Ford Everest vs Toyota Fortuner

This is the mid-spec Everest but it comes kitted out with a mountain (ahem, sorry) of equipment that outdoes the Toyota. There’s an eight-inch screen, rear view camera, front and rear parking sensors, digital radio, auto highbeam, power tailgate, one 230 volt and four 12 volt sockets, and it’s wi-fi enabled.

The Crusade is the king of the Fortuner castle. So along with the gear that comes with the lower grades such as a seven-inch screen and reversing camera, rear parking sensors, proximity unlocking the Crusade also gets leather seats, satnav, digital radio, one 220 volt and three 12 volt sockets, LED headlights and 18-inch alloys.

Nobody seems to be able to make beautiful ute-based SUV, but the Everest comes closer to being good looking than the Fortuner, albeit in a Terminator kind of way. The cabin is modern, massive and practical with comfortable seating and plenty of storage. The third row is also properly suitable for adults with decent leg and headroom. The back seats fold flat to the floor when not being used leaving a whopping 1050 litres of clear boot space.

We all have our own views on what's good looking, but you only need a pair of eyes to see that the Fortuner is not. The way the window sill steps up looks awkward and the forward-sloping C-pillar restricts access. The cabin, however, is stylish with excellent seating in the front and second row, but the third row is just for kids. With the back seats folded up there’s between 654-716 litres of space (the second row slides) – but they block vision out the rear side windows and clutter the boot.

The Everest has a 143kW/470Nm 3.2-litre five-cylinder turbodiesel engine and with its six-speed automatic transmission uses 8.5L/100km. The SUV also has a full-time four-wheel drive system ensuring all wheels have optimum traction. As with the Fortuner, the driver can lock the differential for tough terrain, but the Everest also has four driving modes: Normal; Snow, Gravel, Grass; Sand and Rock.

All Fortuners are powered by Toyota’s new-generation 130kW/ 450Nm 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel, it’s a strong, smooth-running engine which when hooked up to the six-speed automatic transmission drinks 8.6L/100km. The driver can switch between two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive with a high and low range.

Like the Fortuner, the Everest nails safety with a five-star ANCAP crash test rating, seven airbags, traction and stability control, EBD and ABS. There’s also a lane keeping system which will steer you back into your lane and adaptive cruise control.

The Fortuner has a five-star ANCAP crash test rating, there’s seven airbags, stability and traction control, ABS, EBD, hill hold, trailer sway control. For child seats there’s three top tether anchor points and two ISOFIX mounts.

Ford has put the Everest though three million kilometres of testing and much of that development was done in Australia. Like the Fortuner the Everest is based on a ute – the Ranger – and is a talented off roader thanks to the body sitting on a ladder frame and that excellent four wheel drive system. On the road, the ride is comfortable, but those commercial roots are hard to hide.

Based on Toyota’s HiLux ute, the Fortuner’s body sits on a ladder frame – this combined with a bulletproof four-wheel drive system makes this a super capable off-roader. On the road the Fortuner handles more like a truck than a car, but it has a comfortable ride and towering above the traffic above the traffic is pretty darn good.