Prior to Ford‘s world premiere of the all-new Everest last year, online rumours had already been swirling about the possibly of a Raptor version based on the runaway success of the original Ranger Raptor.

A question of Raptor

As it turned out, the speculation and constant questioning developed into an annoying frustration for the Blue Oval’s senior executives on the eve of the Everest’s launch.

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Addressing the global media in a pre-reveal online meeting, one topic of interest stood out: will there be an Everest Raptor?

Asked over and over to the irritation of Ford Australia, who had been largely responsible for most of the Everest’s development, the message of “there won’t be an Everest Raptor” eventually hit home, but only after signs of frayed tempers emerged not only from Dearborn, but also some of the invited media.

Remember the documents?

Never on the agenda, or apparently forgotten despite the emergence of a patent document in June last year, was whether an Everest Wildtrak could exist following the expansion of the moniker the North America on the Bronco months before.

The debut of the Everest Wildtrak in New Zealand towards the end of January effectively closed the Raptor chapter, but opened a can of bitterness from both Australia and South Africa based on the decision to only make it available in Kiwiland.

Of course, Ford had other ideas and following Thailand, with Australia next, the Everest Wildtrak finally made it’s way to South Africa two months ago positioned Sport and Platinum, and as the most accessible model powered by the 3.0-litre Lion turbodiesel V6 engine.

Joining the returning XLT at the national media launch, the arrival of the Wildtrak, in its distinctive model exclusive Luxe Yellow paint finish for the weeklong stay, promised a lot from the lessons learned at said reveal.

Wild but stylish

A step-down from the Platinum it might be, the Wildtrak plays its biggest strength in the execution of its styling which, arguably, renders it the most visually pleasing Everest on-sale today.

Excluding the colour, which can be swapped for six other hues, the Wildtrak receives the same black wheel arch cladding and model specific Bolder Grey grille as the Ranger Wildtrak, together with satin silver roof rails, grey mirror caps and satin silver front and rear skidplates.

Topped off with 20-inch alloy wheels, or no-cost option 18-inch alloys wrapped in all-terrain tyres, as well as the prominent Wildtrak scripting on the bonnet, the newest addition to the Everest range more than makes for any Raptor by combining rugged, stylish and aggressive in one complete package.

Stepping inside

As with the Ranger, the Everest’s interior continues to be a highlight for quite possibly being the most advanced of any of the bakkie-based SUVs on-sale today.

Besides being a massive leap from its predecessor, the combination of the 12.4-inch digital instrument cluster and portrait-style 12-inch SYNC 4A infotainment system is constated by soft-touch plastics and leather, as well as model specific yellow stitchwork, a black roofliner and Wildtrak embroidery on the front seatbacks.

The good news continues as apart from the seat comfort, the interior is roomy and with enough second-row head-and-legroom not to question the dual-pane panoramic sunroof that come standard.

In fact, while the understandable drawback of the third row continues to be its suitability to only for small children, the other gripe is the infotainment system.

While nowhere a mess to navigate through, it still requires familiarisation for not being as simple or straightforward to use as the old Everest’s SYNC 3 eight-inch display.

Space and tech? No problem

Little remains to fault the rest of the interior though as the fit-and-finish of the Thai-built Everest impressed.

The same also applies to the eight-speaker sound system, which features both Type-A and Type-C USB ports, and proved to be a noteworthy surprise that never warranted the 12-speaker B&O Play audio available on the Platinum.

Besides the inclusion of a wireless smartphone charger, dual-zone climate control with a series of chunky physical buttons and dials, plus an full array of safety and driver assistance systems, the infotainment system also boasts an integrated sketch pad.

A feature, whose inclusion can be seen as both odd and lots of fun, the pad can only be used when stationary and is only available on the 12-inch display not available on the XLT and Sport.

If space up front wasn’t enough, opening the electric tailgate reveals a capacious boot, complete with a curved lip Ford calls the apple catcher designed to prevent “loose” items from falling out once the tailgate opens.

In total, boot space ranges from 259-litres with all seven seats up, to 898-litres with the third row folded down. Tipping the second row forward frees up an additional 920-litres for a total of 1 818-litres.

Lion in the room

When it comes to motivation, the Everest Wildtrak doesn’t disappoint as the 184kW/600Nm made the Lion V6 requires little encouragement to show its prowess.

Joining the Platinum as the most powerful Everest on-sale, the V6’s smoothness, ear-pleasing soundtrack and pulling power from low down helped the Wildtrak shrug off its 2 475 kg mass and record an impressive 9.5 second dash from 0-100 km/h with Road Test editor Mark Jones behind wheel.

Although unlikely that most buyers would test the straight-line speed performance of their own vehicle, the recorded time at Gerotek also showed an equally remarkable 6.7 second wait from 80 to 120 km/h where the majority of drivers will find themselves in at some stage.

Entrusted with sending the V6’s power to the ground, the General Motors co-developed 10-speed automatic gearbox almost outshines it as the recalibrated ratios and outputs have all but eliminated the ratio skipping tendency exhibited in the previous Everest.

As in the Platinum, selecting the desired position is by the electronic gear lever that moves to Park on its own when left in Drive with the ignition switched off.

Open to smiles and giggles similar to the sketch pad, the transmission’s power and torque deliverance is to all four wheels through the same permanent all-wheel-drive layout as the Platinum.

Ups and the big down

Still equipped with the Terrain Management system offering six modes – Slippery, Eco, Normal, Eco, Tow/Haul, Mud & Ruts and Sand – as well as the low range gearbox, the main difference is the presence of the 4A setting.

Joining 2H, 4H and 4L, selecting 4A puts the Wildtrak into a default all-wheel-drive mode for added grip on all surfaces and not necessarily off-road driving only.

Surefooted and comfortable on the road as it felt in gravel during the launch, the Wildtrak’s refinement was just as noteworthy with little to no road noise sneaking into the cabin.

As for the ride, the 20-inch wheels took the various imperfections in their stride without upsetting the suspension or overall feel.

True to its internal moniker though, the bent-six bits the hardest when fuelling up as the weeklong tenure failed to record a consumption better than the indicated 12.1 L/100 km against Ford’s highly optimistic 8.5 L/100 km claim.

Conclusion

Unlikely to topple its arch rival, the Toyota Fortuner, anytime soon for the title of best-selling bakkie-based SUV, the Ford Everest has solely started gaining ground based on recent National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) sales figures.

Given that the Wildtrak, Platinum and to some extent, the Sport are viewed by Ford as rivals for the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado though, the inclusion of the former strikes a blow for the Blue Oval by virtue of being cheaper, more powerful and with an expanded array of off-road hardware.

And while R1 104 600 cannot be described as actually cheap, in Wildtrak guise, the Everest makes for a package tough to beat that will face even tougher competition when the all-new Prado makes its debut either next year or in 2024.

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