Clapping eyes on the 2024 Ford Everest Sport for the first time, I’m instantly reminded of The Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black. Released back in 1966 – the song that is, not the car – the song represented a radical departure from all the peace and love, swinging sixties hippie nonesense of the decade. “I see a red door and I want it painted black …” I mean, come on, what did Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have to be so morose about? The darkness of the song connected with audiences and remained at number one for 11 weeks straight. Paint It Black is also credited with introducing psychedelic rock into mainstream consciousness.
Just like the R999 500 2024 Ford Everest Sport has done to introduce genuine bad-ass factor to seven-seat bakkie-based SUVs from the Blue Oval. It’s a perfectly South African mobility solution. Buyers need the ruggedness, practicality and peace of mind of body-on-frame construction. But also want cutting-edge technology, luxurious mod-cons and blacked-out wheels, grilles and badging to show they mean business.
2024 FORD EVEREST SPORT
Now into its third generation, the 2024 Ford Everest Sport is barely recognisable from its utilitarian forebear. It looks thoroughly modern with a coherent design that draws inspiration American F-series pick-up trucks. More importantly, it’s insanely practical. We’re talking 4.9m long and 2.2m wide. Thankfully there’s a phalanx of 360-degree cameras and sensors to protect you when parking and clever lane-keeping assistance keeps you nudged safely between the lines on the move.
The 2024 Ford Everest Sport wears a prominent blacked-out grille and dazzling LED lights with daytime-running-light signatures. Our test vehicle is shod with all-terrain 255/55 R20 Goodyear Wrangler tyres wrapped around upmarket alloy wheels finished in – you guessed it – a satin black finish. A dark window tint completes the Sport makeover and lends it some serious on-road machismo.
PREMIUM CABIN
Palm the sturdy interior grab handle and you could be fooled into thinking there’s zero relation between it and the Ranger bakkie on which it’s based. Soft-touch surfaces in the cabin are transformative and there’s sufficient padding to lend a luxurious ambiance. Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH) is kept to a minimum in the cabin, which is no mean feat considering how cavernous the interior is. Seating is comfortable throughout – including the third row, which boasts three-point seatbelts.
There is a surprising amount of leg- and headroom at the back and does indeed make the 2024 Ford Everest Sport a full seven-seater, with sufficient luggage capacity left over. The second set of seats can slide or recline to free up space. You get 295, 898 and 1 818 litres of utility space in seven-, five- and two-seater layouts respectively. Although, there is no need to stow your surfboard or other leisure lifestyle kit inside the car, because the standard roof racks can handle loads up to 350 kg. This is in combination with 3 500 kg tow rating (400 kg more than before).
TOP-NOTCH TECH
In standard guise for less than R1 million, the 2024 Ford Everest Sport wants for nothing. Ford’s latest Sync4 infotainment, with FordPass Connect, has an embedded modem for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. There is wireless charging, dual-zone climate control and Bluetooth telephony with voice control functionality. Not to mention a trio of USB slots.
Front and centre is Ford’s 12-inch touchscreen interface. Its upright, tablet-like layout has changed interior design and is an absolute doddle to use. The graphics are great, and its finger trace is supremely accurate. Many of the displays are repeated on the digital display in the driver’s binnacle. Usefully, buttons on the steering wheel control the displays and you’re genuinely spoilt for ways to interact with the vehicle’s functionality.
WHAT ABOUT THE ENGINE?
The Blue Ovals has spent equal care and attention on engine refinement as it has fit, finish and interior technology. The 2.0-litre, twin-turbo four-cylinder diesel is a refined and smooth-running unit, both from outside and within the cabin. It is the smaller engine on offer – the other being the 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel – but it’s pleasingly smooth and responsive. 154 kW and 500 Nm of torque – delivered at 3 750 and 2 000 r/min respectively – lends the 2024 Ford Everest Sport a composed cruise-ability.
Acceleration is brisk rather than fast. The twin-turbo oil-burner manages to shift its heft (2 450 kg) from zero to 100 km/h in 9 seconds. Standard-fitment of the excellent ten-speed automatic transmission does an good job of keeping the diesel motor on the boil. At times we found it did have a tendency to default to too high a gear. So, when you stab the throttle to demand a kick-down on the move, there was a moment’s hesitation as the 10-speed decided which cog to opt for.
HOW CAPABLE IS IT?
From the helm, the 2024 Ford Everest Sport does a remarkable job of mimicking a unibody-construction SUV. Lending it this impression is the ride quality, thanks to a multi-link arrangement with coil springs at the rear, instead of the Ranger’s leaf springs. There is also very little fidgetiness characteristic of bakkie-based SUVs.
When we did veer off-road, Ford’s clever Terrain Management System took care of everything. It’s switchable through six drive modes – default, snow, grass, mud, sand and rock. With the latter actuating low-range. Aided by speed-adjustable hill-descent control, ground clearance of 226 mm and a break-over angle of 22.2 degrees despite the long wheelbase, the Everest is all but unstoppable off-road. Shorter overhangs improve the approach and departure angles to 30.4 degrees and 25.3 degrees respectively.
THE VERDICT
The 2024 Ford Everest Sport has moved the game on so far for bakkie-based SUVs that it’s difficult to even think back to their once-humble roots. The rough and tumble days of a ladder-frame chassis with a boxy body on top are simply a thing of the past. And thanks to its Paint-It-Black styling and expansive standard tech, never has a ladder-frame SUV come so close to assimilating the characteristics of a unibody construction. We cannot praise it any higher than that.
THE FIGURES
- 2024 Ford Everest Sport 2.0 BiT 4×4 10AT
- Engine: 1 999 cc 4-cyl twin-turbodiesel
- Power: 154 kW, 500 Nm
- Performance: 9.00 sec 0-100 km/h (tested)
- Gearbox: 10-speed auto
- Economy: 10.1 l/100 km (tested), 7.2 l/100 km (claimed/combined)
- Tyres: Goodyear Wrangler 255/55/R20
- Price: R999 500 (starting from)
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE 2024 FORD EVEREST SPORT?
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