If the 2007 Sport Trac looks larger than the '05, and very much like the 2006 Ford Explorer, that's because it is, and because it does. At least from just behind the front doors forward, that is, all of which it shares with the current Explorer. This is part of Ford's plan to push brand identity, and why the fronts of Ford's light duty trucks, be they pickups or SUVs, wear many of the same design features, including the chrome-framed grille, bumper centerpiece and lower air intake. And the full, wraparound, body-color lower fascia above the blacked-out front air dam. And the signature, geometric housings for the compound headlights/running lights. It's also two inches wider than the '05 Sport Trac; in track (the distance between the tires side to side), too, giving the new Sport Trac more bulk and a more confident stance.

It's in length that the 2007 Sport Trac changes most dramatically. Wheelbase (distance between the tires front to rear) extends by almost five inches, overall length (bumper to bumper) about the same. Oddly, in these two measures the new Sport Trac also surpasses the Explorer, by almost 17 inches in both. Thus, while the Explorer is the more people-oriented of the two, the Sport Trac's longer wheelbase promises a less choppy, more controlled ride. Curious. The Dodge Dakota Quad Cab alone exceeds the Sport Trac in wheelbase and overall length, by less than an inch in the former but by more than eight inches in the latter. Of the remaining four-door, shorter-bed (the Sport Trac's bed is four feet long, the rest around five feet), midsize pickups, the Chevrolet Colorado, the Honda Ridgeline, the Nissan Frontier and the Toyota Tacoma measure between three and four inches shorter overall. Only by parking the '07 Sport Trac next to the '05 are the differences in their lengths apparent, as the stylists have retained the proportions between cabin and bed. What extra expanse there is along the '07's flanks has been dedicated to wider door openings over blank sheetmetal. More defined and more sharply creased wheel openings further de-emphasize the added length.

From the rear, well, what else can be said. It looks like a Ford pickup. One distinctive aspect is that the sides of the bed and the tailgate rise as much as three inches higher than is the norm in the segment. While this increases the space enclosed by the bed, it definitely makes hefting boxes and bags up and over into the more of a strain, a painful trait it shares with the Honda Ridgeline, with sides only a half-inch shorter. By making the Sport Trac look taller, it also raises the Sport Trac's visual center of gravity, although the wider body and wider track help some to reduce this impression.