Power Wheels Magazine A Notch Above
“It’s very smooth,” my wife Shawie and I concurred while we were comparing notes about our recent driving experience with the 2025 Ford Everest Sport. We usually take a drive together whenever Power Wheels Magazine gets a media test drive unit but because of our busy schedules and unusual situations these past few weeks, it was one of those rare times when we drove the demo unit separately. Due to the heavy weekend traffic, this Aluminum Metallic Everest Sport was delivered late on a Friday evening (October 10) so it just stayed in the garage on its supposedly first full day with us.
From the back, the 2025 Ford Everest Sport looks a bit more like an upmarket European SUV. (The sticker on the glass indicates that our Aluminum Metallic demo unit was used in a recent Ford PH media drive.)
Shawie was going to have a family lunch with her mom, uncles and aunties so she took the keys, err… key fob of the 5-door, 7-passenger midsize sport utility vehicle (SUV) the next day (Saturday, October 11) and headed to their favorite restaurant at the mall with her mom Maryam, her younger brother, Jericho, and his girlfriend, Erica, our two adult children, Vette and Chevy, and our three Persian cats, Colby, Romano and Brie. She stated that despite keeping the third row folded to accommodate the cats’ stuff and stroller, her five human passengers were comfortable, thanks to the Everest Sport’s spacious interior.
“Riding shotgun” meant sitting on a comfortable well-bolstered black leather bucket seat on the first row.
2nd row bench seat with 60/40 folding backrest and folding center armrest is spacious enough to fit 4 people for a smooth, quick drive.
Access to the 3rd row is generous. 2 adults can sit comfortably with ample legroom, shoulder room and headroom.
Smooth and Comfortable Ride
Vette reported that due to the smooth ride, the cats were well-behaved and comfortable as well. You see, we sometimes gauge the performance of a demo unit’s ride by the way our cats behave inside it while we’re driving around. The Everest Sport’s smooth and comfortable ride can be accredited to its well-engineered suspension system, which is composed of double wishbones, coil springs and a hefty stabilizer bar in front and a live axle, coil springs and a Watt’s Link at the back. Normally, a live rear axle is not as smooth and compliant as a rear independent suspension but Ford engineers did their homework on the Everest Sport’s.
The Everest Sport’s smooth ride is the combination of a 2.9-meter space between the front and rear axles, front double wishbones, rear live axle with an innovative Watt’s Link, coil springs all around, and 20-inch wheels with meaty 255/55R20 tires.
The Sport is a rear-wheel drive (2WD) Everest model so the suspension was tuned more for comfort than off-road prowess that four-wheel drive (4WD) Everest models require. That this Everest model is fitted with tall and meaty 255/55R20 Goodyear Wrangler Territory HT tires is another testament to Ford’s meticulous suspension engineering. Shawie reported that she seldom felt the road undulations during her drive and that it felt like the Everest Sport, with around 9 inches of ground clearance, was more than capable to run over any road rut, or even wade through flooded streets, provided the water’s not more than two and a half feet high.
These 20-inch 12-spoke 6-lug gloss black aluminum alloy wheels feature a funky red accent exclusive to the Sport variant. Unfortunately, it was rainy when we drove around and we didn’t have time to detail the Everest Sport nor its wheels.
Easy Like Sunday Morning
Despite having a compact 4-door sedan as her daily driver, Shawie said she easily acclimated to the larger Everest Sport. “The driving position was ideal and most of the controls were within easy reach, which makes the Everest Sport quite easy to drive” she mused. “I’ve driven the previous Everest models and it always feels like I’m driving a smaller vehicle.” Of course, parking this almost 5-meter long and 2-meter wide SUV takes more space than her personal compact car. “But because of the 10-inch display, front and rear cameras and sensors, it’s a cinch to park”, Shawie explained. “In fact, I find it easier to park the Everest Sport than my smaller car because of these features.”
