Ford Everest on safari: big game, big SUV

Damien O’Carroll
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Specifications

See All See All
Base price
$89,990
ANCAP Rating
5
Body type
sport utility vehicle
Fuel Consumption (l/100km)
9.7
Fuel Type
diesel
Maximum power kW
184
Maximum torque Nm
600
Pros
  • Impressively comfortable and refined
  • Extremely capable off and on-road
  • 3.0-litre diesel V6 is a fantastic engine
Cons
  • Transmission can occasionally be a bit indecisive
  • Android Auto connection can be flaky
  • Didn't see any cool animals in it...

The Ford Everest is very much a known quantity these days. Based on the same underpinnings as the most popular new vehicle in the New Zealand market, the Ford Ranger ute, but with a more sophisticated coil-sprung rear suspension set up, the Everest is a large family SUV that is extremely flexible, capable and comfortable.

But the fact that it sits on Ranger underpinnings, but also has a much shorter wheelbase and less rear overhang only goes to make the Everest an even more capable off-roader than the Ranger.

FORD EVEREST PLATINUM: Engine 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 Power 184kW/600Nm Gearbox 10-speed automatic transmission, 4WD Consumption 9.7l/100km (3P-WLTP) Price $89,990

So how do you highlight that? Well, if you are Ford you take it well away from the suburban school run and do something very different with it. Like an African safari, for example. Which is exactly what Ford did, taking a bunch of journalists and social media influencers to South Africa for a proper safari experience in a fleet of Everests.

Our first day saw us leave the sun, heat and luxury hotel surroundings in Pretoria and head to a small airport to board an even smaller plane for the hour-long flight to the Kapama Private Game Reserve which would serve as the base for our Everest adventure.

The big Everest was just as at home on the dusty trails of a South African game reserve as it is on New Zealand roads.

On arrival we clambered off the tiny planes and into the more spacious cabin of an Everest to head out for a late afternoon/early evening mini Safari around the sprawling private reserve. Dozens of gazelles, some zebras, a giraffe, a few vultures enjoying what was left of another former giraffe and a flock of truly, deeply ugly marabou storks were about our lot for the day, but tomorrow held promise of catching a glimpse of some of the “Big Five”.

The “Big Five” consists of the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhinoceros, traditionally considered to be the five most dangerous animals to hunt in Africa. The more civilised form of ticking off the Big Five is simply seeing them and appreciating them in their living, breathing majesty - as opposed to blowing their brains out from a distance - so that was our aim on the second day: to see as many of them as possible.

The next morning brought a cool, overcast, windy day, which - in terms of animal spotting - wasn’t great. The lack of sun means nothing big is lazing around soaking up the rays, while the wind puts all the more edible animals on edge, providing cover for the ones that do the eating to sneak up on them.

Comfortable and supremely capable, the Everest took everything in its stride without complaint.

As a result, everything basically goes to ground and hunkers down until the sun pops out and the wind drops. Which it didn’t. Still, heading out in the Everest still had an entire childhood of being obsessed with animals came flooding back to me in a big way.

As you might expect, driving the Everest on the hard-packed dirt roads in the reserve is utterly effortless, but the ride comfort is always truly impressive.

Aside from my precious Matchbox cars, my absolute prize possession as a child was an enormous hardcover book about animals. I would spend literally hours pouring over the entries, staring at the photos of exotic animals in far away locations on the big glossy pages and memorising facts about them thatI could blurt out at inopportune moments. Dinner just being served? “Do you know that a sloth only takes a dump once a week?!”. That sort of thing.

The zebras weren't bothered by the fleet of Everests stopping to stare at them. They mainly just stared back.

Anyway, the fact that I was now right there in person and about to get up close and personal with those very exotic animals (well, not sloths - they live in Central and South America. And, yes, they really do only defecate once a week. They’re not fast movers…) instantly reduced me to being an excited child.

