Ford Everest Trend Bi-Turbo 2019 Review

Most road tests are conducted over a week on home turf using well-known roads that provide repeatability and context.

So now for something completely different.

A decision to head down to Tasmania and spend a few days on beautiful Bruny Island brought with it a chance to test out the new 2.0-litre diesel Bi-Turbo version of the Ford Everest.

Ford -- and just about every other car company – is always selling the SUV escape dream, when the reality is we spend most of our time in commuter hell.

But with Bruny offering a combination of tar and gravel roads and some pretty chunky 4x4 tracks, this was a chance to see if the Everest reality lives up to the image.

If you haven’t heard of Bruny Island don’t worry, nor had I until I raced in one of Mark Webber’s multi-day multi-sport events a few years ago. Ten hours of wind, rain and physical misery didn’t erase an overwhelming impression of its immense beauty.

It’s perhaps best known as a stop-over for explorers Captain James Cook in 1777 and William Bligh in 1788 and 1792.

About an hour’s drive and 20-minute ferry ride south of Hobart, it measures up at 362 square-kilometres and offers an entrancing variety of land and seascapes, a burgeoning eco-tourism industry, one pub, one winery and one decent coffee shop (that we found).

To explore it we had the $61,490 (plus on-road costs) Trend version of the Everest with the new ‘Panther’ 157kW/500Nm turbo-diesel 2.0-litre engine and 10-speed automatic, 4x4 and seven seats.

If you want to stick with the tried and true five-cylinder 3.2-litre engine, then you drop to the $59,990 (plus ORCs) version of the Trend. If you want to stick with the 2.0 but don’t need 4x4 then you pay $56,190 for the rear-wheel drive model.

Go upmarket to the top-spec Titanium and you pay $73,990 and only get the choice of the new 2.0-litre engine and 4x4.

But back to the Trend Bi-Turbo 4x4. Its pricing shoves the Everest into a pricing bracket above other ute-based SUVs like the Holden Trailblazer, Toyota Fortuner, Isuzu MU-X and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport.

Instead, it’s lined up closer to stuff like the highly-rated Toyota Prado and mixes it with the veteran Mitsubishi Pajero, a vehicle still popular among grey nomads.

Trend standard equipment includes new inter-urban autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, lane keeping, seven airbags (including curtains that cover row three), HID headlights, rear parking sensors and a reversing camera.

Comfort-oriented gear includes new SYNC3 multimedia, dual-zone climate control (with second-row controls and third-row vents), Apple and Android smartphone mirroring, two USB ports, one 230V/150W inverter, new leather-accented seat trim, an eight-way powered driver’s seat and a powered tailgate.

The Everest also runs active noise cancellation, which uses microphones to dull diesel engine roar – more on all that in a moment.

Towers and off-roaders should be aware the Everest Bi-Turbo comes with a 3100kg braked towing capacity, an 80-litre fuel tank and a full-size spare tyre.

There’s also five-year/unlimited-km warranty, while service intervals are every 15,000km or 12 months.

A declaration here; without the kids along our experience of the Everest was really focused on what’s happening up-front. Sure, row two is pretty spacious, but row three? I never even thought about it. The bags and holiday shopping were slung in there.

Considering there’s 1050 litres of luggage capacity with row three folded and 2010 with row two also folded, fitting our gear was never going to be a challenge.

So, what about up-front? Well, for the most part it’s all logical and comfortable and well-known from past Everest experiences. Great seats, plenty of storage and a good driving position, but no reach adjust on the steering column.

There are a couple of other peeves. The instrument panel is very adjustable, but it does seem to cram rather a lot of information into the right-hand side of the screen. For instance, the tiny tacho is laughable.

And the other annoyance? The silly rocker on the gearshifter that substitutes for proper manual shifting and/or flappy paddles. It’s an affectation borrowed from American full-size trucks and it sucks.

Plaudits though to the air-conditioning. Our visit coincided with heatwave conditions and the system really stood up to it well. Dust sealing was also top-notch – both evidence of how good the local development work on Everest has been.

The roads of Bruny Island vary from arrow-straight coarse bitumen through serpentine gravel to rocky tracks. It’s a solid test for an adventurous vehicle.

The Everest really deals with it proficiently. While the engine is the headline act, the transmission is the real star. Ten gears, really? It’s so surreptitious it’s almost transparent.

The only time it struggles is in the initial launch settings, then for some reason it and the engine seem a bit weary. A proper shove on the throttle is required to get things going.

From that point on the engine never overwhelms but just gets on with the job. Fuel economy worked out at a respectable 10.1L/100km versus the ridiculous 7.1L/100km claim.

Ridiculous? Well this thing is a permanent 4x4 and weighs in at 2446kg. Hey, threatening a single-figure fuel consumption average on Bruny Island’s roads is an achievement.

Combine the real-world figure with the 80-litre tank and you will be taking spare fuel on long outback runs.

Undoubtedly the engine’s primary asset is its smoothness (compared to the shouty I5) and its quietness aided by ANC.

Conversely, ute-based wagons can have a pretty ugly ride, but the Everest, with its coil rear-end is just the opposite. It really is well tuned and we know from past experience that it’s brilliant on those endless high-speed outback corrugations. Not many of them on Bruny thankfully.

And there’s only one tarred road on the island you’d classify as a fun drive – twisting, closing radiuses, broken edges, blind crests, etc. Here, the Everest’s mood is one of determined understeer combined with a significant amount of weight transfer. Relax, cruise, enjoy the scenery.

On dirt the Everest is smoothly predictable, transitioning to drifty fun if you feel so inclined. My wife didn’t… that ends that.

On the rougher tracks there are no concerns about ground clearance, rarely the need to select a terrain management system mode (mud, sand, snow, rock etc) and never the need to go into 4L or select Hill Descent Control. But it’s nice to know it’s there and from past experience we know it works.

The Everest Trend never missed a beat in our time on Bruny Island. From our base at Adventure Bay, it transported us safely and comfortably to Dennes Point in the north, to the lighthouse in the south and many points in between.

This is a really decent vehicle. The drivetrain is improved by the new engine and – especially – the new transmission. The set-up of the relatively simple chassis is exceptional and the interior works – mostly – well and comfortably. Overall, it’s worth the extra charge compared to the I5.

Yes, it’s at the expensive end of this category but its refinement is as good as any SUV of this type. And suitability for local conditions is underlined by our Briny Island experience.

Speaking of which, it’s a great place. Get in your SUV and head down there!

How much does the 2019 Ford Everest Trend Bi-Turbo cost?
Price: $61,490 plus on-road costs
Engine: 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder
Output: 157kW/500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel: 7.1L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 184g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP, 2016)