2023 Ford Everest Ambiente 4×4 BiTurbo Review

Even though it’s only been on sale in Australia since 2015, the Ford Everest is quite a popular choice for those needing a capable SUV that is practical enough for the daily school run but also capable enough to take away for the weekend. For the 2022 model year, Ford released the new-generation Everest that is, once again, based on the Ranger ute and like the Ranger, its popularity has blown up with wait times exceeding 12 months. Is it worth the wait? We tested the entry-level 2023 Ford Everest Ambiente 4×4 to find out.

Large 4×4 ute-based SUVs are becoming a common sight on Australian roads and last year, over 55,000 were sold locally thanks to their all-round capability and relative value for money. There are lots on offer in Australia, including the Isuzu MU-X, Toyota Fortuner, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Ssangyong Rexton. Are they a good choice for family motoring?

Price & Equipment: 8.5/10

The 2023 Ford Everest range kicks off with the rear-wheel drive Ambiente, which is priced at $53,290 plus on-road costs and we tested the Ambiente fitted with the optional four-wheel drive system, which is priced at $58,290 plus on-road costs (roughly $63,700 drive away, depending on location).

The equipment level of the entry-level Ford Everest is rather generous, with 17-inch alloy wheels, dusk- and rain-sensing LED exterior lighting, auto wipers, a vertical 10.1-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation with live traffic, digital radio, voice recognition, wireless smartphone charging, an 8.0-inch digital driver’s display, dual-zone climate control with vents for the second and third rows of seating, auto-folding exterior mirrors, an auto-dimming rear view mirror, roof rails, selectable drive modes, push button start, LED front fog lights and an eight-speaker sound system. 

Safety systems include nine airbags, high and low speed autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian, cyclist and intersection assistance, rear auto braking, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, rollover stability control, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, forward collision alert, driver fatigue detection, front and rear parking sensors with a rear view camera, an alarm, adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, road sign recognition, auto high beam and tyre pressure monitoring. The Everest received a five star ANCAP safety rating when it was tested in 2022.

The only standard colour available on the 2023 Ford Everest is our test car’s ‘Arctic White’ paintwork. Pay an extra $700 and you can choose from ‘Shadow Black’, ‘Meteor Grey’, ‘Aluminium’, ‘Equinox Brown’ and ‘Sedona Orange’. Also optionally available on the Ambiente is a third row of seating for $950, larger 18-inch wheels with all terrain tyres for $1,100 and a tow pack for $1,700. Our test car featured all available options.

We think the Everest Ambiente is comprehensively equipped for a base model and would love to see the addition of only electric lumbar control for the driver’s seat and a leather steering wheel.

While there are a lot of rivals to the Everest, we think that the Toyota Fortuner GXL ($57,085 plus on-road costs) and Isuzu MU-X LS-M ($54,900 plus on-road costs) are the closest rivals to the Ambiente. The Fortuner GXL 4×4 is priced $1,205 less than the Ford, but misses out on two airbags, blind spot monitoring, rear AEB, rear cross traffic alert, driver fatigue detection, auto high beam, auto folding mirrors, a wireless charger, a smaller touchscreen, two speakers and a digital driver’s display. It does however gain keyless entry, a CD player, a third row of seating as standard.

It is a similar story for the for the MU-X LS-M 4×4 – compared to the Everest, it loses an airbag, rear AEB, front parking sensors, body coloured door handles, auto high beam, a smaller touchscreen, power folding mirrors, roof rails, four-speakers, digital radio and dual-zone automatic climate control but it does feature a third row of seating as standard.

All in all we think that the Ford Everest Ambiente represents good value compared to its rivals – it’s more expensive, yes, but it’s more comprehensively featured.

Engine & Performance: 8.5/10

The only engine available on the lower-spec variants of the 2023 Ford Everest is Ford’s familiar 2.0-litre bi-turbo four-cylinder diesel. This engine is also featured in the Ford Ranger, on which the Everest is based. It produces 154kW of power (at 3,750rpm) and 500Nm of torque (between 1,750rpm and 2,000rpm) – that’s compared with larger engines from Toyota and Isuzu, which make 150kW/500Nm in the Fortuner and 140kW/450Nm in the MU-X. The 3.0-litre turbo diesel V6 cannot be had on the Ambiente and Trend variants of the Everest range – it’s kept solely for the top-spec Sport and Platinum.

Put simply, the bi-turbo four-cylinder diesel engine in the Everest Ambiente is excellent. For an engine that is also used in a commercial ute, it is very smooth and quiet. There is also more then enough power on offer, accelerate in the Everest and you will be pleasantly surprised. We like how much oomph is on offer from low down in the rev range – peak torque is on offer from just 1,750-2,000rpm.

The only transmission on offer is a 10-speed torque converter automatic. It is a very intuitive transmission that can skip gears (from a standstill it can go from first to third) and if you give it a boot full on the motorway it can downshift from 10th to the lowest gear possible to give optimum acceleration. There is a manual mode on the gear selector, though instead of having its own manual gate, it offers just buttons to go up and down gears. There is no lag between gears and overall it is a very pleasant gearbox to operate.

The braked towing capacity of the Everest with the Bi-Turbo diesel four-cylinder is the industry standard 3,500kg. Unbraked the Everest can tow 750kg. The 2023 Ford Everest Ambiente 4×4 has a claimed average fuel consumption of 7.2L/100km and produces 190g/km of CO2, making it more efficient than both the Fortuner (7.6L/100km) and the MU-X (8.3L/100km). Our week with the Everest – with a mixture of motorway and urban driving – saw an average fuel consumption figure of 8.9L/100km, which we thought was still pretty good.

