SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8
This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.
My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active menu down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and follow the drop-down.
Posted: 31 July 2017
The numbers
Price: R537 900
Engine: 2198 cc, four-cylinder diesel with variable geometry turbocharger
Power: 118 kW at 3700 rpm
Torque: 385 Nm between 1500 and 2500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: About 11.8 seconds
Maximum speed: About 175 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 9.6 l/100 km
Tank: 80 litres
Luggage: 400-1050-2010 litres
Tare: 2240 kg
GCM: 5800 kg
Maximum braked towing capacity: 3000 kg
Ground clearance: 225 mm
Approach/departure/rampover angles: 29.4/25.0/21.5 degrees
Maximum wading depth: 800 mm
Warranty: 4 years/120 000 km including 3 years roadside assistance
Service plan: 5 years/100 000 km at 20 000 km intervals
Historically, October 4th has been quite a day. Christiaan Huygens patented the pocket watch in 1675, Mexico became a republic in 1824, Portugal did likewise in 1910, the University of California was founded in Los Angeles back in 1880, the Orient Express undertook its first official run from Paris to Istanbul in 1883, the USSR launched Sputnik 1 in 1957 and followed that two years later with Luna 3 photographing the dark side of the moon. Schumi retired on that day in 2012. And Ford SA began building Everest SUVs and Ranger pickups on the fourth of October last year.
Until then, only two Everest SUVs were available here. Both had 3.2-litre engines, four-wheel drive and automatic gearboxes. You could choose from either XLT or Limited trim. Now there are eight. Five have the 2.2-litre TDCi motor in manual or automatic and in two trim levels, XLS and XLT. The remaining offerings are 3.2 automatics. The only way to get a 4x4 with stick shift is by buying one like our test rig, a 2.2 XLS.
It’s semi-stripped, very competent and probably the most “honest” version of all. You forego a few nice touches including a driver’s knee bag (although you could add one as an option), lane keeping aids and blind spot monitoring, leather upholstery, electric seat adjusters, dual zone automatic climate control, adaptive cruise control, rain sensing wipers, auto-on headlamps, front parking sensors, active park assist, MyKey, auto-dipping interior mirror and a few minor trim items. You also lose out on the über fancy Sync3 entertainment setup with navigation and touch screen.
You still have six airbags, ABS brakes with a whole fistful of acronyms, fog lamps and disc brakes at each end, backup sensors, all the ICE you really need, ordinary cruise control with limiter, a reversing camera and full-time awd with downhill crawl and terrain management. There’ll be more on that later. Tyres are off-road-practical 265/65 R17s. Running boards are optional, as is a tow hitch, although the socket wiring, trailer anti-sway and adaptive load control are built in.
All-wheel drive – Ford calls it permanent 4WD – is achieved via a torque on demand transfer case that monitors individual wheel speeds every sixteen milliseconds, with clutches controlling torque split front to rear. Drive is biased rearward - approximately 90-95 percent during highway cruising. Low range and diff-lock can be selected separately.
Getting back to Terrain Management, a rotating knob on the console selects automatic response (the machine thinks for you), grass-gravel-snow, sand, and rock crawl modes. Choosing this last one prompts an instruction to select 4LO first. It also locks the transmission into first gear but it’s only necessary for extreme conditions. We negotiated our Tenderfoot Trail with its fairly steep hill that’s liberally decorated with loose stones, in auto mode and (normal) first gear, without any problems.
An Australian tester writing for Cars Guide put his experience like this: “With 225 mm 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. Gentle dirt climbs merely made the Everest yawn with disinterest; if you want to take your $56,000 wagon out bush, it’s ready.”
Because it’s based on the Ranger pickup the fully sized steel spare hangs below the floor with jack and tools in a recess under a flap in the load area. The sixth and seventh chairs, usually folded into the floor, lift and deploy easily although limited headroom and tight access mean they’re best reserved for small people. Full belts, head restraints and cup holders are provided. Knee space varies because the second row can be slid back and forth through about ten centimetres – possibly compromising comfort for those seated there.
Useful touches include entry- and panic handles all ‘round; adjustable fan speed, direction and temperature controls for those in the back; three dome lights so everybody can see and enough living space for grown people. There are seatback pockets, door bins, a big cubby, a dash-top recess and a couple of oddments stashes. The Sync1 music centre includes a CD player and, although a bit awkwardly shaped, the box under the central armrest holds ten discs in standard jewel cases.
Fit and finish is quite good although grinches might gripe about dash and door panel surfaces being hard. Build quality is solid, the view outward is clear, controls are well placed and work smoothly and the 11.7 metre turning circle is as tight as can be expected from a vehicle this big.
Everest offers possibly the best balance of comfort, charisma and competence among mid-range seven-seaters and this “entry-level” version could be the most practical of them all.
Test unit from Ford SA press fleet
We drove a 2.0 BiTurbo 4x4 Limited in late 2019
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This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.
If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.
Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles. And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.
Comments?
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8