Going off-road with the Ford Everest Trend 4x2 AT for sand spas and mud packs

I like a great massage as much as the next guy. I could go for a Swedish or foot reflexology every day, but I draw the line at highfalutin treatments like seaweed wraps, caviar massages, and, I kid you not, gold facials.

When I received an invite to go for a hot sand spa and cool mudpack, I wasn’t too thrilled. I thought it was just another plain but overpriced and exaggerated treatment, until I found out where it was — Sitio Target, Brgy., Sapang Bato, Angeles City, Pampanga.

That’s lahar country, baby!

The place was called Puning Hot Spring and Restaurant,  some six kilometers from the border of Clark Freeport.

I thought to myself, “perfect” since I had an Everest Trend 4x2 AT just sitting in the garage, might as well take it on a 100-plus-kilometer drive coupled with a little off-road action for good measure.

Exterior

Unlike its Japanese counterparts, the Everest doesn’t follow the popular stealthy look of new SUVs and its sharp lines and edges. It’s such a Ford thing to keep proportions big and bold — from the chrome grille, the halogen with projector headlights lamps, and even the fog lamps.

Because of the chubby exterior, its defining marks are few: Some strakes on the hood, a gill on each side, a faint outline over the fenders, and a visible ridge above the rocker panel. That’s it.

It’s mostly gray on the outside save for the black on the bi-colored side mirrors (with turn indicators) and the silver trim on the roof and on the front and rear bumpers.

The color looks droning at the start but it takes a certain amount of sophistication to looking good while only playing with one dominant color scheme.

It has keyless entry but isn’t the "smart" type and it you’ll have to key in to turn the ignition. People who are used to carrying a lot of stuff to and from their office desk may find that part a bit of a hassle.

Interior

While it may be a good five notches down the trim, it still sports a good amount of leather in the cabin, on the seats, steering wheel, gear shifter booth and center console cover. The rest of the surface is good quality plastic peppered by silver accents.

It looks bare, but only because I’ve tried the Titanium trim already.

Interior lines are plain and simple. Just like the exterior, the whole layout expresses toughness with thick black padding and that silver trim that runs across the dashboard, through the shield-like center stack with the eight-inch touchscreen and large air-con vents.

The steering wheel looks big and has control on both sides for audio, telephony, and the multi-information display in the instrument panel.

There are also a couple of 12V sockets and USB ports, which are placed strategically on top of a cubby hole for power-hungry devices.

Engine

Driving the rear-wheel drive layout is a 2.2-liter TDCi (Duratorq) diesel engine with 158hp and 385Nm of torque that’s mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.

Its chunky body looks heavy but it’s light on its feet and responsive because of the generous torque.

You’ll hear more grunt from the engine if you need to overtake, even if it’s only on EDSA, because it has close to 20hp less than the Titanium 4x2 model. But not to worry, it can still deliver and shoot through openings in traffic easily.

Ride and handling

It’s that torque though that launches and shoots it forward if you’re not gentle with the throttle. This may make the ride a feel too energetic for some but I actually liked its quick action response.

The leafsprings at the rear make the ride stiff, especially over poorly designed speed humps. It's not too uncomfortable, but definitely not sedan-like. Even an extra three passengers don’t change how excitable the suspension is.

It more than makes up for the stiffness with very good noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) suppression. Save for a little diesel clatter, there’s barely any external sound that creeps in.

As an SUV, it’s naturally tall, and its presence alone tells you it has a good wading depth, which is at 800 millimeters. That will come in handy as the rainy season kicks in, but that obviously compromises rollover resistance to a certain extent.

Verdict

Okay, so it doesn’t have the wizbang safety features of the top trim like blind spot assistance, lane keeping system, and collision mitigation, which you don’t really need if you just keep your full attention on the road (and use the darn side mirrors), it comes with truck essentials like hill launch and hill descent control, trailer sway control, electronic stability program, and roll stability control.

Priced at P1.738 million, the Ford Everest Trend 4x2 AT is more than half a million less than the top-end 2.0-liter Bi-turbo 4x4 and even P200,000 cheaper than its Titanium counterpart.

Whether you live your life on the edge (hitting up lahar trails for a fancy spa treatment) or keep mostly to the city, this has the fundamental SUV features you need while saving you some extra cash for your swanky mudpacks.

Photos by Eric Tipan