I'm new here, so I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Dave (duh), 17 years old, a senior in high school, and drive a grey 1996 V6 4-door Explorer XLT CT4wd. Originally when I was learning to drive and got my license I drove an inherited 2000 V6 Toyota Camry (the Explorer was still my dad's at the time), but my dad and I switched cars about 3 months ago, and the more I drive it, the more I love it.

I'm pretty happy with the Explorer as-is (except for the sound system, which I'm working on upgrading...eventually), but going from driving the Camry to the Explorer in everyday city driving is somewhat, dare I say, boring. I'm not trying to be negative here, and I know I'm essentially comparing apples with oranges here. The Camry is by no means a sports car, but being, well, not an SUV, it is a little more agile, accelerates faster and gets way better gas mileage. Short of selling the Explorer or doing a complete suspension overhaul, is there anything I can do to the Explorer to make it a little more entertaining in the city without sacrificing its offroad capabilities?

Accelerating faster, or 'rabbit' starts, are not good for your newly-owned X - or any vehicle for that matter. If you want to keep your engine/tranny for a while, i'd change driving style and ease off on those fast accelerations.

also - faster accelerations and better gas mileage are opposites for one another. If you really want to save gas, back off on the gas pedal - accelerate nice and gentle.

I know it might be boring but its probably better in the long run.

if you need more info, search the forum, there's already a few threads on gas mileage and acceleration. one thread in particular by our humble ALDIVE is about reaching 30 mpg!!! <- something i'll never accomplish :( Here's a link to the thread:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44372&highlight=mpg

Of course this is pretty much impossible for city driving but maybe you'll pick up a thing or two.

Welcome to the site. I am a bit of a newb here myself, but its a great site and has a LOT of information to be found.
For your 96, a chip would make it much more entertaining :). Myself and a couple of other dealers on here can do great things for you with tuning.

I'm new here, so I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Dave (duh), 17 years old, a senior in high school, and drive a grey 1996 V6 4-door Explorer XLT CT4wd. Originally when I was learning to drive and got my license I drove an inherited 2000 V6 Toyota Camry (the Explorer was still my dad's at the time), but my dad and I switched cars about 3 months ago, and the more I drive it, the more I love it.

I'm pretty happy with the Explorer as-is (except for the sound system, which I'm working on upgrading...eventually), but going from driving the Camry to the Explorer in everyday city driving is somewhat, dare I say, boring. I'm not trying to be negative here, and I know I'm essentially comparing apples with oranges here. The Camry is by no means a sports car, but being, well, not an SUV, it is a little more agile, accelerates faster and gets way better gas mileage. Short of selling the Explorer or doing a complete suspension overhaul, is there anything I can do to the Explorer to make it a little more entertaining in the city without sacrificing its offroad capabilities?

Hey welcome to the site , heres IF you ever consider suspension - http://www.explorerexpress.com/catalog/x-suspension.html
Then you can get Cold Air Intake, Computer Chip, And i think considering you want a "sportier" feel i think you should get a B&M Shift Kit also. I forgot to mention if you get the intake definetly get an exhuast. If you want a musclecar tone get the flowaster original 40 series (my favorite) but others here love the magnaflow exhuast systems and some of them have the gibson systems so you would have to look into all of those. Now if you really wanna go fast you can get a X-Spec supercharger . But if you do this your gonna need a better tranny. You can also do a chevy tranny swap. Theres a thread around here somewhere that explains it in detail.
Now just remember those are all my opionions on the brands of parts. Just look around and see what you like best.
But most of all remember explorers CAN BE FAST. Theres a guy here named Troll and he has a 9-10 second explorer :D
http://www.speedfreak.cc/troll/ Watch the dyno video

I hope this all helped you man,
And Good Luck with the Xplor.

By the way thats an old dyno video hes running alot faster now.

But most of all remember explorers CAN BE FAST. Theres a guy here named Troll and he has a 9-10 second explorer :D
http://www.speedfreak.cc/troll/ Watch the dyno video.

Let us not forget that speedyDave has a 4.0L v6 (like me) - not a 5.0L v8 and definitely not a 5.7L :eek: (I believe thats what Troll runs). I guess most things can be made to go 'fast' once you've put a 5.7L in it. Also, speedyDave did mention gas mileage - so I'd think twice about before buying a super-charger (perhaps a clutched supercharger might be a bit better as far as MPG goes but def. not equal to stock).

One thread that covers the Chevy transmission swap was started by the always smiling JEFE :) - search for '700r4' (the chevy tranny model) and i'm sure you'll come up with it. Most of the time, the adapter for this tranny is always out of stock too (check the site and plan way ahead if you do decide to put the 700r4 in).

I'd 2nd HypIllAuto's idea of a chip as most of these will give better acceleration and also a few miles per gallon. It is also not very expensive (compared to forced induction and such). I also support the exhaust idea by Off-Road97Xplor.

If your doing mostly city driving no reason to sprint from light to light, try focusing on getting entertainment in your truck. Think subs in a trunk sound good, they sound even better in the explorer. No trunk to block the sound.

Let us not forget that speedyDave has a 4.0L v6 (like me) - not a 5.0L v8 and definitely not a 5.7L :eek: (I believe thats what Troll runs). I guess most things can be made to go 'fast' once you've put a 5.7L in it. Also, speedyDave did mention gas mileage - so I'd think twice about before buying a super-charger (perhaps a clutched supercharger might be a bit better as far as MPG goes but def. not equal to stock).

One thread that covers the Chevy transmission swap was started by the always smiling JEFE :) - search for '700r4' (the chevy tranny model) and i'm sure you'll come up with it. Most of the time, the adapter for this tranny is always out of stock too (check the site and plan way ahead if you do decide to put the 700r4 in).

I'd 2nd HypIllAuto's idea of a chip as most of these will give better acceleration and also a few miles per gallon. It is also not very expensive (compared to forced induction and such). I also support the exhaust idea by Off-Road97Xplor.


I know, but how many times do you see a 9-10 second Explorer. The original
"Soccer Moms" vehicale. And I also have a 4.0 SOHC V6. like both of you.