Ford Everest vs Mercedes-Benz X-Class

What's the difference?

The standard Ford Everest – powered by a 2.0-litre twin-turbo or a V6 – is a nicely refined, comfortable and capable 4WD with plenty of potential as a touring vehicle.

The Tremor treatment doesn’t turn the Everest into a Raptor-esque Everest but it does offer low-key substantial off-road improvements to what was already an impressive 4WD wagon.

This sensible package of upgrades – more ground clearance, off-road-suited suspension, and decent all-terrain tyres – gives this Everest a mild 4WD boost.

The X was an opportunistic shot at a market segment new to Benz. With even apprentices able to afford to buy a well-specced Hilux, it's become harder to separate the foreman from the kids. I, like Mercedes, thought this would be the boss's car. Mercedes saw the gap and went for it, thinking it could grab sales from top end utes from VW, Toyota and Ford, while maybe saving a few folks from buying a RAM or an F150.

The problem is, the target market knows its utes. And in a rough-and-tumble workplace, the perception is that if you've spent up big on this Merc, you've actually just paid too much for a Nissan Navara. Still, like those flawed movies I enjoy, the X-Class is a fine thing - and I don't blame Mercedes for trying. It just costs too much, and yet isn't Mercedes enough to justify that price.

Lift any vehicle a few millimetres and throw decent all-terrain tyres on it and that one-two combination instantly gives the vehicle more track-cred. 

And so it goes for the Everest Tremor.

But there’s more going on here than simply increased height and a swap-out of rubber over standard Everests.

As mentioned, it gets Bilstein dampers, new springs, and tough all-terrain tyres which combine to give the Tremor a solid presence.

The new honeycomb-pattern grille with auxiliary LED lights, quite visible steel bash plate, pronounced heavy-duty side steps and orange Tremor branding add to the package.

And inside it gets those Tremor-specific touches, such as the leather-accented seats embossed with Tremor branding, ebony-coloured interior accents and all-weather floor mats.

Despite being a Japanese ute in drag, the X-Class isn't immediately rumbled as resembling a Nissan, which certainly should count in its favour. Everyone who asked about it had little idea it wasn't a Daimler from the ground up, until you pointed out various details. Up here in the higher reaches, it's a really quality-looking thing, with beautiful paint and enough differentiation to make it look like a Merc. The headlights do seem a tad small next to the rest of the Mercedes range, but the whopping great three-pointed star in the grille leaves no one in doubt. 

It's fairly tasteful in silver, too, and with a few carefully chosen options it looks pretty tough.

Once you're inside you see where it starts to get confused about itself. The hard, scratchy plastic dash pokes out from behind a huge slab of metallic trim. The centre console is clearly a brother from another mother, as is the overall dash layout. The cabin lacks the thoughtfulness and quality of a Mercedes design - you can't just slap on those signature air vents and expect to get away with it. Every piece that comes from Mercedes appears glued on, and it's jarring. 

This might have been less of an issue if the car was significantly cheaper and not likely to be purchased by people who are familiar with the brand.

The Tremor cabin is a comfortably familiar interior – it’s functional and roomy and so scores well in terms of overall practicality.

Driver and front passenger have easy access to storage options, such as the centre console, cupholders, door pockets and a shelf for your everyday-carry stuff as well as charging points (wireless charger, USB and USB-C sockets).

There’s plenty of space for the driver and all passengers (front, second and third row), and the seats are supportive and comfortable, even in the third row.

While that pew is a straight-up-and-down set-up it still manages not to be a complete punishment for those passengers.

Those in the second row get a fold-down centre armrest, door pockets and map pockets as well as air con vents and controls.

The rear cargo area has standard Everest features – with cargo tie-down points and a 12-volt outlet.

A niggle, and one I’ve found in other new-generation Fords, is the multimedia system. It's a decent size with clear and crisp colours and is easy to operate, but I needed to repeatedly stab a finger onto the screen in order to work my way through menus and sub-menus to figure it all out.