Ride & Handling: 8.5/10

Sharing the same ‘T6.2’ platform as the Ranger, the 2023 Ford Everest Ambiente drives very well for the segment. As you’d expect for a large ute-based 4×4, it is very comfortable and easy to live with, but it’s also somewhat engaging from behind the wheel and can be fun to drive – thank Ford’s excellent Australian engineers for that. The suspension isn’t firm and makes daily duties very easy, we like that it isn’t too firm like some of these ute-based SUVs can be. The Everest 4×4’s off-road ability is also rather impressive thanks to its dual-range gearbox and off-road driving modes.

Elsewhere in the driving experience, the Everest impresses. Its steering is nicely weighted with good levels of feel, while the lack of road noise is also impressive too (especially with the optional off road tyres). We also really like the active safety equipment that the Everest has – like the rest of the car, the various systems like lane keeping assistance and auto emergency braking feel really well tuned – not like Ford just bought said systems from a supplier purely to meet safety standards and then didn’t calibrate them properly.

Interior & Practicality: 8.5/10

As we’ve discovered on previous Everest models that we’ve tested, there’s no doubt that the 2023 Ford Everest’s interior – no matter the model – is best in class. There is an excellent mix of materials, great storage and practicality and outstanding tech that is cleanly integrated and quite easy to use. The interior layout is also intuitive and pleasing to the eye. Even in the entry-level Ambiente, the Everest’s interior feels nice and is well built – though the addition of a leather steering wheel would do wonders.

The 8.0-inch digital driver’s display makes the cabin feel premium for an entry level car and shows off a decent amount of information. There’s also plenty of cabin storage – big door bins, a big centre box, a tray beneath the screen with a wireless phone charger and a reasonable glovebox. There is even a second glovebox above the first one for storing more items.

Sitting in the centre of the dash of the Everest Ambiente is a 10.1-inch portrait touchscreen that uses Ford’s new ‘Sync 4’ infotainment system. It has an inbuilt SIM for connectivity features such as weather and live traffic updates. It’s a big screen that can take some getting used to thanks to its sheer size, but once you’ve learnt it, it’s intuitive and very easy to use, plus it also has physical AC controls and a proper volume knob for extra user-friendliness. It’s also fully featured with wireless smartphone mirroring, satellite navigation with live traffic, digital radio and a drawing pad (which can be fun).

Compared to the interior of the Isuzu MU-X and Toyota Fortuner the Everest’s interior is bounds ahead. The large screen makes the cabin feel more modern than its rivals thanks to superior picture quality and usability and the digital driver’s display is clear too.

The middle row of the Everest is spacious and well featured – the cloth seats are very comfortable and maneuverable. There is ample space for even taller adults in the middle row, while there is rear air conditioning vents in the roof for both the second and third rows and a USB-A and a USB-C charging port. The transmission tunnel does leave a large hump which can make it difficult for those sitting in the middle rear seat.

The Everest’s third row (if optioned) features cup holders, air vent and airbag coverage too, though no charging ports. Access to the third row is reasonable because the seats fold forward easily, though taller adults will be cramped there as headroom isn’t great. We think that the third row should be standard equipment and not optional on the entry-level Ambiente like it is in competitors and further up the range.

The boot of the 2023 Ford Everest is well featured and well finished with easy access to folding the third row (if equipped), some hooks, under floor storage and a 12V socket. Behind the third row of seating lies 259-litres of space (larger than the Fortuner, though smaller than the MU-X), which expands to 898L (again: larger than the Fortuner but smaller than the MU-X) with just the middle row erect and to 1,818L with all rear seats folded (smaller than the 2,128L space in the MU-X but still large).

Service & Warranty: 8.5/10

Like all new Ford products, the 2023 Ford Everest Ambiente is equipped with a five-year/unlimited km warranty with up to eight years of roadside assistance if serviced at a Ford dealership). The Everest’s service intervals are every 12 months or every 15,000km. Servicing the Everest for five years or 75,000km will cost $2,190 (an average yearly service cost of $438).

Toyota also has a five-year/unlimited km warranty, while Isuzu adds an extra year (though only to 150,000km). Toyota features no roadside assistance – Isuzu gives you up to seven years. The Toyota Fortuner has short six-month/10,000km service intervals and over the span of five years, will cost $2,900 ($580 per year). The Isuzu MU-X LS-M needs servicing every 12 months or 15,000km and over five years will cost $2,435 ($487 per service), or a bit more than the Everest.

2023 Ford Everest Ambiente 4×4 DiscoverAuto Rating: 8.5/10

The 2023 Ford Everest Ambiente may be an entry-level model though the only thing proving this is the plastic steering wheel. It’s very well engineered through the inclusion of useable tech, excellent sound deadening and a great driving experience. There is also more than enough equipment for anyone with lots of tech, an extensive safety feature list and a great drivetrain. Add a leather steering wheel, keyless entry and a standard third row and the Everest Ambiente would be a near perfect car.

Would we buy a Ford Everest over the competition? Well is the sky blue? We wouldn’t even think twice before heading to our local Ford dealership and putting our name down for one. It is a more well rounded product than the Toyota Fortuner and Isuzu MU-X and much more car like to drive. There’s no wonder there’s such a long wait list for them – like the Ranger, the Everest is excellent, even as a base model.