Fresh Territory

It may have been the plains and alps of New Zealand's South Island rather than the Red Centre of Australia but roads are roads and good cars are good cars – and Ford's new Territory is definitely a good car.

In fact, it's better than good...it is outstanding and should set the benchmark for ride and handling in the family soft-roader field for some considerable time. Since the earliest days of the Territory's protracted media unveiling, Ford has hammered the versatility and no-compromise line when discussing the development of the vehicle.

It was coming off the much-praised BA Falcon platform and would be expected to be, in its own right, as outstanding.

The question to be answered was whether Ford succeeded, and by not rushing the Territory to the market – as Holden did with the Adventra – built a better mousetrap?

First impressions of the Territory – touch, feel, ease of entry, quality of interior – were generally good. Some of the interior materials gave the impression of cost cutting but overall there was enough BA familiarity in the dash and centre console to make you feel comfortably at home – with enough differentiation to imbue the car's own character. In city driving, which will likely be the main environment for the Territory, the immediate difference between the AWD and rear-wheel drive cars is in the weighting of the steering.

The rear driver is lighter to the touch and slightly more direct. That said, the AWD displays the best manoeuvrability manners of any car of its type driven in recent times.

Ford's trusty 4.0-litre, in-line six – tuned to deliver 182kW and 380Nm – is quite capable of getting the Territory's two tonnes up and around without undue fuss.

It is particularly impressive when called on for an extra effort in the 80-100km/h range.

The four-speed adaptive automatic is well suited to the idea of the Territory being versatile but is not outstanding in any particular sense. What is more impressive is the operation of the DSC on the AWD with the capability of operating both braking intervention and engine retardation; brake intervention only, or free from any intervention – an asset when driving in sand.

On the open road the Territory – in both forms – has impressive qualities.

It is particularly stable, points and goes exceptionally well and drives very much like a heavily loaded Falcon with few obvious vices inherent in many raised-platform vehicles.

Without a low-range the Territory is never going to be categorised as a "serious" off-roader but the ample torque from a reasonable 3250rpm, quality of the acu-track AWD system and traction and stability controls – improved even further when coupled to the hill descent control – give a huge degree of confidence to take the vehicle into situations most owners would never contemplate.

Beaming like a proud new father at this week's launch was Trevor Worthington, Ford's vice-president for product development.

He was one of the foundation members of the coalition that back in 1998 first began the journey through to what should become a success story for Ford to outshine even the BA Falcon.

"Initially it started as some consumer research that showed many people wanted something more than a car and more than the truck-like 4WDs," Worthington explained.

"Their ideal was something that drove and rode like a car but had some of the desirable characteristics of the 4WDs – things like interior space, versatility and perceived safety such as command drive position."

Worthington said that from those initial focus groups came design studies and some early engineering outcomes – but most of all came the determination that whatever the vehicle to come out of the work it would be versatile and it would not involve compromises. Worthington said: "When I first looked at it my belief was that any car in the style we were contemplating built off a sedan platform would involve compromises. But, when you go back to the science and do the maths there is no reason why it has to...,"

Worthington said as the project moved along one of the key issues was the design of the control blade rear suspension.

"That was pivotal. The rest of the Territory design swung around that."

While it was always planned Territory would visit the BA Falcon parts bin as often as possible, it became apparent the front suspension, one of the major components marked for transfer, was not going to be suitable. Worthington said: "At speed in a straight line it worked okay but there were shortcomings in other areas and that was never going to be good enough for the outcomes we had set ourselves."

So from that need, Ford developed a unique double-ball front suspension design that gives the Territory its superb, car-like handling and ride characteristics.

In the end, Falcon contributed generously to Territory but largely in areas where the average owner is never likely to look. There are no common exterior panels and only a few areas of internal trim and equipment will ring any bells.

The dashboard and instrumentation is largely Falcon in design but there are different colours for the instrument displays. Some switch gear is common as are the internal door handles.

Under the skin, the similarities are greater with common pressings back to the B-Pillar and the same engine box and 4.0-litre Barra 182 straight-six engine, albeit with strengthening modifications to the rear that preclude use of a V8 without some major engineering changes.

The turbo six, however, is a straight drop with the drive train certified to take the additional power and torque. Worthington and his team, in common with former Ford Australia boss Geoff Polites, never doubted the value of what they were working on. But if there was a moment when the sun broke through to shine at its warmest it must surely have been the morning Worthington opened a letter from Ford's world-wide product sensei, Richard Parry-Jones.

Parry-Jones is not known for diplomacy when assessing new product.

Worthington had made available to Parry-Jones an early Territory last year for a week's drive through Tasmania and was anxious to learn what Ford's main product man had to say.

"When I opened the letter my impression was that somebody was having a joke at my expense," he says. "To say that he was fulsome in his praise would be an understatement."

Would you buy a Ford Territory? We'd like to know. Let us know in the comments below.