The new-generation Ford Everest has arrived in a wave of hype, it’s generated a ton of buzz and garnered plenty of favourable attention.

The Everest has, of course, been upgraded and enhanced to meet the demands of an ever-more sophisticated SUV-buying public – but it’s the fact that some variants are now offered with a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 engine that has set pulses racing the most.

We tested the Sport-grade Everest, which sits just under the top-shelf Platinum variant in the Everest line-up. It has the V6 engine everyone is so excited about and it has plenty of potential as a family’s daily driver and as a very capable weekend tourer.

Price and features of the 2023 Ford Everest Sport

The Sport is available as a 4WD wagon with the aforementioned 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 engine or as a rear-wheel drive wagon with Ford’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder bi-turbo – both have a 10-speed automatic transmission. Our test vehicle has the V6 engine and selectable 4WD with a 4A (4WD Auto) mode.

The V6 variant has a recommended retail price of $69,590, before on-road costs, but our test vehicle was equipped with a touring pack ($2300), towing pack ($1700) and it has prestige paint (Sedona Orange, $700).

Standard features include a 12.0-inch touchscreen (in portrait-style layout) with sat nav, Apple CarPlay (wireless or wired) and Android Auto, a wireless smartphone charger, dual-zone climate control, heated and ventilated power-adjustable, front seats, and leather-accented trim.

It has 20-inch alloy wheels with Goodyear Wrangler Territory HTs (255/55R20), LED headlights with auto high beam, LED daytime running lights, LED tail-lights and hands-free rear door.

If you’d prefer a more off-road-suited wheel-and-tyre combination, you can choose the 18-inch black alloys on All-Terrain tyres as no-cost options.

Exterior paint includes the no-cost Arctic White, or Meteor Grey, Aluminium Silver, Blue Lightning, Sedona Orange (on our test vehicle), Equinox Bronze and Shadow Black – each costing $700 a pop.

If you’re keen to build your Everest as an adventure vehicle then you’re in luck. When you order a new-generation Everest you can order an ARB ‘Build’ to suit your lifestyle. That chosen build will be fitted to their Everest prior to you taking delivery of your new vehicle. 

There are three builds – Family Adventurer, Tourer, and Serious Off-roader – and each one includes a specific set of aftermarket accessories (covering protection, suspension, lighting and more) and, when you’ve specified which build you want at Everest-ordering time, those will have already been fitted to it when it comes time for you to collect your new Everest. The builds are covered by Ford’s five-year/unlimited km warranty. 

The Sport’s 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 produces 184kW at 3250rpm and 600Nm from 1750rpm-2250rpm.

The Everest has a 10-speed automatic transmission and a 4WD system with selectable two-wheel drive (2H), four-wheel drive high-range (4H), four-wheel drive low-range (4L) and four-wheel drive automatic (4A = 4Auto) that sends drive to the front and rear axles as needed, and which can be used on high-traction surfaces.

It has a locking rear diff.

The Everest also has a variety of selectable drive modes including Normal, Eco, Tow Haul, Slippery, and for off-roading: Mud/Ruts, and Sand.

Driving the 2023 Ford Everest Sport

The V6 Everest is a very impressive off-roader: the engine is torquey, with plenty of its 600Nm on top across a wide rev range. 

The 10-speed auto transmission is clever – most of the previous-gen’s scrambling between ratios has been ironed out – and if you want to take over duties yourself you can do so via the manual shifter. The ‘e-Shifter’ in 4WD Everests is a mildly annoying toggle/rocker-switch that is a bit too fiddly for my liking, even though I eventually – grudgingly – became used to it.

Low-range gearing is adequate and the Everest also has an electronic rear diff lock.

Driver-assist tech aimed at making 4WDing easier and safer is plentiful and includes off-road driving modes such as Mud/Ruts and Sand, which seamlessly adjust engine outputs, throttle, transmission, braking, traction and stability controls to best suit the driving conditions.

Also, the track-view/360-degree camera and vehicle-info read-out (displaying driveline/diff lock indicators, and steering, pitch and roll angles) – are nice features, but they’re more a novelty than a necessity. 

