Ford's passenger lineup may be shrinking, especially in South Africa, but that isn't stopping them from pushing the boundaries of what they're capable of producing. The new Everest offers avant-garde styling and a luxurious interior, blended with the revered off-road drivetrain and capabilities.
Interior & Space
The Ford Everest has managed to carve a nice little niche in the market out for itself, offering rugged good looks, seating for seven and combining this with off-road prowess and modern convenience features. If the idea of a British off-road-capable 7-seater scares you then the Everest may be what you’re looking for. Especially if you’re dodging its main rival, the Toyota Fortuner.
They say that if something isn’t broken, then don’t fix it. That’s largely the approach that Ford has taken with the new Everest even if it looks as if everything has changed. That’s because, under the skin, Ford is still using the T6 platform, albeit with minor tweaks to help further refine this proven chassis. The T6.2 sees slight revisions to the rear suspension and repositioning of the front axles. All of this is to help improve the ride quality and overall capability of the new Everest.
Styling
It was only a matter of time before the blocky, American styling cues that feature large, upright headlights and prominent lower jawlines made their way across the pond and onto the vehicles that we see in the local market. The new Ford Ranger and Everest, who have always been separated at birth, both wear this new look for Ford. Large, C-shaped headlights are positioned upright and are encased in form-following LED daytime running light elements, drawing your eyes to the strong central bar that spans the width of the grille and extends past its outer edges to intersect with the headlights. On the Sport model, this trim is finished in a gloss black and is further accentuated by the ‘Everest’ lettering that spans the width of the bonnet.
Sport models also receive gloss black alloy wheels, measuring in at 20-inches in diameter and shod with 255/50R20 tyres. This is an inch down from the Platinum version and speaks to its gearing towards off-road use rather than just pavement hopping. Being the Sport model, it means that the finer details are finished off in black with black mirror caps, black door handles, roof rails and skirts complementing the gloss black window trims and badging.
Around the back, the sharp, angular approach is continued but rather than mimicking the front headlight treatment, the designers slimmed down the rear taillights and made the assembly span the width of the rear, joined through the centre with a matching bar that features the Everest name again. The LED treatment of the taillights sees the outer elements split into smaller segments, decreasing in size as they move towards the centre. Carefully considered creases in the sheet metal help draw a synergy with the front of the vehicle.
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Space & Interior
Where the exterior is clearly designed for the rough and tumble, the interior exudes an air of class, comfort and technology. Where it was easy to criticise Ford for having overly-complex user interfaces in the past, the new Everest presents a clean, simplified approach to interior design. This further bolsters the utilitarian and adventurous nature of the Everest with function taking precedence over form.
A strong, horizontal theme is only broken by the imposing and purposeful portrait-orientated infotainment screen that is flanked by trapezoidal air vents with grilles that mimic that of the exterior grille and draw a correlation with the shape of the new headlights.
The Sport is trimmed in leather-bound goodness with an excellent array of finishes and trim pieces. The overall build quality feels rugged and is impressive, lending an impression of robustness and encouraging you to take the Everest on that long-distance journey.
Space as a whole is generous and the revisions to the chassis have helped improve the interior volume. Both the second and third rows enjoy increased legroom and you get a boot that measures in at 259 litres with the third row in place but fold that down and not only are you given a flat floor to work with, but you get 898 litres of space to work with. The second row will also fold flat, yielding a cavernous 1 823 litres of cargo space.
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Comfort & Convenience
The Ford Everest employs a coil spring suspension in all four corners. This is what separates it from the Ranger it shares a platform with and allows for greater comfort for the passengers. Their comfort is further enhanced by the ventilation and power outlets that are scattered throughout the cabin. The new Everest does indeed offer a quieter, more comfortable cabin than before, befitting of the quality trimmings that have been used.
Pride of place is given up front to the large, vertical screen that offers up the infotainment system. This central command station is used for a multitude of vehicle, connectivity and entertainment functions and measures 12 inches in size. It utilizes Ford’s latest SYNC4A, a simple and intuitive system that only takes a few minutes to get accustomed to. It’s not often that we will criticise a screen for being too bright but you might find yourself wanting to utilise the dark mode as the light background of the daytime mode is rather intrusive. This unit supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto along with Bluetooth connectivity and offers navigation as well.
