Ford Everest 2025 review: Tremor - Australian first drive

The Everest Tremor is priced from $76,590 (plus on-road costs), making it just over $4500 cheaper than the Platinum but almost $2000 more expensive than the equivalent Sport.

That lines it up to compete against the Toyota Prado GXL ($79,990 + ORCs), GWM Tank 500 Hybrid Ultra ($73,990 drive-away) and the Isuzu MU-X ($74,400 + ORCs).

For that price, Ford has made some notable upgrades to enhance the Everest’s off-road ability, to give the Tremor more appeal to those who really enjoy off-road driving rather than just family buyers who want a seven-seater for the school run.

It starts with the standard 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel engine (unlike the 2.0-litre Ranger Tremor), along with a revised suspension package that includes Bilstein dampers and new springs, a steel bash plate as well as new General Grabber all-terrain tyres on 17-inch alloy wheels.

There are other design changes, too, but we’ll detail them in a moment in the section below.

Worth noting there are four option packs to choose from. The 'Rough Terrain Pack' costs $3500 and adds a Rough Terrain bar as well as extended underbody protection and an auxiliary switch bank.

The 'Premium Tremor Seat Pack' adds $1100 and brings a 10-way power adjustable driver’s seat, eight-way power adjustable front passenger seat as well as heated and ventilated front seats.

The $1900 'Towing Pack' adds a tow bar, integrated trailer brake controller and blind-spot monitoring with trailer coverage.

Finally, the 'Touring Pack' costs $2500 and adds a 360-degree camera view, tow car, integrated trailer brake control and 'Pro Trailer Backup Assist'.

Obviously there’s no change to the space inside the Tremor compared to the rest of the Everest range, so it is still a spacious seven-seat SUV. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a major development when it comes to the space offered by Ford in its large SUV.

Namely, the launch of the new Prado and the revelation that the new hybrid system compromises the packaging in the rear of the seven-seat models, meaning the third-row seats can’t fold down into the floor and a raised riser drawer has been added.

While Toyota claims the Prado has 906L of space with the third row folded down, that’s a statistical advantage only due to the nature of the packaging.

2025 Ford Everest Tremor.

By contrast, the Everest doesn’t have a draw and instead it’s a flat, deep floor with the third row folded down flush with the floor.

So while the Everest boot measures 898L, in practical, real-world terms the Ford is better and more usable. 

As a kicker, with the third-row seats up, the Everest claims 259L compared to the Prado’s 182L, so all around the Everest is a more practical choice for those who need to carry a lot.

As for the rest of the interior, the new seats look good and offer nice space and support up front, while the second row is good for a couple of adults or three smaller kids and the third row is what you’d expect in an SUV - tight but usable for shorter trips.

The multimedia system is unchanged, too, so it’s the same easy to use 'Ford SYNC' set-up with a tablet-style touchscreen.

One notable new feature for the Tremor is a 400W inverter with a household outlet in the second row, which is handy for road trips or camping.

2025 Ford Everest Tremor.

The Everest Tremor is only offered with the 184kW/600Nm 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel, a complete reversal from the Ranger Tremor, which was only available with Ford’s 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel.

The V6 is paired to a 10-speed automatic transmission and comes standard with Ford’s permanent 4WD system, which features a rear diff lock for more challenging off-road adventures.

Ford said it made this decision to provide Everest Tremor buyers with more grunt, befitting its place at the top of the range, and provide the full 3500kg towing capacity. Although, in this day-and-age, the extra choice would have been nice, as the 2.0-litre engine is an impressive unit for its size.

2025 Ford Everest Tremor.

Ford claims the Everest Tremor uses 9.5L/100km of diesel, but thanks to our largely off-road first drive we couldn’t give that a real-world evaluation.

The Everest is fitted with an 80-litre fuel tank, which means a theoretical driving range of more than 840km, which is what you need for a serious off-road adventure.

2025 Ford Everest Tremor.

In terms of safety equipment the Everest Tremor comes fitted with all the usual active elements you should expect, including 'Forward Collision Alert', 'Pre-collision Assist', lane keeping assist, cross-traffic alert and 'Reverse Brake Assist'.

Importantly, in case you can’t avoid an accident, the Everest is equipped with nine airbags, including full-length curtain airbags that extend to the third row.

As for its safety rating, ANCAP awarded the Everest a maximum five stars but did so based on the physical crash testing of the Ranger ute.

2025 Ford Everest Tremor.

ANCAP accepted Ford technical information that demonstrates both models should, theoretically, provide the same crash performance despite the obvious differences.

However, it should also be noted that this five-star rating was awarded in 2022, prior to the latest crash testing protocols being introduced by ANCAP in 2023, so there is no clarity over how the Everest would perform to these more stringent standards; although that’s an ANCAP issue, not a Ford one.

But, just for the record, the new Prado has achieved five stars with the latest ANCAP ratings, but unless ANCAP re-tests the Everest, we can’t say with certainty how the two models compare, beyond saying they have the same ratings.