FORD EVEREST 2015 – 2021

Ford Everest is a large, rugged 4WD / SUV that’s been around in other countries since 2003 but didn’t arrive in Australia until the release of the third-generation model in late 2015. It’s built on the same platform as tough Ford Ranger making it a serious off-roader, unlike many in this class that look tough but are relatively soft. There are four variants: Ambiente, Trend, Sport and Platinum. The first two come with the choice of rear- or four-wheel drive the other two are RWD only. The entry-level Ambients have… Read more

NEW FORD F-150 – PRICING & SPECS

Ford Australia has announced pricing and specifications for the highly anticipated F-150 due to go on sale here in the second half of 2023. The F-150 will be remanufactured to right-hand drive by the Melbourne-based company RMA Automotive. It will come with the standard Ford five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty later this year and will be sold through the Ford nationwide dealer network. The new F-150 range will comprise four variants: XLT and Lariat each with the option of short (3683mm) or long (3987mm) wheelbases. The tray in the SWB models… Read more

FULL-SIZE F-150 UNDERGOES LOCAL TESTING

Ford continues to spruik the virtues of its ‘full-size’ utility cum pick-up F-150 due around the middle of next year. But you have to wonder whether Australia needs another hulking American pick-up on its roads, indeed whether it would be better off without any of its ilk? GMC’s Silverado and the Ram range of full-size trucks are already here and have been for some time. In fact, the F-150 itself is already, privately imported and converted to right-hand drive by Victoria’s Harrison F-Trucks as well as Queensland-based Performax International. Performax… Read more

FORD EVEREST SPORT V6

Ford recently updated its Everest with improvements to safety and comfort, so it was a good opportunity to carry out another road test and see what this popular model is like now. There are four variants: Ambiente, Trend, Sport and Platinum. The first two come with the choice of rear- or four-wheel drive the other two are RWD only. Our test vehicle was the Everest Sport with four-wheel drive. It has a recommend retail price of $69,090, to which on-road costs have to be added. STYLING Everest is a great… Read more

FORD MONDEO 2011 – 2020

Ford Mondeo is a European car aimed very much at the family market. They were sold as five-door hatches (also known as five-door sedans) and five-door station wagons. The wagons were popular as they are good load haulers. Ford Mondeo from the period being examined here had the Ford Sync infotainment systems. So even the base Mondeo LX has voice activated controls at a time when only upmarket European cars had the feature. Sync2 is installed from the 2015 models onwards. Ford also added Bluetooth connectivity as it was trying… Read more

RAPTOR FLIES IN FACE OF KEEN RIVALS

Driving the Ranger Raptor can give you a sore throat. Pull up, climb down and most likely someone will be standing there wanting you to fill them in on the workings of Ford’s super ute. There again, probably it was the sunset Sedona Orange duco of the test vehicle that had caught his or her eye. Generally, a long list of questions had to be answered before parting company with the onlooker of envious eye. Hence the driver’s dry throat. The last time this happened was years ago when a… Read more

FORD FOCUS 2011 – 2021

Ford Focus is a small-medium European model that has never had the success it deserves in Australia. That’s probably because dual-clutch automatics sold from 2011 till 2015 had many problems and these led to the complete car being given a poor reputation. The dual-clutch was replaced by a six-speed conventional torque convertor automatic transmission in September 2015 as part of a major makeover of the complete range. Ford Focus is pretty well made these days, though generally not to the extremely high standards of the Asian models. What the Focus… Read more