The cockpit of the Everest Sport is comfortable and ergonomic. Headlight switch is at the lower left side of the dashboard instead of mounted on one of the stalks but there’s no need to reach for it because of its “Auto” setting.
There’s a commanding view of the road ahead while the 10-inch portrait touchscreen display helps make parking easier.
The next morning (October 12) I went out very early for a short Sunday drive on a lonely stretch of road near our residence to test the sportiness of this Sport variant of the Ford Everest model line-up. The 2.0-liter turbo diesel 4-cylinder engine with its 16 valves, double overhead camshafts (DOHC), common rail diesel injection (CRDI) system and variable geometry turbocharger (VGT) churns out 405 Newton-meters (that’s almost 550 ft-lbs of torque for you, English gearheads), which, combined with those fat sticky tires and electronic stability control (ESC), provides this Ford SUV with quick un-SUV-like acceleration. I can only guess that it’s quick because it only has 75 kilos (me) added to its 2,300-kilogram curb weight, but it does put the sport back into sport utility vehicle.
2.0-liter turbodiesel inline-4 with 16V, DOHC, CRDI and VGT makes 168 hp and 405 Nm of torque to put the “sport” back in this midsize sport utility vehicle.
Moving People & Stuff with Ease
Shawie countered my observation by stating that with six human occupants, three cats and several kilos of stuff, the Everest Sport still accelerated and drove sportingly well. With 168 turbodiesel horsepower being multiplied by the 6-speed automatic transmission, I concurred this 5-door Sport can indeed be a highway flyer as well. As for moving stuff like luggage, large items or precious cargo, like Ming vases or pets in cages, the Everest Sport boast of a versatile 7-passenger 3-row seating arrangement with a second row with a 60/40 folding backrest and a third row with 50/50 folding backrest that can hold from 259 to 1,818 dry liters of luggage or cargo.
Versatile seating arrangement includes second row with a 60/40 folding backrest and a third row with 50/50 folding backrest that can hold from 259 to 1,818 dry liters of luggage or cargo.
The Everest Sport moves people and stuff with a balance of function, performance and style. Its features, such as the LED reflector auto headlamps, C-Clamp LED daytime running lights, LED fog lamps, LED signature tail lamps and power tailgate may be found in other Everest models but the Sport differentiates itself with black accents at the front and back plus those glossy 20-inch 12-spoke 6-lug black aluminum alloy wheels with a funky red accent. The black interior with brushed metal finishes continues the blacked-out design exclusive to the Sport variant.
Black accents from front to back, a black roof, and those black 20-inch rims with funky red accent separates the Sport variants from other Everest models.
Limited Engagement, Lasting Impression
With Ford SYNC 4A, the occupants inside the Everest Sport can stay connected and entertained on the road with cloud connectivity, wireless smartphone integration, and the10-inch touchscreen. Its integrated wireless charging pad provides seamless, cable-free and clutter-free power for charging our mobile phones. Unfortunately, we were not able to test all these features because I was only able to drive the Everest Sport on Monday to attend a meeting by myself (because Shawie wasn’t feeling well), and it stayed in our garage all day Tuesday because of MMDA’s number coding scheme. And then, mid-morning on Wednesday (October 15), Ford Philippines’ drivers pulled it out, thus ending our supposedly 6-day engagement with just 3 days of actual driving time.
The lines and stance of the Everest Sport shows the long term effects of Ford’s ownership of Land Rover/Range Rover in the early 2000’s.
But then again, three short days were enough for this P2,159,000 Ford Everest Sport to leave a lasting impression on me, Shawie and our family. Our audiophile son, Chevy, loves the quality of its sound system. Our artistic daughter, Vette, loves its sporty style. Shawie and I love its performance and versatility. Oh, and our cats, Colby, Romano and Brie, loves the tranquility inside. If we were asked to summarize our experience with the 2025 Ford Everest Sport in just one word, we all agreed that it will be just this: Smooth. Because it simply is one smooth SUV.
