Following a leak yesterday of sales brochures, Ford has today officially announced prices and specifications for the 2015 Ford Everest 4WD wagon.

FOLOWING A LEAK ON Facebook yesterday in which images of sales brochures were posted online, Ford has finally, officially released prices and specifications for the 2015 Ford Everest 4WD wagon.

There’s three trim levels, Everest, Everest Trend and Everest Titanium.  

• Everest – the base model.  Constant 4WD, 7 seater.  No extra name, just ‘Everest’.
• Everest Trend – aadds more refinement and driver assist technologies such as Adaptive Cruise Control with forward alert collision mitigation and Lane Keeping System.  Has 18-inch alloy wheels, sidesteps and rear power lift-gate.
• Everest Titanium – leather seat trim, panoramic (ie, big) power sunroof, powered third row, semi-auto parallel park assist and satellite navigation. Has 20-inch alloy wheels, high intensity discharge (HID) headlamps and chrome finish on door handles, side mirrors and sidesteps.

From an offroading or towing perspective there is no capability difference between the grades, it’s all safety and luxury.

2015 Ford Everest Pricing

Prices exclude on-road costs:

• Everest $54,990
• Everest Trend $60,990
• Everest Titanium $76,990

2015 ford everest Options

• Towbar $1000
• Satnav (Trend only, standard on Titanium, N/A for base model) $600
• Prestige paint $500

Capability

All Everest are constant 4WD with fitted with Ford’s Terrain Management System (TMS) which is similar to Land Rover’s with Normal, Snow/Mud/Grass, Sand and Rock settings.  All grades get a rear cross-axle differential lock and low range, but there does not appear to be any way to manually lock the centre diff.  This is always a weak spot on 4X4s, so let’s hope Ford have done the job right and we don’t end up spinning wheels on steep hills. 

The rear locker can be manually engaged, or automatically engaged via TMS.  This is similar to how the one in the Discovery works, and that is very effective.  However, if the locker comes in when you don’t want it that will actually reduce capability.  Also, we hope that traction control will continue to operate on the front axle if the rear locker is engaged. 

There is also a hill ascent and descent control, allowing feet-off-pedals slow-speed crawling.  We have seen this from Toyota in the LC200 and others.  It is probable that the speed can be varied via the cruise control system. 

Fuel economy is 8.5L/100km ADR81/02.  Engines are the 3.2L Duratorq, all 6-speed auto, no manual.  Power is 143kW at 3000rpm, 470Nm at 1750-2500 RPM.  Towing is 750kg unbraked, 3000kg braked, there’s trailer sway control, no word yet on GCM or towball mass.  There’s an optional tow pack for each model. Transmission is only a six-speed auto with sports shift, same as the Ranger.

The vehicles have 225mm of ground clearance, slightly less than the Ranger’s 230mm.  Maybe the rear differential is a bit smaller, who knows, tyre size looks the same. 

Wading depth is an impressive 800mm, same as the Ranger.   Roof load is 100kg (average), payload is around 750kg which is good but not great – but Ford said the roof load was “another 100kg” so if that’s a total of 850kg payload, then we’re impressed. Hill descent control is standard, and if it is at least as good as that on the Ranger it’ll be well worth having.

Rims on the Everest trim are 17-inch, then 18-inch and 20-inches (265/50/R20) for the other two.  Offroaders will need to swap those 20s out for sure, but it looks like the same size and stud pattern as the Ranger so plenty of choice.  Trend and Titanium get active cruise control. 

 Approach angle is 29 degrees, ramp 21, departure 25. The suspension is independent front, live axle rear, coils all round, and disc brakes on each wheel too.

Interior & EXTERIOR

Rear view camera and rear park sensors are standard across the range, but Trend and Titanium boast front sensors, and a power tailgate.  The tailgate is one-piece lift up, not a split like Discovery or LC200.  There’s lots of other storage compartments and Ford claim the glovebox can hold a 16″ laptop!  The third row is a 50/50 split, second row 40/60.

Everest uses active noise technology which uses microphones to monitor unwanted noise, then creates sound waves that cancel it out. No word if that can be used to quieten the rear seat occupants.

All grades are 7-seaters, Titanium gets power-operated third row.  Trend and Titanium get an 8-inch touch screen, Everest appears to have nothing.  Sat-nav is not on Everest, optional on Trend, standard on Titanium which also gets Active Park Assist.  There are three-setting heated seats on at least the top model.

Safety

A big differentiator for Everest relative to Pajero/Prado et al is safety, particuarly the new active safety tech.   There’s active cruise control, 7 airbags, Blind Spot Information Systme (BLIS)   blind spot warnings for if you change lanes and would obstruct someone, and cross-traffic alert for when you’re backing out of a parking space.  Lane Keep Aid is there to tell you if the car drifts over a white line over 65km/h, and it will help bring the car back into its lane.  Collision assist detects potential collisions and will warn the drive, and apply the brakes if necessary – but never rely on this technology.  Active Park Assist will parallel-park for you.  There is automatic high-beam dipping too.

Curve Control is a sub-programme of stability control and applies brakes to individual wheels so the vehicle corners neutrally, not running wide.

The spare is full-sized alloy and drops down under the vehicle, as opposed to having to lift up the cargo system floor to get to it.

Colours

Comment

This pricing is higher than expected, and puts the Everest squarely up against the Prado, Pajero and even lower-spec Discovery 4, as opposed to lower-spec, ute-based wagons like Challenger and MU-X.  Maybe Ford read our suggestion!

Ford are clearly confident people will pay the price, probably based on the massive success and great reputation of the Ranger which has ensured a lot of interest. The specs as listed do not however impress overmuch, with only 3000kg towing (and for the last time, Internet, it’s not a leaf vs coil thing), average power, and a good but not outstanding spec level. Safety features are better than most, with active cruise control and the like, but your rough tough wagon buyer is more concerned with towing capacity and offroad cred than advanced safety.  The big and bluff Everest is not likely to be cross-shopped against softer and cheaper cars like the Santa Fe which is where safety is a bigger selling point and which already have things like parallel park assist.

Maybe the Everest value is in how it drives, performs and how well designed the interior is, the things you can’t tell from spec sheets.

If people start to talk about how good the Everest is like they do the Ranger – I cannot tell you how many times blokes say to me when they see I own one –  “Ranger… heard good things about that!” – then the Everest will sell.  But if the early reviews are anything less than glowing it will be a problem for Ford, there’s a lot of expectation out in the market and people are going to want a lot of car for this sort of coin. 

We can’t wait to see whether the Everest is as good as Ford seem to think it is, so stay tuned and we’ll bring you news and reviews as soon as we can.

Update: Toyota have revealed a new engine and auto transmission for the Prado.