Bucket Seat: Ford Everest - First Impressions

A cold and wet rainy morning greeting us as we touched down at Cape Town international airport for the all new Ford Everest national launch, some said it was weather fitted for a vehicle of such nature. The previous generation Everest wasn't the best looking SUV on the market and is probably why it never dented the sales of its rivals, however Ford went back to the drawing board, took public feed back and their own research and development into producing this new one and boy does it look good!

Speaking to the head of marketing at breakfast, I said to him that the styling says it means business and for many that is a big plus, brings back the memory of the old Ford slogan "Built, Ford, Tough". Although it looked all fine and dandy on the outside, the interior had to compliment it as well, Ian Foston, the Global Chief Program Engineer echoed this sentiment at the media briefing held at the stunning Cavalli Stud & Wine Estate. A lot went into the Everest program, one that he is very proud of and the results have shown that they have a real competitor to the market. 

Two versions of the vehilce will be on sale in SA, the XLT and the LTD, both of which are powered by Ford's new 3.2 V6 turbo diesel engines, pushing out 147kW and 470Nm of torque. Quite an impressive power house, then again it has to carry around a big body. The LTD is the higher spec'd of the two that comes with 20" rims, well kitted interior with chrome finishing and power folding seats. The cabin is spacious and luxurious, almost as good as the Fusion and even better with the twin moonroof offered as an optional extra. 

The cars intrumental panel features two LCD screens which gives the driver various info from consumption rates, to what mode he's driving in. There is a large 8" in dash touch screen display as well with a reserve camera as standard. The LTD also comes with a self park system which could prove handy in tight parking spots as the Everest is a rather large vehicle. Another handy item would be the 230V charging point available in the rear passenger seats which can charge anything from a portable fridge to your laptop. Just don't try to plug your stove into it. 

Both models are 4x4 capable, with Ford's new easy select off road system that makes 4x4 simple and easy, even for the novice. That's their ultimate aim, wanting an everyday person to be able to make a selection on the type of terrain and carry on with their journey. unfortunately we didn't get to test the system out during the launch due to a torrential downpour that forced the closure of the 4x4 off road course. When we get it on test, we will be taking it to one of the local trails to see how it copes.

Overall, it is a solid product by Ford South Africa, they say it's aimed at buyers who want an off road capable vehicle but also performs well with economical driving around the city. According to them, it has no direct competitive rival as its seen to fill the gap between the Toyota Fortuner and Prado. Bold statement by Ford SA, whether the public see it that way as well will be yet to be seen. Pricing starts off at R595 900 for the XLT and R646 900 for the LTD. That's a heafty price but with the new Fortuner coming in next year and the ever roller coaster of the exchange rate, we might see prices for that sky rocket as well. 

Bucket Seat: Ford B-Max - First Impressions

We're expanding our brands of motoring and now welcome the American brand Ford to our pages. As you know by now I was invited by Ford last week to the their Go Further exhibition last week in Sandton, it was a showcase on what the next year held for the company in terms of strengthening their brand in Africa with various partnerships and initiatives as well as releasing new models to the market, one of which being the B-Max which I got to drive the next day as part of the official launch of the vehicle. 

Ford say that the B-Max falls in a unique segment known as the "B-Mav" with the only car that could be called a competitor being the Toyota Avanza. In theory I think both cars serve a different purpose and whilst the Avanza might be seen as a cheaper alternate to most MPV's, the B-Max has that sense of luxury to it. The design is nothing out of the ordinary from Ford with it borrowing style lines from the Fiesta and Kuga. The key talking point about this car is no doubt the door system with conventional swing doors at the front and sliding doors for the rear passenger and eliminating the need for a B Pillar. Ford say that safety has not been comprised as a mixture of high strength and mild strength steel reinforcing has been built into the doors, helping the car achieve a 5 star N Cap rating. 

Now one of the main reasons for the doors being like this is to allow easy entry and exit to the cabin through a 1,5m wide unobstructed opening as well as help load bulky packages into the car but it is flawed in a way seeing that the back seats cannot slide back with only the option of moving the front seats forward. That being said with the 60/40 seating layout, both the rear seats of the car and the front passenger seat can be folded down to increase loading capacity for objects as long as 2.34m. That is impressive to say the least, that kind of thing will come handy to us guys on the coasts who own surfboards and kayaks. 

The car is an everyday lifestyle vehicle and after the short presentation it was time to find out what it was like on the busy roads of Johannesburg. The organisers were kind enough to wait till traffic died down before sending us on our route which was roughly 100km. There are 3 models in the B-Max all of which come with their award winning 1.0 EcoBoost Engine, which I might add coped well with the demands of the car. It's a sizable vehicle but when power was required, there was no sense of lag and having to down change the manual gear box. The ride is solid and while there was no place to test the handling of the car, one feels you wouldn't really need to. 

On the inside, the interior is very comfy and very driver friendly, all models come with Fords SYNC systems which connects to your smart phone via Bluetooth relatively pain free and you can do it while the vehicle is in motion. Yes, I know this could be seen as a safety hazard but often when cruising around at 20km at a parking lot, this would come handy having not being forced to pull over to the side and connect. Once connected you can view you phone book contacts and music files on the tiny screen that's provided in the dash, still can't fathom why they sticking with a screen that most smart phones are bigger than now. Hopefully this will change in time to come. 

Overall the car is a decent buy, its well priced too with it starting at R221,000.00 for the entry level Ambiente to R271,000.00 for the range topping Titanim. The car will be sold with a 4 year / 120,000km comprehensive warranty with a 60,000km service plan. It's the perfect lifestyle vehicle offering the buyer the flexibility for whatever use they may need it for, it's something different and should be a great option for small families. The B-Max is only available with a manual gear box for now with plans to bring down an automatic gearbox later on should their be a demand.