New Ford Endeavour Review

This is the new Ford Endeavour with the smaller 2.2-litre diesel engine. You can also buy it with a larger 3.2-litre engine that’s got a lot more grunt and a higher sticker price.

All-new?

It’s light years ahead of the old Endeavour. It looks smarter, rides better, is a lot more luxurious, and comes with fresh powertrain options that make its predecessor look not one but two generations old. The new Ford Endeavour then is a completely new beast poses a much stronger challenge to the Fortuner.

Will it turn heads?

At 4.8 metres in length, it is longer than the Fortuner, the Pajero Sport and the Chevy Trailblazer – its main rivals in India, and if I stick it in my parking slot at home, the tail sticks out into the driveway. This huge size isn’t a bad thing with this kind of vehicle because that is exactly what full-size SUV buyers want, isn’t it? With the Endeavour though, you also get oversize detailing – that huge chrome grille looks like it could swallow a small hatchback, the bonnet starts at chest level, the headlights are huge, it has muscular wheel arches, big 18-inch all-terrain tyres and a sober, classy rear. Standing still, it dwarfs everything else around it.

What else?

Climb up into the driver’s seat and you’ll be greeted with an interior that is nothing like the hard plastic, bare bones of the old Endeavour. In this one, you get a layer of double-stitched leather across the top of the dashboard, classy chrome and metal inserts and well-finished lower dash plastics. It looks upmarket and very attractive and even the interface for Ford’s SYNC2 infotainment system is quite slick and rather easy to use. Additionally, you get these really comfortable seats, a high quality steering wheel (with too many buttons on it), a spacious middle row and a reasonably spacious third row that can be used for short journeys by adults. However, like all vehicles with ladder frame chassis underpinnings, third row passengers end up sitting with their backsides almost on the floor and their knees raised. Still, this is easily the best cabin in this class and it makes the old Endeavour feel like a tarted up horse cart.

How quick?

The 2.2-litre diesel is available with both manual and automatic options and you can specify the manual with the 4×4 drivetrain. This six-speed automatic on the 2.2 is however only available in rear-wheel-drive configuration. With 158bhp and 385Nm of torque available from 1600rpm, the engine has enough grunt to make reasonably light work of this Endeavour’s 2.3 tonnes. There’s good pep off the bottom of the revband – a linear push into the mid-range and then power starts tailing off.

Fun to drive?

The fly in the ointment here is the six-speed auto though. It feels like an old school slush box because it is rather slow-witted with its shifts and you sometimes need to slip into tiptronic mode to get it to select the gear you want, when you want it. Also, at idle and when you are cruising, the engine is quiet enough thanks the active noise cancellation tech in the car but it can sound quite strained when you give it a lot of throttle.

Where this new Ford Endeavour really shines is in the way it rides. For something so tall and heavy and given the kind of chassis it has, body control is really good and the coil-spring, anti-roll bar suspension all around is fantastic at absorbing bumps. High speed stability is good and, like most Fords, it handles well for its size. The 2.2 doesn’t come with the semi-automatic parallel park assist but with its light-at-slow-speed steering and high-resolution reverse camera, parking this giant isn’t as cumbersome as you would imagine it to be. So in its SUV kind of way, the Endeavour is fun to drive.

Easy on the pocket?

Ford has priced the Endeavour very aggressively. Prices start from Rs 24.75 lakh for the 2.2 Endeavour, while the 3.2 Endeavour’s prices start from Rs 27.78 lakh, all prices ex-showroom, Mumbai. This 2.2 Endeavour in Titanium trim costs Rs 27.36 lakh, a shade lower than the 3.2. The extra Rs 42,000 is worth the upgrade.

Good value?

It is rather well equipped. This top end Titanium (there’s also a lower Trend spec) comes with a really nice sounding ten-speaker audio system with Bluetooth connectivity, powered tailgate, powered driver’s seat, dual-zone climate control at the front, temperature control for the rear with vents even for the feet, reverse camera, leather seats, auto headlamps and wipers, seven airbags, ABS and EBD, ESP and traction control. What it is missing is satellite navigation. For the price the Ford Endeavour is excellent value for the lower variants. You should upgrade to the 3.2 instead of the top end 2.2 because the difference isn’t much.