Driving the Ford Explorer Sport Ford has set a formidable benchmark for its 2013 Explorer Sport performance sport utility vehicle: the Range Rover Sport HSE. The word of a Ford product representative is not really needed to bring that point home; the Explorer Sport's blacked-out grille treatment gives the car a distinct resemblance to that aspirational vehicle. The Sport, which went on sale last week at a base price of $41,545, or $47,735 as driven on Wednesday, is clearly an attempt to split the difference between luxury and performance. Ford expects it to account for 10 percent or more of total Explorer sales, slightly stronger than orders for the S.U.V. fitted with the 2-liter EcoBoost engine. That power plant, despite having to compel nearly 5,000 pounds of Explorer down the road, is certified at 28 miles per gallon on the highway. Under the hood of the Sport is a variant of the EcoBoost 3.5-liter V-6 unit found in Fords including the Taurus SHO and the F-150, here making 365 horsepower and delivering what Ford expects to be six-second runs from zero to 60 miles per hour. The automaker claims a highway fuel-economy rating of 22 m.p.g., just 1 m.p.g. less than the standard 3.5-liter V-6, which generates 290 horsepower. Dan Corsetti, marketing manager for the Explorer, said in an interview that the Sport would produce the best fuel economy among nonhybrid performance S.U.V.'s. Of course, performance S.U.V.'s are a thirsty bunch, and 16 m.p.g. around town is not quite good enough to keep OPEC at bay. But Ford was nevertheless keen to emphasize the Sport's superior fuel economy over the Range Rover and Hemi-powered versions of the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango. The company says 51 percent of Explorer buyers this year are coming from other brands, and 12 percent are coming from other luxury vehicles. In the industry, these are known as conquest sales. Through September, sales of the Explorer are up 17 percent relative to their levels during the same period in 2011. That I found the Sport to be a quiet beast in my drive from Chelsea to Westchester County, even over pockmarked highways, was no accident. "Our target customers may have tried the Dodge Durango R/T or Jeep Grand Cherokee V-8 and experienced a certain muscular roughness," Mr. Corsetti said. We're more refined. Indeed, the Explorer has something of a split personality. It is as docile and quiet as a Camry in normal driving, but in my test run to Bedford, N.Y., it also revealed a snarl when a lead foot met the accelerator. According to Bill Gubing, chief engineer for the Explorer, the Sport's engine is closely related to the EcoBoost V-6 unit offered in the F-150 pickup, although with slightly less power. Improvements on the Sport over the base Explorer include a tuned dual exhaust; wider wheels with performance tires as an option; recalibrated steering gear; and shock, spring and brace modifications to provide more lateral stiffness. The modifications yield dividends on the road. For a nearly 5,000-pound vehicle, the Explorer Sport handled very well on the twisty roads of suburban New York and Connecticut, with very little body roll. It may not be a Porsche Cayenne, but it's not a lumbering truck, either. Driving the Sport aggressively will, of course, adversely affect fuel economy. This reporter kept his foot down and observed 16.3 m.p.g. in mixed city and highway driving. Taking the wheel next was Daniel Gray of the fuel economy-oriented Web site MPGomatic.com, and with a kinder, gentler treatment on a reverse of the same route, he got 23.3 m.p.g. The key to sipping gas in the Sport, he said, was "a very steady, light foot, using inertia and watching the instant fuel-economy readout." It may have been the first instance of hypermiling an Explorer Sport, and perhaps the only instance.