My advice is get your head around all of the multimedia system’s functionality while the vehicle is stationary because, to me, some of the screen workings are counter-intuitive and it’s easier and safer to learn all of that while the vehicle is not moving.

Also, the fact some controls are on-screen and some are off it creates more than a little confusion.

I really can't imagine how anyone signed off on the most annoying features of the X. Front-seat passengers get a solitary, shallow cupholder (the second one is unusable), and big door bins that could hold a bottle if you didn't mind it getting smashed from sliding around (they're unlined), and nowhere to put your phone. Like, nowhere, except maybe the glove box. Even the centre console bin is shallow and not much good for anything, apart from as an armrest.

The front seats are reasonably comfortable but the rears are way too high (in the name of a better view) and rammed hard against the rear bulkhead. The rear doors are also pretty narrow, so entry and egress can be a bit of a challenge if you're large or toddler small. Once you're in the seats, legroom is limited and headroom marginal. At least you get air-conditioning vents, but you don't get an armrest in the rear. On a nearly $80,000 ute. Even the dark-ages Colorado has one of those.

Anyway, that's enough said about the interior flaws.

The tray is a big boy, but it's worth knowing that the roller cover does rob a bit of space, as it does on any ute. The optional tray liner looks good and with Mercedes-Benz stamped in it, reminds you again what you've got. All told, it's 1581mm long, 1560mm wide (1215mm between the wheelarches) and you can load up nearly a tonne of people and things into the X350. You can also tow a massive 3500kg braked and still be able to carry a payload of 490kg. Gross vehicle mass is 3250kg (tare is 2190kg).

The X-Class range starts at the $45,450 X220D manual dual-cab and reaches all the way to the $87,500 X350d Edition 1. One step back from that is the $79,415 X350d Power dual-cab with all-wheel drive. That nets you 19-inch alloy wheels, an eight-speaker stereo, climate control, around view camera, reversing camera, keyless entry and start, front and rear parking sensors, electric front seats, sat nav, auto LED headlights, fake-leather interior, heated and folding rear vision mirrors, power windows and a full-size alloy spare.

An 8.0-inch screen hosts Mercedes COMAND system, complete with rotary dial and the weird scratchpad. COMAND is not as good as its German rivals and for some reason doesn't have Apple CarPlay and/or Android Auto, which is a mammoth oversight for a car of this type and cost.

Our car also had the lockable roll cover for $3295, the $1551 styling bar, a tow bar ($836) and, presumably, tow-bar wiring ($462).

As mentioned right at the start, the Everest Tremor has a 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel engine – producing 184kW at 3250rpm and 600Nm at 1750-2250rpm – and that’s matched to a 10-speed automatic transmission.

It also gets the line-up’s full-time 4WD system. This system has selectable two-wheel drive (2H), four-wheel drive high-range (4H), four-wheel drive low-range (4L) and four-wheel drive automatic (4A = 4Auto) that sends drive to the front and rear axles as needed, and which can be safely used on high-traction surfaces, such as bitumen.

The X350d has something very Mercedes about it - the engine and transmission package. With 3.5-litres of turbo-diesel V6, you get 190kW at 3400rpm and a thumping 550Nm between 1400 and 3200rpm. These kind of figures at least put it up there with the brawnier VW Amarok.

Feeding the power to all four wheels is Mercedes' own seven-speed automatic. A centre diff apportions power front to rear and you have a choice of three modes - automatic, high range and low-range.

The Tremor has the highest listed fuel consumption of the Everest line-up: 9.5L/100km on a combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle.

I recorded an average of 11.2L/100km on this test.

The Tremor has an 80-litre fuel tank so, going by my on-test fuel-consumption figure, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 714km from a full tank.

Worth noting the Tremor requires AdBlue diesel-exhaust fluid.

