Ford Everest Trend 4WD 2017 review

It's natural to compare the Everest to its sibling-under-the-skin, the Ranger, and as with others in the category, the two have been separated by dint of design.

The Everest and Ranger are all but identical from the windscreen forward, save for a somewhat garish front bumper execution that must have cleaned out the blue oval's chrome department.

The design is robust and well thought out, though less US-spec bling wouldn't hurt.

It's 470mm shorter overall, with a correspondingly shorter wheelbase, and the rear overhang is quite abrupt as well, giving the Everest a bluff rear end, exacerbated by the large 20-inch rims and 225mm ride height.

The Ranger is 470mm shorter overall, exacerbated by large 20-inch rims. (Image credit: Tim Robson)

On looks alone, it's undoubtedly a rough and tough off-road toy.

The interior, like the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, steps things up quite a few notches. There is a different instrument array, plus more stylish and car-like trim pieces, including a new dash pad with a soft top, padded centre bin console cover and padded armrests.

The instrument binnacle features just a single analog speedometer, with a digital rev counter buried in the options of the small right hand digital screen. There is a digital screen on the left that displays options like entertainment and multimedia.

The interior, like the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, steps things up quite a few notches. (Image credit: Tim Robson)

Overall, the design is robust and well thought out, though less US-spec bling wouldn't hurt.

Being a big beastie, the Everest is unsurprisingly generous in its interior dimensions. Three people can easily sit across the middle row, and there is also plenty of headroom for even the tallest passengers. There are two ISOFIX child restraint mounts for the outside seat positions.

The right screen also features inclinometers to measure pitch and roll, as well as a digital speedo, which is a welcome addition.

While the Sync 3 system allows the uploading of apps to suit your phones, it's not a replacement for Apple Carplay or Android Auto.

The cloth trim seats are deep and comfortable, though they are lacking in side bolster padding. There is a pair of USBs under the dash, along with two 12 volt power outlets and a multimedia touchscreen that runs Ford's own Sync 3 system.

Sync 3 now offers compatibility with Apple Carplay and Android Auto, although the latter - as with most applications - is much less intuitive than the Apple app. It's voice command system, too, despite being touted as terrific, is really not, with the system requiring very particular instructions to work properly.

There are plenty of places to stash bottles within the Everest, including twin bottle holders in each of the doors, a pair of cup holders in the front centre, as well as in the centre in the second row. There are also cup holders for the third row of seating.

There are plenty of places to stash bottles within the Everest. (Image credit: Tim Robson)

And you can even stash a 15-inch laptop in the humongous glove box.

Speaking of that third row, the rear two seats are reasonably sizable and the middle row folds forward easily to allow relatively easy access. Again, it's not a space for a larger person but it is bigger than some of its rivals, including the Fortuner.

All seats fold down quickly and easily to reveal a large cargo space of 2010 litres, although the prominent wheel arches of the rear end of the Everest do get in the way for awkward loads like bicycles.

Folding just the third row of seats down reveals 1050 litres of space.

The prominent wheel arches of the Everest do get in the way for awkward loads like bicycles. (Image credit: Tim Robson)

One annoyance is the location of the seat belts; it's all too easy to ensnare the belt in the seat fold, which basically means you have to undo the seat again to retrieve it.

Visibility is excellent. The rear pillars are not overly thick and there is a large glass porthole in the rear three quarter.

The Trend comes well equipped with features like automatic headlights and wipers, radar cruise control, lane departure assistance, and AEB right out of the gate, going some way towards justifying its recently downwardly revised $58,990 RRP.

The aforementioned Sync 3 multimedia system can be controlled from the Trend's steering wheel, while there's LED lighting throughout the car, as well as a powered tailgate.

The cloth trim seats are deep and comfortable, though they are lacking in side bolster padding. (Image credit: Tim Robson)

A quick look at some of the Everest's rivals shows just how over the odds its pricing is compared to some of its similarly specced rvals – at least on paper. Holden's Trailblazer top-spec LTZ is $52,490, the Isuzu MU-X LS-U is $49,000 (evcen its top-spec LS-T is more than $4000 cheaper), Mitsubishi's Pajero Sport GLS is $48,500 and the Toyota Fortuner GXL auto is $54,990.

Ford maintains that it competes against cars like the Toyota Prado, which we don't necessarily agree with, given the size difference of the two. Like for like, the Prado is more expensive at $61,190 for the auto GXL.

The Everest uses the same 3.2-litre five-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine as the Ranger, though different emissions gear means that while it retains the same torque figure of 470Nm, it drops 4kW over the Ranger to post a peak power figure of 143kW.

All Everest variants run a six-speed automatic gearbox, and in the case of the Trend 4x4, a full-time 4x4 system sends torque to each axle on demand. A multi-mode terrain dial can tweak the centre diff settings to suit sand, snow, dirt or rock driving, while the Everest also gets a low range 'box and an electronically lockable rear diff.

At 693kg of payload, it can carry the most gear out of all of the Everest range; almost 100kg more than the Trend 4x2, in fact.

The Trend can tow 3000kg in 4x4 form, which is pretty handy for small- to medium-sized caravans and boats. At 693kg of payload, it can carry the most gear out of all of the Everest range; almost 100kg more than the Trend 4x2, in fact.

Over a test period of 320 kilometres with mixed condition driving, we recorded a dash indicated fuel economy figure of 12.1 litres per 100 kilometres.

This compares with a rated fuel consumption figure of 8.5L/100km. A large 80-litre tank gives the Everest a theoretical touring range of 950km.

The Everest uses the same 3.2-litre five-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine as the Ranger. (Image credit: Tim Robson)

Using the five cylinder turbo-diesel from the Ranger as well as the six speed automatic gearbox, the Everest uses coil springs in the rear in place of the Ranger's leaf springs, which gives the Everest a much more car-like ride. The steering, too, is surprisingly light and easy to use for such a big car.

There's no hiding, though, that it's well over 2.2 tonnes of truck out on the open road. The ride is soft and supple over all surfaces, but thankfully it doesn't easily degenerate into body roll. Of course, it's not meant to be hurled around corners like a Focus RS, either.

Some gentle dirt climbs merely made the Everest yawn with disinterest; if you want to take your $56,000 wagon out bush, the Everest is ready.

With 225mm of ground clearance, good articulation from its coil-sprung suspension and short front and rear overhangs, the Everest's off-road prowess is formidable.

A limited run on a mixed gravel road reveals a truck with excellent cruising abilities over unsealed surfaces, thanks to that softer, more pliant coil-sprung ride. Some gentle dirt climbs merely made the Everest yawn with disinterest; if you want to take your $56,000 wagon out bush, the Everest is ready.

Extra sound deadening and a clever noise attenuation system built into the audio system (think 'noise cancelling headphones') keeps the cabin more quiet than the Ranger, although the large door mirrors generate some wind noise at highway speeds – and you'll never mistake the fact that a diesel engine resides under the bonnet.

Seven airbags including full-length curtain bags, AEB, lane keeping assistance, a rear view camera and sensors, adaptive cruise control and (an overly active!) front collision warning system all contribute to a five-from-five ANCAP safety rating for the Everest Trend.

Blind-spot detection is kept for the top grade cars only, though, and trailer sway control is missing from the specs.

The Everest is covered a three-year/100,000km warranty, while servicing is recommended every 15,000km or 12 months.

The price of the first service is capped at $390, the second at $520, and the third is $480. It then rises to $520, before falling back to $390 for the five-year service.