Ford Everest 2023 review: Trend Bi-Turbo 4WD

The Everest is the SUV version of Ford’s latest Ranger ute, and it definitely has that ute look and feel with the beefy square corners at the front, the long length, and the height of an off-roader.

Thankfully, it has steps on both sides of the car to help you and your passengers in and out. It comes with 18-inch alloy wheels, and a choice of seven colours. This test car is in ‘Shadow Black’ and will cost you an extra $675. ‘Arctic White’ is the only colour that comes at no extra cost.

Although the interior isn’t flashy, it’s contemporary with the optional leather-accented seats, digital instrument panel, and leather-trimmed steering wheel.

I must say, the gear lever takes some getting used to, with the gear indicators on the top surface, naturally my hand covers it and it forces me to squint at the dash or remove my hand to make sure I’m in the right gear. After two weeks, I still didn’t have a handle on it.

This big beast of a car has a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, twin turbo-diesel engine. Even though it’s large, while driving it I didn’t feel like it was too wide so I never felt like I couldn’t stay in my lane.

The steering and braking feels similar to smaller Fords I’ve driven, and I didn’t need to adapt to it being so high and large, save for a little extra play in the steering wheel and allowing for slightly longer braking distances.

The throttle is responsive, but the car is not quick off the line. It’ll get the job done, though, and it’s fine once you get moving.

When it comes to the ride, one great thing about having these big tyres and ride height is not having to worry about hitting potholes!

Even though you can still feel the bumps in the road, it’s not jarring and I felt relaxed, not worried about damaging the wheels or undercarriage.

What about parking? When I picked this up, the first place I went was a shopping centre car park and I instantly felt nervous as I was about to throw it into reverse.

But I didn’t need to worry. The reversing camera is so clear on the massive screen, and with the help of the 360-degree camera view it was really easy to park. Brilliant system!

First, let’s talk about storage. Up front, there are four cupholders and two bottle holders. The centre console bin is a great size, plus it comes with a handy tray to tuck away your keys or spare sunglasses.

You’ll also get an overhead sunglasses holder, and a little tray in front of the gear lever for your keys, phone or wallet.

And not only do you get the usual glove box, but there’s an extra storage compartment above it. There is plenty of leg space, even with the child seats behind, and if you’re super tall and need even more space, the second row can slide back and forth.

Upfront, there is plenty of leg space. (Image: Dean McCartney)

In the second row, you'll find two cupholders that pop out from the centre arm rest and a bottle holder in each door. (Image: Dean McCartney)

The third row isn't as accomodating for taller people. (Image: Dean McCartney)

The second row is equally great. The doors don’t quite open to 90 degrees, but they do open wide enough for a family with kids.

With the ability to move one seat, two seats, or the entire row back and forth, you can choose between extra leg room or extra boot space. You’ll find two cupholders that pop out from the centre arm rest and a bottle holder in each door.

With all seven seats in use, boot capacity measures at 259 litres. (Image: Dean McCartney)

You get 1823 litre capacity with the second and third row folded down. (Image: Dean McCartney)

What’s the third row like? It isn’t too bad, actually, besides the ever awkward climb-in, I had enough room with the second row pushed forward, and I’m 168cm tall. At my height you could easily ride back there for an hour and be okay. But it’s definitely not for you taller folk.

As mentioned, we packed up the family and drove two hours north from Sydney to the Hunter Valley. We stayed at a rental house, so we needed to pack all of the things: pram, porta cot, four overnight bags, board games, groceries, my son’s bike.. the list goes on, but, it all fit.

We even had the 16-inch bike standing upright behind the second row! You get 1823 litre capacity with the second and third row folded down, 898 litres with just the third row folded down and 259 litres with all seven seats up. Not too shabby for family life, if you ask me.

As a mum, this car worked really well for my family. Not only is there ample space for any adult, it was hardy enough to withstand my energetic toddler in the second row and I could easily fit in all the groceries that my heart desired with the third row folded down.

