Sunday Drive: Ford Everest Titanium Bi-turbo

Friday, 1 March 2019

**FORD EVEREST TITANIUM BI-TURBO

Price:** $79,990.

Powertrain and performance: 2.0-litre twin turbo-diesel four, 157kW/500Nm, 10-speed automatic, AWD, Combined economy 7.1 litres per 100km.

Ford has slashed the price of the Everest and dropped the entry level model.

Vital statistics: 4892mm long, 1837mm high, 2850mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 450-2010 litres, 20-inch alloy wheels.

We like: Improved price, ride, refinement; powertrain punches above its weight.

Comfortable interior has its luxury aspirations compromised by some cheap materials.

We don't like: No telescopic steering adjust, some cheap dash plastics jar with premium intent, no 3.2-litre or rear-drive option.

Driving the Ford Everest takes you into the world of the survivalist – those hardy souls who still expect family seven-seaters to deliver genuine toughness, big towing and decent off-road capability.

Bi-turbo badge looks a little apologetic when compared to the big '3.2' badge. The engine sure isn't though.

Weirdos, right?

Anyway, all that's pinned back Everest has been price: we all accepted Ford's delivery of the category's biggest engine, most advanced platform and the smartest content unavoidably carried cost. Yet a recommended retail leaving but $10 change from $88k left the top-line Titanium perilously sited.

Generous cabin space means an actually usable third row of seats. Or lots of cargo space.

The 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel may lose on capacity to the old 3.2 five-potter, but it easily out-muscles it.

* Would you like a Mustang engine in your Ford Ranger?

* NZ's favourite vehicle has just upskilled**

It might be an expensive SUV, but the Everest is a proper off-roader that is impressively capable.

Basically, it's been camping out on the summit at a time when the market majority preferred to stay in base camp.

Good news, then, arrives with the first scheduled update. The Titanium remains – in fact, it's the sole version now – but now costs $8000 less than its predecessor and just $3000 above where the much-sparser outfitted, now defunct entry Trend edition used to position.

There's more. A host of upgrades include a major fundamental drivetrain change, the previous 3.2-litre five-cylinder and six-speed automatic being dropped for the 10-speed transmission and 2.0-litre bi-turbo powertrain with better manners and higher outputs. Also implemented is an improved suspension with towing improving to 3100kgs.

This is all change for good, though as before, being based on the T6 Ranger, it is unavoidably all about trucky altitude and attitude.

The ladder frame construct means whole thing sits high, and though cabin space is generous, the floor pan is more elevated that in a car-derived SUV, which influences the seating position.

Driving is also flavoured by the Ranger roots. Even though it differs by eschewing a leaf spring rear suspension for a more sophisticated independent rear end, that now has stiffer roll bars and softer spring rates, the market's top-selling ute is still the model you think of foremost when figuring dynamic behaviours.

Heading down a country road to a relation's beach house on a day when all other traffic seemed to be a tall-standing ute; we all seemed to take the same cornering lines, slow and accelerate at identical points and affect the same levels of wobble and lean. It keeps you focused.

Heading off the road into the rough, the Everest came into its own. You wonder how much better Ranger would present were it to uprate from its part-time setup for Everest's all-wheel-drive. The only decision you might have to make in the muck is determining which terrain response setting works best for the conditions.

Basically, it simply doesn't shirk when you depart the seal and hit gravel, mud or worse and nothing, not even 20-inch wheels and tyres that seem large for off-roading, seem to inhibit. An 800mm water wading depth, 225mm ground clearance, a terrain select system, hill descent control, electronic locking differential and an active transfer case make this a very useful tool for scenarios that could overwhelm streetwise SUVs.

It's such a proper Ford explorer it's a shame it cannot be called one (sadly, America has dibs on that name) and even in the urban jungle, while it can feel a bit too big and cumbersome, you don't feel too daunted. The electric power steering at least makes for much-reduced effort at parking speeds.

Ford's decision to depart from the biggest engine in this category for the smallest, one that gives away nearly 40 percent in capacity over its predecessor provides an interesting talking point. Whereas with Ranger you can chose the new four or stay with the old five-cylinder, with Everest it's a clean break from the 3.2-litre.

I dunno if that's a totally smart strategy – those into towing big caravans and boats might have liked to have the five-cylinder as an alternate – but I will agree the 2.0-litre is a mighty mite.

The bi-turbo benefit shows in a lively kick-off and very strong mid-range torque. It all sounds like being a very busy unit, yet the first surprise is how quiet and smooth it is and the next is how broad the muscularity is; not chair-pushingly so, but those who don't know it's a 2.0-litre might never guess. It really shows how far these new engines have come. Ford doesn't give 0-100km data, but I'd say it'd be as quick off the mark as the outgoing 3.2-litre Everest, but slower than the Ranger Raptor that also takes this new engine.

No prize for guessing what keeps it on the boil. Nothing else in this class runs a 10-speed and, though some will argue that count is excessive, there's no doubt that the close ratios keep it on the boil. The first eight gears are all effectively lower than top gear in the six-speed and the shifts between all these gears are very quick. The transmission also offers manual gear selection via a rocker-style switch on the side of the shifter, which is useful for lugging, while there's also a sport mode that delivers auto downshifts for corners.

So, there's nothing particularly that this powertrain does to wrongfoot and I can understand Ford wanting to make use of it; efficiency and economy also stack up, with fewer exhaust nasties and ability to burn 1.4L/100km less on overall average. Shame it can't emulate the five-pot's wonderful growl.

A more upmarket engine is in tune with Everest's plush yet workhorse ambience, which enhances all the more with addition of smart-key entry and push-button start, a powered tailgate and range of safety assists. It's a bit annoying though, that Ford can load it up with a lane keep and automated emergency braking yet still cannot provision steering-wheel reach adjustment.

While it's hard to see these changes broadening the Everest's fan base, those who want this kind of thing will find there's more to please.