The front camera, designed to offer the driver more ground-level visibility than you're afforded over the Everest’s huge bonnet, offers a skewed fish-eye view of the track, and the mix of bright sunlight and deep shadows of thick bushland negatively impacts its efficacy. I am, however, now accustomed to the front wheel track indicators, depicted on screen, and consider them a worthwhile addition.

Hill descent control is quietly effective and it consistently held the Everest to a controlled 3-4km/h while we tackled short but steep downhills at our unofficial 4WD testing grounds.

The Everest has a listed length of 4914mm (with a 2900mm wheelbase), a width of 2015mm, and a height of 1837mm. It has a turning circle of 11.8m and an official kerb weight is 2457kg. So this is not a small wagon.

And its dimensions prevent the Everest from being an absolute off-road beast. It feels low – even though official ground clearance is listed as 226mm – and its underbelly feels vulnerable. The Everest's wheelbase negatively affects its ability to climb steep rock steps without experiencing undercarriage bumps or side-step scrapes.

Approach angle is 30.2 degrees, departure angle is 25 degrees, and ramp break-over is 21.9 degrees, but remember that if you fit a towbar to the rear that will impact the Everest’s departure angle.

Wading depth is 800mm and, while we punched it through a knee-deep mudhole four times, we never came close to challenging the Everest’s water-crossing ability. 

Wheel travel – how far the axle can move up and down relative to the chassis – is not the best, with Everest tyres left hanging in space rather than stretching to the dirt in traction-compromised terrain.

Another flaw, but easily fixed: as standard, the Everest has 20-inch alloy wheels with Goodyear Wrangler Territory HTs (255/55R20). A 20-inch wheel-and-tyre combination is far from ideal when off-roading, with 18-, 17- or even 16-inch more preferable. A 20-inch tyre does not give the driver much flexibility in terms of how much air you can drop out of the tyre for 4WDing – because there isn’t much tyre to start with. Also, when you start dropping air pressures in a 20-inch tyre, it affects the vehicle’s running ground clearance – making an already vulnerable undercarriage even more susceptible to damage.

Note: Ford does offer 18-inch black alloys on All-Terrain tyres as a no-cost option.

As always, with most standard 4WDs, these kinds of minor problems – compromised off-road angles and less-than-ideal off-road tyres – can be addressed with a mild (two inch or so) aftermarket suspension lift and a good set of aggressive LT-construction all-terrain tyres.

Another thing: the brake pedals feel spongy – taking a long time between initial foot pressure to actually 'biting', and then the brakes – discs all round –  quite abruptly clamp into action.

Official fuel consumption for the Everest V6 is 8.5L/100km on a combined cycle.

Its real-world fuel figure on this test, from pump to pump, was 15.7L/100km. 

The Everest has a 80-litre tank, so, going by the above figures, you will have a touring distance (spent mostly in low-range 4WD) of about 510km.

This Ford has the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing in 2022.

It has nine airbags (dual front, front side, driver and passenger knee airbags, curtain airbags for both rows and a centre front airbag to prevent head collisions) and a full suite of driver-assist tech including front AEB (autonomous emergency braking), adaptive cruise control with speed sign recognition and speed adaptation, lane departure alert and lane keep assist, and blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.

The Everest’s AEB operates up to 130km/h, with pedestrian and cyclist detection operating up to 80km/h, according to Ford.

It also has reverse brake assist (i.e. rear AEB), a tyre pressure monitoring system, a 360-degree surround-view camera, front and rear parking sensors, and auto parking system.

The second-row seat has two child-seat anchorage points and one ISOFIX point each on the left and right seats.

The Everest is covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.

Ford offers a five-year roadside assistance, and a capped-price service plan.

Service intervals are scheduled for every 12 months or 15,000km and the maintenance cost for the first 48 months/60,000km (the first four services) is capped at $329 a pop for MY22 or MY23 Everests.

What we think of the 2023 Ford Everest Sport

I like the new V6 Everest Sport – but I liked the previous generations and I think the 2.0-litre four-cylinder bi-turbo is damn impressive too.

The V6 engine adds another dimension of punch to what is an already very capable and comfortable 4WD wagon. It’s nice to drive, has a real premium feel to it and it’s also packed with driver-assist tech.

And, in Sport grade, the Everest is a vehicle well suited to an adventurous lifestyle