of the features of a variety of options packages have been juggled, but beyond that the 2002 Expedition is familiar territory. There are still only two models to choose from, the XLT and Eddie Bauer editions.

Chevrolet Avalanche

You can almost imagine a mad scientist working in his mountaintop laboratory. A Chevrolet Suburban SUV lies connected by wires and tubes to a Chevrolet Silverado pickup. At the smoke of midnight, a bolt of lightning jolts the duo. Amid a shower of sparks and a cloud of smoke, shazammm, the two fuse together and create the Chevrolet Avalanche. It’s alive! Chevrolet is also participating in many truck games like Monster Truck Madness to show there different vehicles to attract the viewers.

With apologies to Mary Shelley and Boris Karloff, the Avalanche represents a new creation. And the villagers appear to be happy, buying every example in sight. Other companies have tried to find the sweet spot for that add commingling of SUV and pickup, but have come away with pickups that won’t carry much or SUV’s that are too truck like.

The Avalanche solves that quandary with a moveable rear bulkhead called the midgate. With the midgate up, the Avalanche is a 5 or 6 passenger SUV with a sort of 5 ft, 3 in. cargo bed. Midgate down, the Avalanche morphs to a 2 or 3 passenger pickup with an 8 ft. 1 in. bed. The conversion involves folding the rear seatback down, removing the rear window and securing it in a holder on the midgate, dropping the midgate down tilting the rear seat cushions forward.

Ford Excursion

The Excursion might look like the Super Duty pickup’s hard working brother on the outside, but things are getting mighty dandified inside. Comfort features abound in Ford’s whopper wagon for 2002. Ford has even developed an Excursion limousine conversion platform for those who simply mush have not only the finer things in life, but also the largest.

Ford, truck, SUV, engine, Excursion Truck include power adjustable pedals, just like on the Expedition. A rear seat entertainment system with DVD play will be a midyear introduction, joining the current VCR entertainment group. The XLT Premium and Limited models get a 6 way power passenger’s seat. Intermittent ‘smart’ front and rear wipers are standard.

The Deluxe steering wheel featuring air conditioning and audio controls on the Limited Ultimate is a good idea, given the vast distances to be traversed in the Excursion’s interior. The limited Ultimate comes with a variety of plush new features, such as heated front seats and the HomeLink system. The dual second row captain’s Nudo leather surfaces and inboard armrests. Other less exotic improvements are shared with the 2002 Super Duty pickups, such as the forward folding trailer tow mirrors and crystalline headlamps.

Ford Escape

After the successful introduction of Ford’s carlike Escape SUV into 2002 with minor polishing and tweaking. The Escape has quickly come to dominate the army of small, maneuverable, relatively economical sport utes that has marched ashore in the US recently. Ford established a new calendar year sales record for small Truck is 2001, selling 121,184 through September, breaking the old record set by the Honda CR-V in 1999.

The template for this class of vehicle, as followed by the CV-R, Toyota RAV4 and other, includes a compact unibody design, 4wheel independent suspension, front wheel drive and 4wd capability, the choice of 4 cylinder or small V-6 engines and a low price. Because many of these vehicles are built on car based platforms, the manufactures rarely bother with low range transfer cases or brawny off road gear. These low fat, eco-savvy urban roustabouts are the politically correct SUVs of the moment.

The Escape brings some traditional Ford Truck brio to the class. Neither the Honda nor Toyota competition offer a V-6, while the Escape can be had with either a 2.0 liter dohc inline 4 or 201 bhp 3.0 liter dohc V-6. The V-6 is now standard equipment on the XLT. The 2.0 liter engine is teamed with a 5 speed manual transmission, while the V-6 comes with a 4 speed automatic.