The X350d did pretty well in the week I had it - the official figure of 8.8L/100km was never going to happen but with a long motorway run to the Blue Mountains and the rest bashing about town, the 10.5L/100km I did achieve without trying was not bad at all. The 80-litre tank should give you a decent range of 750km, or thereabouts.

Overall, the Tremor is nice to drive on road. It’s quiet, refined and comfortable and the engine and transmission make a cluey, unstressed pairing.

However, the Tremor’s suspension – engineered to improve the vehicle’s off-road capability – is firm through sections of back-country bitumen and even mildly corrugated bush tracks. 

Also, this Everest’s all-terrain tyres don’t help ride quality or noise levels on sealed surfaces. But that’s no surprise and a very minor trade-off when the Tremor's potential as a touring vehicle is so high.

On the open highway at cruising speed, the Tremor exhibits all of the smooth-driving characteristics the Everest line-up is well known for.

It sits nicely on the road, that wide wheel track (a 30mm increase in width to 1650mm) gives it a solid stance and this V6 ute simply rumbles along.

So, how does it perform in 4WD territory? Well, it’s based on the Everest Sport, which is no off-road loser, so you’d assume the Tremor would do okay.

However, we all know if you assume, it makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'… but the Tremor has been engineered to outperform the standard Everest in the dirty stuff. Unsurprising spoiler alert, it does, but only marginally.

The Everest Tremor is 4914mm long (without the towbar hitch receiver; 4978mm with), 2015mm wide (mirrors in; 2207mm, mirrors out) and 1904mm high.

It has a 2900mm wheelbase and a listed kerb weight of 2550kg, the latter making it the heaviest Everest in the line-up. 

This is not a diminutive wagon but it has the smallest turning circle (11.65m) in the Everest range and its dimensions don’t hamper it in the bush.

As mentioned earlier, when you add running ground clearance to any off-roader its off-road performance will be improved. The Tremor has more ground clearance (255mm) than its stablemates but, as with any measurements provided by vehicle manufacturers (ground clearance, wading depth, towing capacities, etc), always regard those figures with a healthy degree of scepticism.

Wading depth is listed as 800mm and its off-road angles are in line with market rivals: for your reference, approach, departure and ramp-over angles are listed as 32, 26.8 and 23.9 degrees, respectively.

This wagon’s 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 offers plenty of torque across a broad rev range, the 10-speed auto is clever – no flip-flopping between ratios here – and you can use the manual shifter if you get the urge.

Low-range gearing is adequate and the Tremor has an electronic rear diff lock.

The Tremor has a variety of selectable on- and off-road drive modes, including 'Normal', 'Eco', 'Tow/Haul', 'Slippery', 'Mud/Ruts', 'Sand and Rock' and the Tremor-specific 'Rock Crawl' plus a locking rear diff.

These off-road driving modes are no substitute for track-worthy 4WD mechanicals but they help by adjusting engine, throttle, transmission, braking, traction and stability controls to suit the driving conditions. 

Off-road traction control is effective without being spectacular. There’s a bit too much wheelspin for my liking.

Off-road applications are displayed on screen – with driveline/diff lock indicators, steering, pitch and roll angles depicted. Hill descent control held the Tremor to a steady 3.0-4.0km/h as I crawled down a difficult slope.

The power steering, light and sporty in all scenarios, has been tweaked with a heavy-duty tune and it retains a confident feel in difficult conditions.

Heavy-duty off-road engineering has bolstered the suspension set-up with new springs and Bilstein dampers with external reservoirs.

Wheel travel – how far the axle can move up and down vertically wheel-to-wheel relative to the chassis – is slightly better than a standard Everest’s, with this wagon’s tyres stretching a little further than the regular version’s.

Again, as I mentioned earlier, by replacing an off-roader’s standard road-biased rubber with a set of decent all-terrain tyres its off-road capability will be improved. And that’s exactly what Ford has done.

The Tremor's General Grabber all-terrain tyres feature light-truck construction. They are grippy and very effective in dirt, loose gravel, slippery clay and the like.