The driver gets an 8-inch information display in the Sport as opposed to the large 12.3-inch unit fitted to the Platinum grade Everest. This display replaces the traditional analogue gauges and allows for a multitude of parameters to be displayed simultaneously. This can be a little overwhelming at first purely due to the amount of choice that one is given for displays. I would have preferred to see a simplified approach taken to this area as well.
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Performance
Oddly enough, despite the Sport nomeclature, the Everest Sport is fitted with the smaller of the two engines on offer. A 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder bi-turbo diesel engine can be found under the bonnet and not the 3.0-litre V6 unit that one finds in the Platinum. This unit is good for 154 kW and 500 Nm making it the weaker of the two models currently on offer in South Africa. Odd, but that’s not to say that it’s underpowered. This engine is mated to a 10-speed automatic gearbox, similar to what we’ve seen in the Ranger and outgoing Everest and this combination is agreeable and more than up for the task at hand.
The Everest is not an outright sports SUV but has ample torque to blast away from the lights and keep you going until you reach the illegal side of the speed limit. Both cruising and overtaking are effortless and even with the numerous gears, the shifts are not intrusive and only hardly even notices the changes.
Power is fed to all four wheels and drivers can select their preferred drivetrain configuration by using the rotary dial in the centre console. 2-High, 4-High and 4-Low Range options are presented with presets for various terrains and conditions. Drivers can select from now fewer than six different drive modes, namely; Normal, Eco, Tow/Haul, Slippery, Mud and Ruts, and Sand. Wading depth of the new Everest is 800 mm and the braked towing capacity is increased by 400 kg to 3 500 kg.
Fuel Economy
One benefit of opting for the Sport grade over that of the Platinum, aside from the initial savings, is the improved fuel economy. Ford claims that you should be able to return a combined cycle fuel consumption of 7.5 l/100km but realistically, in a real-world setting and with the vehicle in Normal mode, we were able to only get down to the high 8s on the freeway with the daily commute returning figures in the low 10s. Ford claims that you should be able to achieve a range of 1013 km from a single tank but to be safe, bargain on 800 km rather.
Safety
6 airbags and the standard array of antilock brakes (ABS) and electronic brake-force distribution (EBD) can be found in the Everest Sport. A host of driver assistance systems are also offered, including Ford’s Lane Keeping System, which includes Lane Keeping Alert and Lane Keeping Aid, Road Edge Detection and Driver Warning. Pre-Collision Assist with Dynamic Brake Support, Forward Collision Warning, Automated Emergency Braking and Reverse Brake Assist are also bundled into the standard safety equipment.
Price
Only two derivatives of the new Ford Everest are currently available but both come with a comprehensive specifications list and most features are included as standard. They both come covered by a 4-yr/120 000 km warranty, 4-yr/unlimited distance Roadside Assistance, and 5-yr/unlimited distance corrosion warranty. It’s worth noting that the service or maintenance plans are sold as options in line with the Right to Repair Act.
| Model | Price (incl. VAT) |
| Ford Everest 2.0 BiTurbo 4×4 Sport | R965 400 |
| Ford Everest 3.0 V6 4WD Platinum | R1 113 100 |
Competitors
As we mentioned at the start, the Toyota Fortuner is the natural predator for the Ford Everest but one shouldn’t forget about the Isuzu mu-X. Keeping with the 7-seat solutions, the Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe also feature but these are less off-road capable than the Everest. The Land Rover Discovery Sport starts to feature when you breach the R1-million mark and is also worth considering if you’re looking for a vehicle with a similar level of trim.
Verdict
The Everest always felt a little utilitarian to me, comparable with the likes of the Land Cruiser Prado rather than with the high-end, premium offerings. This new generation changes that and the refinements made to the interior and chassis bump it up a category, allowing it to play in a considerably higher class. It feels like a refined package all around yet somehow manages to retain the rugged, capable persona that made the Everest appealing in the first place. I’m sure we’ll see more of them in parking lots than we will on the trail as this is a natural progression when one elevates the overall quality of the package; owners will be more reluctant to scratch and scrape their new Everests.
Keyword: Ford Everest 2.0 BiTurbo 4x4 Sport (2023) review