SA Road Tests

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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. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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Sporty looks: 2021 Ford Everest 2.0 SiT 4x4 Sport

Hardly basic

Posted: September 24, 2021

The numbers
Price: R728 400
Engine: 1996 cc, DOHC 16-valve, four-cylinder commonrail diesel with single turbocharger
Power: 132 kW at 3500 rpm
Torque: 420 Nm between 1750 and 2500 rpm
Acceleration and maximum speed: See text
Real life fuel consumption: About 9.4 l/100 km
Tank: 80 litres
Luggage: 152 – 416 – 1376 litres
Gross payload: 750 kg
Maximum towing capacity (braked): 3100 kg
Ground clearance: 225 mm
Turning circle: 11.7 metres
Maximum wading depth: 800 mm
Approach/departure/ramp-over angles: 29.5/25,0/21.5 degrees
Standard tyre: 265/50R20 Goodyear Efficiency
Spare: 265/65R17 steel
Warranty: Four years, 120 000 km
Roadside assistance: Three years, unlimited km
Service plan: Six years, 90 000 km at 15 000 km intervals

The description 'Sport', as applied to motor vehicles, could mean any of at least three things:
•    it could mean stripped of all unnecessary equipment in order to make it lighter and faster,
•    tweaking engine, suspension and brakes to make it quicker and safer or,
•    leaving it basically alone but adding sporty touches.

Ford Everest’s Sport offerings, in 4x2 or 4x4, fall into the third category. They are two-litre, single-turbo XLTs with added cosmetics in the form of bold black Everest text on the bonnet, black mesh grille, black roof rails, part-leather seats with blue stitching, bespoke 20” alloy wheels and Sport decals. These items add R25 000 to the bill.

Being, basically, XLT models, one does without at least one luxury that has become almost ‘compulsory’ these days. Joseph, one of the squad of Zimbabwean car guards who police the parking area of the food hyperstore I visit quite frequently, knows me well enough by now to expect suitable fanciness in whichever grocery getter I arrive in.

“The white one”, I told him, pointing out the Everest Sport as I double-squeezed the tailgate button on the key fob. He looked on slightly mystified as I opened the gate manually then, remaining outwardly cool, watched me drop the third row chairs back into the floor so we could begin serious loading.

Looking upward afterward, he was puzzled at the obvious lack of a closing button. This is not in the script, Bwana. “It’s the cheaper version,” I explained. In point of fact, one would need to spend a further R120 000 in order to score the fully automated tailgate he was expecting. That also gets you the bi-turbo LTD version with more power and features, of course.

But let’s look at what you do get: It’s a fully grown SUV, almost five metres long (4892 mm), 1860 mm wide and 1837 mm tall on a 2850 mm wheelbase. It also boasts pretty decent off-road specs, four choices of terrain management, switchable diff. lock and a low range transfer case. While no 4x4 is completely impervious to getting stuck, one would need to be well into the nasty stuff, or just plain out of luck, to do so with this one.

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find a review on a single-turbo, 2.0-litre, diesel Everest with 10-speed automatic transmission?  In a world so power-mad that we simply dismiss all but the most muscular, we sell ourselves short.

This lower-powered car proved, as is often the case, that the gentler version is smoother, sweeter and quieter than the ‘obvious’ choice. Its acceleration and climbing capabilities are perfectly satisfactory for daily use and, as both models’ acceleration and top speed numbers are among the world’s best-kept secrets, of little cause for angst at the golf club either.

But for those like your reviewer, who simply must know such things, one Eastern source pegged its sprint time at 10.38 seconds while another guessed its terminal velocity at around 170 km/h. Truth to tell, possibly as an indirect result of the recent softening of Ranger-Everest’s suspension in order to make them more dirt-road friendly, our test car felt slightly top-heavy at times, so I would hesitate to try beating that speed.

Standard XLT 4x4 kit includes seven airbags, ABS brakes with EBD, ESP, adaptive load control, hill descent control, hill launch, passive keyless entry and start, rollover mitigation, height-adjustable driver’s seat, standard cruise control, dual zone automatic air conditioner with extension vents and controls at the rear, one-touch powered windows and seven seats.

Electronics embrace Ford’s Synch3®, eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system with satnav and in-car wi-fi, automatic and self-levelling LED headlights, front and rear foglamps, parking distance sensors at both ends and a reversing camera. Hardly basic.
As mentioned earlier, the sixth and seventh seats can be pulled up out of the floor when needed, while the second-row seatbacks fold down flat to permit access to them. Nothing tumbles forward, so it’s a case of clambering over the folded chairs to get there.

Reasonably fit grandparents could get in and out OK, but beware of codicils afterwards – just saying. Whoever sits back there had best be small of build because six-footers find heads jammed up against the ceiling, although kneeroom can be improved if the second row is shifted forward through its 10 cm-worth of adjustment. Two cup holders, head restraints and full belts are provided.

Those in the second row fare better with more generous head-, knee and foot space, those secondary air controls, three sets of head restraints and belts, an armrest with cup holders and a moderately low central tunnel so Malcolm-in-the-middle can sit fairly comfortably.

Like any good 4x4, there is a veritable ‘forest’ of grab handles and climb-in assistance kit. And a stout handbrake, to hold you on hills, is comfortably placed for RHD. About the only cost cutting measures I could find were no mirror on the driver’s side sun visor and the one on the passenger side was unlit. But this is, after all, a 4x4 meant primarily for manne who would be horrified at such frivolity.

Menus are easy enough to navigate, there is more than sufficient headroom for almost anybody and stacks of power points so, once again, hardly basic, is it?  Lower power or no, I’d certainly accept one.

Test unit from FMCSA press fleet

What We Do

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 or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

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 or questions?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you completely disagree with what I say? If you want advice or have a genuine concern, I will be happy to hear from you. All I ask is that you write something in the subject line so I know which vehicle you're talking about.