There are a few niggles, though.

I’ve previously expressed annoyance at the auto transmission shifter – a kind of joystick on a light cycle of steroids and just as touchy. It’s especially finicky on bumpy terrain but it’s another Everest-based characteristic to which I’ve become somewhat accustomed.

The operation of some off-road driver-assist tech can be confusing as it’s divided between the rotary dial (to select drive modes) and the screen (to engage the rear diff lock etc). Not a deal-breaker, but it takes some getting used to.

The brake pedal is spongy – taking some time between initial foot pressure to ‘biting', but then the brakes – discs all around – do clamp into action.

As for packability, there is a listed 259 litres (VDA) of space in the rear-most cargo area (with all three rows of seats in use), 898L (VDA) when the third row is stowed away and 1823L (VDA) when the second and third rows are lowered.

The Everest Tremor has a listed payload of 690kg, and towing capacities of 750kg (unbraked) and 3500kg (braked).

It has a listed GVM (Gross Vehicle Mass) of 3240kg and a GCM (Gross Combined Mass) of 6350kg. Remember: any onboard loads – such as people, pets, camping gear or aftermarket equipment (bullbar, roof rack etc) – must figure in your payload and GVM equations.

One of the weirder things to make it into the X-Class is the world's second most irritating column stalk, which is asked to pack in indicators, headlights and wipers. Thankfully, the world's most irritating column stalk, the Mercedes automatic shifter, wasn't inflicted on the X-Class. But the obvious problem is the key, which clearly isn't a Mercedes unit - even the star is ill-fitting and will probably fall off after a while. This is not a premium experience.

Thankfully, the big turbo-diesel wipes away a lot of the complaints about this car not being Mercedes enough. Brawny and super quiet (twin balance shafts will do that), the X is a very easy car to live with. While not especially lively, it's easygoing in the city and very refined.

On the open road it cruises almost silently and the ride is way above what you might expect from an unloaded tradie-mobile. It doesn't feel as high as some utes, which makes it feel a bit more car-like, and will no doubt appeal to some who might have to swap in and out of a traditional SUV and into the X, for whatever reason.

It is by far the most civilised ute I've ever driven and was worlds away from the Colorado I drove last week, to the point where I could almost - almost - see a justification for the unbelievably hefty price tag.

Credit for the refined ride and handling goes to the coil-spring rear end, much maligned in some quarters. While that style of suspension is not the ultimate in load-lugging, it's way more comfortable for passengers and, given the likely buyer profile, probably more agreeable than a cart-sprung rear-end.

I would cheerfully drive long distances in the X and it feels like it could go anywhere.

The Mercedes-Benz finally starts to puts its nose ahead of its competitors on the safety front.

The X350d has seven airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, forward collision warning, low speed forward AEB, pedestrian detection, lane-keep assist and around-view cameras, trailer-sway control and hill-descent control.

It also has three top-tether and two ISOFIX points.

Its five-star ANCAP safety rating was awarded in 2017.

The Tremor is covered by Ford’s five year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is the standard for this part of the market.

Roadside assistance is complimentary for 12 months after each service, extended for up to seven years as long as the Tremor’s owner has it serviced at an authorised Ford dealership.

Service intervals are scheduled for every 12 months or 15,000km and a capped-price servicing plan applies to the first five years/75,000km with a $2550 cost attached ($510 per service).

For reference a comparable Toyota LandCruiser Prado will set you back $390 per workshop visit, but that car's service interval is more frequent at six months/10,000km.

Mercedes offers a three year/200,000km warranty for the X, which isn't too bad. It also throws in roadside assist for the duration. Also worthy are the 12 month/20,000km service intervals. 

A basic capped-price service scheme will hit you for $1950 (pre-paid) or $2,555 if you pay when you front up for each of the three services covered. The servicing isn't super-cheap, as you can see, but at least you know what you're up for.