Home Run: Ford Everest 2.0 BI Turbo XLT 10AT 4x4

Does an extra four gears and two turbos make up for a lack in capacity? We hit Kroonland to find out.

- Andrew Middleton

Having tested the Ford Everest in 2.2-litre manual form back in January 2017, we came back wholly disappointed. The engine produced almost no power unless valves were dancing on the bonnet. The extreme turbo lag meant that pulling away from traffic lights smoothly was difficult and a light flywheel resulted in a vehicle that was easy to stall off-road and frustrating to drive. Unfortunately, during our testing the traction control system on that vehicle, which allows you to input current terrain, also went into limp mode – overall then, it wasn’t completely sorted.

Despite its shortfalls in the powertrain and electronics department, the Everest’s interior was, and still is, best in class. What’s more, thanks to the Watts link rear-end, it handled better on-road than its competitors too.

So here we are two years later, to test the most recent offering with the new 2.0-litre bi-turbo engine, 10-speed automatic gearbox, and an updated traction control system. Ford may have just struck gold.

Admittedly, our current XLT test vehicle is a near top-of-the-range model, boasting a very impressive 157kW but just like every other highly-boosted small capacity diesel it will suffer from turbo lag, and that’s where that ingenious gearbox comes in. With 10 speeds to choose from and an extremely widespread of ratios, the box has the ability to keep an engine with a narrow power band on the boil at all times. The result is both decent performance and improved fuel consumption, with our test runs consistently turning in around 9.0-9.3 litres/100km.