What's the difference?
Hold back your tears. The Ford Everest Ambiente and Trend have been dumped and a new variant, the Active, is now the entry-grade in a revamped Everest line-up.
The Active has a newly offered 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine, which produces less power and torque than the twin-turbo engine it replaces – down 29kW and 95Nm, respectively.
So, does the new engine make the Everest any better or worse on- and off-road? And does it yield improved fuel economy?
Read on.
Ford has given its Ranger ute range a mild facelift. And mild is the word. If you look closely, you might notice some small visual changes, but the real news is under the bonnet where a new entry-level powerplant lives.
And however you look at it, this new engine that addresses the ownership issues experienced by some Ranger buyers since the bi-turbo diesel engine was released back in 2018, was probably overdue.
But the new powerplant comes at a cost; in terms of power and torque, even though the vital towing statistics remain for the Ranger.
The other changes that come with this facelift include some new tech, and the availability of the V6 turbo-diesel (which is unchanged) across the entire Ranger 4X4 dual-cab line-up.
For this review, we’ve concentrated on the new engine as being the major point of difference, and we’ve driven it the base-version XL trim specification. That means this is potentially the lightest variant, and heavier specifications might blunt the performance a little. But overall, this is representative of the new powertrain and represents the biggest point of difference in what is otherwise a very minor facelift.
The Ford Everest has always been an impressive 4WD wagon, with useful day-to-day driveability and real off-road capability.
As standard, it has a lot going for it. It’s quiet and refined on-road, very capable off-road and it’s packed with features.
The 2.0-litre single-turbo Active is a solid entry-point into the Everest line-up and, though it lacks the polish of its higher-spec stablemates and doesn’t yield the kind of improvement in fuel economy you might have hoped for, it makes a strong case as a touring vehicle with plenty of aftermarket-build potential.
Our time with the new Ranger was limited in terms of distance driven and the number of variants we could sample. We were also unable to test the vehicle with a trailer attached, so we’re unsure as to how well the new, lower-powered engine will cope with towing duties.
We do know the new engine is being welcomed by owners and fleets who held concerns over the technical layout of the previous 2.0-litre powerplant, but only time will tell if the reduced performance is seen as being balanced by the technical upgrades.
We can also tell you there’s nothing inherently wrong with the new 2.0L in the context of normal driving on normal roads and its refinement is still an improvement on a lot of its competitors’ offerings.
Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.