Inside, the 2007 Ford Sport Trac looks a lot like the Explorer cabin. Not that it lacks anything by way of necessities or has been saddled with an abbreviated option list, but there's more borrowed than new. The Sport Trac shares virtually all of its interior, from trim to seat frames, with the Explorer.

As far as the instruments go, this is good. Ford has cleaned up these elements nicely. They're less busy, quieter, easier to scan and use than those in the previous-generation model. Fuel and coolant gauges could be larger and located closer to line of sight than tucked away in the lower, outer quadrants of the tachometer and speedometer, but otherwise the instrument cluster is a delight in its simplicity. Same for the center stack, which although packed with functions, is intuitively organized, with readily deciphered controls and displays. We still long for a tuning knob instead of the Sport Trac's slow scanning rocker switch.

The optional navigation system pushes the audio controls to the side and either gangs some functions or transfers them to the LCD screen. It's still a clean look, though, and the vent registers stay where they were. The only real concern here is with the number of components making up the dash assembly. The fewer the components the better, generally speaking, to reduce the number of squeaks as the miles pile up, and the Sport Trac's dash has one of the highest counts we've seen.

Seats are comfortable, although the bottom cushions front and rear could provide more thigh support. Room in the rear doorways for feet when climbing in and out is cramped, but once inside, there's decent area beneath the front seats, which have been re-worked to save weight and space. All five seating positions get three-point seatbelts, but only the front seats and the outboard rear seats get the adjustable, full-size head restraints. Comparatively speaking, the '07 Sport Trac's interior lands squarely in the middle of the segment. The Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma have a few tenths of an inch more front seat headroom, the Honda Ridgeline almost an inch. The Frontier and the Ridgeline are tops in rear seat headroom, but again by only tenths of an inch. The Chevy Colorado has an inch and a half more front seat legroom but almost two inches less rear seat legroom. The Ridgeline wins in hiproom, by about two inches front and rear, the Frontier offers fully two and a half inches more rear seat hiproom and the Dakota squeaks in with a half-inch more hiproom all 'round.

Storage is about what's to be expected. The glove box is adequate. The front center console hosts two cup holders adjacent to the shift gate. Two more for the rear seat fit behind the hinged, padded top to a deep and wide bin between the front seats. The front door map pockets have a space for a water bottle molded into the hard plastic enclosure.

Back in the bed, a shallow, covered bin running the width of the floor is placed inconveniently all the way forward and thus out of reach from the tailgate, and a small, covered bin is recessed in the floor at each side behind the wheelhouses; good ideas, but not nearly on a par with the Ridgeline's lockable, 8.5 cubic-foot trunk in the floor of the bed aft of the wheel housings. On the other hand, with the Sport Trac's optional, two-piece, lockable, hard tonneau cover in place, the enclosed volume of the cargo bed measures 37.5 cubic feet, up from the '05's 29.6 cubic feet. Rearward visibility is somewhat limited by the high bed, particularly with the hard tonneau cover.

Not so good are the Explorer's inside door panels. While certain elements are reasonably ergonomic, the placement of the power window and door lock buttons as well as the door handle itself is a prime example of logic gone wrong. Intended to improve occupant protection in side impact crashes by adding crush space, the placement of the handle below and forward of the armrest puts it where it's awkward to grab hold of and pull. Some passengers don't have an issue with it, however. Fortunately, Ford is responding smartly to owner complaints and will be replacing the door panel halfway through the year, when the Explorer and the Mercury Mountaineer get re-designed panels, too.