IT is easy to dismiss the Ford Everest as a second-tier option. After all, with the competition like the Mitsubishi Montero Sport, the Hyundai Santa Fe, the Kia Sorento and the Toyota Fortuner getting significant upgrades for 2011, the Ford Everest seems like a leftfield choice.
However, that doesn’t mean that the Ford Everest is a savvy choice for the family man looking for a six-seven-seater diesel SUV.
Spend seat time behind the wheel and you’ll be amazed at how the turbo’d 3.0L straight four pulls 2,024 kg of Ford Everest 4x4 curb weight. You don’t need much effort from your right foot to make it go from rest, which makes it easy to do overtaking or emergency change-lane maneuvers. It takes very little to wake up the turbo (you could feel it by 2,500 rpm onwards), and there’s no letup in boost, even if you let go of the throttle and jump on it again. It’s as if the unit is tailor made for those wishing to get to their favorite out-of-town destinations in a hurry—with five or six more people in tow.
Even the lateral behavior is apt for those looking for a midsize SUV with stability and a smooth ride. There’s little body roll when the unit enters and exits a turn, and doesn’t pitch too much on braking. The ride is a tad stiff on blotches of broken tarmac, but isn’t too bouncy to the point where people get dizzy from being planted on either rear row. The front rollers take some time to complying to input from the steering wheel, but tossing the black plastic and leather wheel doesn’t require too much effort, which makes parallel parking and long backing an easy task. Speaking of parallel parking and long backing, the bright center brake light within the rear tailgate and parking sensors are a great aid when trying to get into or out of parking lots.
If safety is a concern, the Ford Everest 4x4 has a plethora of aids to help the driver. The front discs bite when you need them to, helped immensely by antilock systems and electronic brakeforce distribution. There’s power assist for the door locks on all five doors and child locks on the second-row doors prevent kids from playing with them and tumbling out. The foglights are bright enough to replace the headlights’ dim setting. The aforementioned center brake light and parking sensors are fun parking aids, but at P1.718 million there should be a reverse-gear-activated camera to help with going backwards.
It is the cargo-carrying, people-toting and entertaining ability of the Everest that makes it a good option when looking for an SUV. The 2-DIN multimedia system can play external MP3 players, MP3 CDs and DVDs, the latter making use of an additional two screens incorporated into the front-seat headrests to keep rear-row passengers captivated on bumper-to-bumper slog. The satellite navigation (satnav) system is very useful in looking for a particular area, but upon testing, it needed constant updating of places of interest in provincial areas. The satnav’s reception also tended to become hazy on rainy and cloudy days, and when the unit was surrounded by skyscrapers. The leather wrapping on each seat isn’t slippery, and each seat has enough back and thigh cushioning to absorb the ride stiffness. The third row folds and tumbles forward to accommodate bigger cargo, but it would be better if the third row folded flat and into the floorpan, much like the Montero Sport, Santa Fe and Sorento. There are lots of receptacles to place bric-a-brac, and cooling occupants isn’t a problem with an Arctic cold air-conditioning system. Entering and exiting the unit is easy, thanks to high hip points (for both front and second rows), a second row that can be flipped and tumbled, and side-step boards with grooves that prevent slipping.
The Ford Everest may be reduced to an option in its class, but its features make it savvy enough to compete for customers’ tastes.