There are, however, two things to consider with this boot, the height and the angle of the floor. It was a lot higher to lift our pram into than what we’re used to, which for me wasn’t a problem, although it highlighted my need to work out a bit more.

But if you are vertically challenged, or have back problems, you might find it difficult. The slope in the floor may be a minor annoyance, too.

Anything round will roll out of the boot unless secured. To help roll our pram in lengthways, we always like to keep the brake off but in this car we had to keep the brake on or angle the pram so it didn’t roll out.

The Trend grade has all the safety features I look for in a modern car: reverse brake assist (or rear AEB), ABS, lane keeping aid with lane departure warning, forward AEB and ‘Intersection Assist’, plus blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert.

‘Intelligent Speed Assist’ works in concert with the adaptive cruise control, dropping your speed when it recognises a drop in the speed limit.

It’s a nice feature but be aware you may be unintentionally slowing in school zones on a Saturday afternoon!

This Everest does have a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from 2022 and it comes equipped with nine airbags. One of them is between the driver and front passenger for extra protection in a side collision and thankfully the side curtain airbags cover the third row.

If I regularly had one of my kids in the third row my car would HAVE to have airbags back there.

Speaking of kids, fitting child seats is easy enough. The outboard second row seats are fitted with both ISOFIX and top tether anchor points.

For your second row middle seat and the two third row seats you’ve got top tether points. That gives you plenty of options to configure your child seating arrangements to your needs.

The top tether anchor points are only half way down the back of the seats, so some of you may be comfortable reaching over the seat to clip the tether in while others may find it easier to climb into the boot to do it.

The huge 12-inch portrait media screen is the best I’ve ever used. I’ve said in previous reviews that I wished for more tactile buttons than just the air-conditioning knobs, but what this one has helped me realise is that, really, I just needed a media screen that’s responsive, intuitive and doesn’t lag.

Everything about the layout and menu just makes sense, such as the way the screen is split between navigation and other controls.

This is also the first car we’ve had in our garage where Android Auto has worked so well that I chose to use it! It connected wirelessly with ease, Google Maps worked seamlessly and it even integrated with the driver’s digital cluster. It just worked well and made a world of difference to the experience.

The Everest Trend comes with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, three USB points up front, two in the second row, wireless charging and three auxiliary 12V power outlets, one in the front, third row and rear cargo.

Dual-zone climate control air-conditioning is standard, with roof vents for the second and third rows.

Our test car came with the $900 ‘Trend Premium Seat Pack’ which includes a 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with memory function, eight-way power-adjustable front passenger seat, and heated and cooled driver and front passenger seats.

Our car also had the ‘Touring Pack’ fitted which includes a 360-degree camera view, zone-lighting and a tow bar with integrated ‘Trailer Brake Controller’, for $1950.

If you’re into tech, you can download the ‘FordPass Connect’ app, which, among other things, lets you lock and unlock the car as well as start and stop the engine from your phone. Handy to cool the cabin down in hot Aussie summers before you jump in.

Ford claims the official combined fuel consumption figure is 7.2L/100km and on my test I averaged 9.0L/100km. Besides our trip to The Hunter Valley, I only drive short 10-15 minute trips in my daily life, which drove my fuel consumption up.

Speaking of short trips, one thing to consider about living with a diesel engine is the distances you regularly drive. Ford suggests driving ‘occasionally’ on a highway or long stretch of road above a certain speed for a minimum of 20 minutes to regenerate the diesel particulate filter.

For a family like us that rarely does a trip over 15 minutes, that means needing to perform a regen about once a week, which is just not practical for us. And with no petrol option in the Everest, that might be a deal breaker for you.

Ford’s warranty plan is five years with unlimited kilometres and if your vehicle is a MY22 or later, the most an eligible customer will pay is $329 for each of the first four general services for up to four years or 60,000km, whichever occurs first.