What is the average mpg (hwy & cty) of a Ford Explorer v. a Ford
Tarus? 2003 model year.

Hello.

A U.S. government document called "2003 Model Year Vehicles" lists the
MPG figures for all vehicles sold in the U.S. market.
Source: Fueleconomy.gov 
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/FEG2003_GasolineVehicles.pdf  
(The document is in PDF format, so the Adobe Acrobat Reader is
required. If you don't have that, visit:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html )


Here's a brief summary of the average mpg (highway & city) for various
Taurus & Explorer models:

                   City         Highway
Ford Taurus 
3.0 6cyl 2-valve    20            28
3.0 6cyl 4-valve    20            27

Ford Explorer
2-wheel drive
4.6 8cyl            15            19
4.0 6cyl            16            21
4-wheel drive
4.6 8cyl            14            19
4.0 6cyl            15            20

source: Fueleconomy.gov: "2003 Model Year Vehicles" 

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search strategy:
"2003 model", site:fueleconomy.gov

I hope this helps.

Just what I wanted!