[sid]

I've gotten 36 mpg with my present 2.3 L Ranger on the rare all highway drives I do without my kayak and racks on top. My old 4WD 3.0 L Ranger averaged 25 mpg on the highway, even though it was grossly overweight with add-ons (900 pounds extra for topper, bedliner, tools, camping gear, audio system, etc.) and had kayak racks permanently attached.

My new Ranger only weighs about 100 pounds more than stock as I'm using a much lighter topper and bedliner, carrying less tools and other stuff all the time, only carry my camping gear and kayak racks when I am actually going camping instead of all the time. I also removed some factory stuff (rear jump seats, heavy duty trailer hitch, tailgate which isn't needed with my new topper) to partially compensate for the added stuff.

So 30 mpg for an Explorer is possible, though not easy.