An excited child behind the wheel of a two and a half tonne SUV, that is. Which is probably why one of the first things I did was exactly the sort of thing you are not supposed to do when driving in sand and went into a sweeping uphill bend fractionally too wide. And, yep, I beached it.

One of the most impressive things about the Everest off-road is how well it telegraphs what is happening under its wheels to the driver. As soon as I went onto the deep sandy corner I felt the front push gently up and out of the ruts established by the earlier vehicles that successfully got through.

Being hard-packed dirt and some sand, the off-road experience was closer to American-style rock-crawling than the more mud-based off-roading we are used to here.

I immediately knew I hadn’t turned in enough and had carried a fraction too much speed into the corner, and that understeer would be enough to pop me out wider still and, crucially, hamper my momentum enough that I would be, well, screwed. Still, it gave everyone else a chance to see how good an Everest was at recovering another Everest, and a quick snatch recovery later we were on our way again.

There were monkeys though, and monkeys are always good.

As you might expect, driving the Everest on the hard-packed dirt roads in the reserve is utterly effortless, but the ride comfort is always truly impressive, with the big SUV taking literally everything in its stride, even the occasional broken areas.

The vultures were more concerned about the apparent lions (we were assured they were there...) that were eyeing up the ex-giraffe the birds were lunching on.

In the sand - driver error aside - it is almost arrogantly capable. While the 2.0-litre bi-turbo four-cylinder diesel is still an excellent engine, the newer 3.0-litre V6 is still the absolute pick in an off-road situation, however, with impressively deep wells of torque to call on, all delivered in a usefully progressive way. It also sounds better, with a satisfying rumble and a more relaxed nature.

Later as the track started getting harder and a bit gnarlier (in an off-road sense that is) the Everest’s healthy torque and wonderfully relaxed nature saw it make short work of the car-swallowing cracks in the hard-packed dirt tracks, which were more akin to American-style rock crawling than the more mud-based off-roading we are used to here.

While fun, all of this off-roading only served to distract from the disappointment that giraffes and zebras were about the only things big and brave enough to be hanging around in the open, so we saw more of them, but not a glimpse of any of the headliners.

The Everest's big diesel V6 was the absolute star of the line up, making effortless work of every challenge.

There were monkeys though, and monkeys are always good.

The mark of a good off-roader is how it makes even the tough stuff feel utterly simple, and the Everest certainly does that, while also being comfortable and capable on the road as well.

After a disappointing lack of Big Five in the morning, we ventured on-road to head to our lunch destination - a deserted army base at the top of a mountain where we were promised stunning 360 degree views.

The whole Everest range was present on the safari, but the Platinum was easily our pick of the bunch.

However, the weather conspired to try and ruin that too, and as we made our way up the tightly winding road, past partially collapsed army buildings slowly being reclaimed by nature, the cloud descended. Or rather, we ascended into the clouds.

This meant that instead of the promised stunning views, the top of the mountain was more like being in a scene from a post-apocalyptic zombie movie, what with the dilapidated buildings and literally being inside the clouds; all we got was horizontal rain and winds that were genuinely threatening to blow you off your feet. And it was awesome.

Not what we were promised, but a genuinely exciting experience, and one that showed the sheer extremes of weather South Africa can offer. And, again, the Everest handled it all faultlessly. Getting on to and back down from the peak offered up one of the more fraught off-road moments, with a tight access point guarded by low, unyielding rocks barely an Everest-width apart.

There is apparently an absolutely stunning view in behind all that cloud...

Slippery rocks and wet grass are always treacherous, and the presence of sill and door-height jagged rocks just adds to the pressure, but the Everest was yet again peerless as it confidently crept up through the short but tight pass.

The mark of a good off-roader is how it makes even the tough stuff feel utterly simple, and the Everest certainly does that, while also being comfortable and capable on the road as well.

While most owners won’t ever experience the Everest’s true capabilities, our South African adventure showed that it is capable of so much more than just the school run, and while we didn’t get to see any of the Big Five, we certainly got to experience the Everest in some vastly different conditions to what we are used to. And it was every bit as convincing as it is here.

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