Ford Everest.

Yes I read it. Pretty pointless article. I'm not planning to sleep in it, Adblue does not scare me ( watch how it catches on as emissions rules tighten)

Doing the same sort of research, looking to buy a new tow vehicle for 2t off road van. Last week drove the Fortuner and Prado. Absolutely no comparison. Although the Fortuner supposedly has a higher towing capacity, felt very unsettled on a bitumen road and twitchy around corners. Prado just sat on the road and handled much better. Salesman said the Fortuner does not have the ride and road handling of the Prado and he is right. Great pity the Prado does not have higher towing capacity and not sure why it is limited to 2.5 t.

Still considering but Ranger looks like the best option at this stage. Also very disappointed with Everest as the 3rd row of seat means it is completely unsuitable for long term 4WD touring.

Doesn't the third row fold into the floor? Meaning you could remove them completely and score even more space?

No the third row fold down but not flat. Major exercise to remove them. Also does not appear well suited to cargo barrier. Just don't seem at all suitable for 4wd touring.

I had a better look after reading your comment. Similar setup to our TriBeCa. I agree not great for touring.

You have a time machine?

If Swampy does I would not mind borrowing it! Ford build some very attractive product. Meets all the criteria for a good vehicle with class leading dynamics and people rave about them ( as owners of rangers prove ). However they do make what appear to be mind boggling decisions attempting to lower fuel/emissions, or just outright penny pinching. Oil coolers are a prime example, but the list is long as my arm on various issues across the range of their vehicles, some of which would be considered annoying right through to your car goes into limp home mode every so often to your car don't go at all and anything in between. Unfortunately ford have a habit of wacking new tech in without fully developing it. That's my perception anyway.

The dealer back up is a lottery depending on who you deal with.

I agree with Swampy, long term yet to be proven.

Good luck

Ford have a nasty habit of building a basically good vehicle, then letting the bean counters loose on it, to try and cheapen every component.

I can assure you this is a regular technique with many manufacturers, but Ford are best at it.

They will examine every item in a vehicle to see how it can be produced at lower cost. When that involves less labour, I'm fine by that - but when it involves less metal, or plastic instead of metal - then they lose me, and a lot of other customers.

Falcon window drive mechanisms were a classic. They built a satisfactory window drive mechanism - but rather than use an alloy diecast gear, they used a plastic gear. The result was regular stripped window drive gears.

Great for Ford parts sales, but a cost burden on owners as the door had to be stripped down, the window regulator and motor removed - and a complete new assembly fitted.

Yes, you read right. You couldn't buy just the stripped gear, you had to buy a COMPLETE DRIVE MOTOR assembly! - at sizeable cost.

I've owned dozens of Toyotas and never had a window drive system fail yet - and some of those Toyotas were/are 15 yrs old or more.

Then Ford wonder why repeat sales aren't forthcoming, and no-one buys Falcons any more.

Holdens did the same thing with their old 6cyl red, blue and black motors. The distributor drive gear was originally steel - then the bean counters changed it to plastic. The result - distributor drive gears stripped by the thousand, and owners looking for the original steel gear as a replacement.

Plastic water pump impellers are another doozy. Guaranteed to crap themselves within 50,000kms, generally - particularly if you drive regularly at high speed. All to save 50c on every impeller.

I could go on - but beware of the bugs hiding in Fords due to the bean counters penny-pinching.
What is extremely annoying is that Ford have some brilliant engineers, some really good designs, and generally good manufacturing practices - then they wreck it all, by letting miserly bean counters loose on their operations, thus destroying their reputation for reliability - and all to save $50 per vehicle.

Toyota built their name and reputation on building a quality product that lasts, without resorting to penny-pinching.
They stumbled on QC for several years in the early 2000's, as they sought production levels over quality levels - and it came back to bite them on the bum.

I think they've learnt a lot, but I think that even Toyota build quality isn't what it was. However they will still beat any Ford any day, for longevity and reliability.

You can always pick an also-ran in the vehicle field. They're the ones you find, 8 yrs old, with 250,000kms on the clock - and 10% of the switches have stopped working, and 15% of the knobs and handles have fallen off.
Unfortunately, those vehicles are usually Fords, Mitsubishi's and Nissans.

Cheers, Ron.

The Auto is brilliant with towing and beach work and city driving....