2021 Ford Everest sport- The Off-roaders choice or are you better off with a Range Rover?

Spoiler, I'm an idiot

In recent years off-Roaders have evolved from rugged tackle Africa-type vehicles to vehicles that tackle the local school zone, however, many people are convinced that fords latest edition to their SUV range the new Everest Sport might be the closest thing we have to the original off-road design that we have all come to love. But what these claims have done is raise the question is, is Ford’s new Everest sport really an off-Roader, or is it like its many predecessors that were designed to look like it could tackle Africa when it struggles to go down a gravel track? Well to find out I hovered over the spec sheet to work out if the sport is what it’s claimed to be.

I want to start by talking about probably one of the most important things in an off-road vehicle and that is torque, and this is where a Range Rover doesn't come out on top with the Range Rover producing 50NM less than the Everest’s rather modest 500NM around the 2,000rpm range. This isn't surprising since the Everest according has one extra gear than the Range Rover. Nevertheless, I think that the Everest delivers that torque better only because when you are driving you notice a majority of it every time you set off. But while the Range Rover has less torque, the Everest gets some more points when you look at another aspect.

I am sure every Off-Roader would agree with me when I say that boot space is one of the most important things on a car that is going to tackle any type of terrain and I must say that I am rather disappointed with the new Range Rovers boot space because even though we don't know for sure since Range Rover won't tell us the boot capacity when you look at the photos provided it looks smaller than the 450 litres in the back of the Everest. I know that Range Rover is now a luxury car brand but it only seems like a few models ago that it was still a purebred Off-Roader that could carry all the supplies you needed to get pretty much anywhere.

This is where we will see the biggest difference between the Everest and the Range Rover because of the different ways they power their wheels, Ford has opted to go with the rugged and reliable option of 4WD whereas Range Rover has gone for a more refined and on-road friendly All wheel drive system, this is where we will see one of the new demands in the SUV market since a 4WD system is likely to give you more grip off-road showing that Ford is now the one building cars to take on Africa or the remote Forests of the Amazon whereas Range Rover is building cars to take on a supermarket car park.

Since both cars are good it's going to come down to price and that in itself is a problem because the only place I could find the Everest sport for sale is on the other side of the world in New Zealand. So prices will be in NZ dollars, but back to prices because the base price of the Ford Everest sport is 74,990NZD and a Range Rover turns out to be a bit more expensive in NZ with a base price of 221,900NZD making by proxy the Everest sport a better Off-Roader since it is so much cheaper. Another thing we have learned is that I have unintentionally wasted your time so sorry about that. But on the upside, we have learned that a car we can't even buy is the better Off-Roader.