2026 Ford Everest Tremor review

There's a new tough guy in the Ford Everest range, with the Tremor treatment being applied.

It's a name that comes from the Ranger Tremor previously in Australia, but has a bit more history in the United States. The Ford F-150, F-250 and the Explorer SUV get Tremor-ised, with changes to the suspension, wheels and tyres, and other bits and bobs.

The Ford Ranger Tremor provides a nice stepping stone up to the all-conquering Raptor, which is nice to have. But in the case of the Everest, this Tremor plugs an off-road-focussed gap between the mid-spec Sport and top-spec Platinum.

The Ford Everest Tremor is priced from $78,440 plus on-road costs, and it shifts the focus away from on-road prestige and toward off-road suitability.

Gone are the 20-inch wheels, which are replaced by 17-inch black alloys wrapped in General Grabber AT3 all-terrains. These are a good off-road choice, made better by their light-truck construction.

These wheels also give a 30mm bump outward in wheel track, which is accommodated by a small flare on the guards.

Its dampers are a nice upgrade, with position-sensitive Bilstein dampers replacing the regular fare. These are a larger, heavier-duty damper tuned to the application and feature extra oil capacity in the small piggyback reservoirs.

The springs are also new and specific to the Everest Tremor, providing a 29mm increase in ride height.

There are also heavy-duty side steps, which are similar to what you get on the Ranger Tremor and Raptor, some extra underbody protection, and LED lights integrated into a tweaked front grille.

But wait, as Tim Shaw used to say, there's more.

Our test vehicle is further augmented with some off-road equipment from the options list, including the Rough Terrain Pack. This gets you a sturdy plastic front bumper, extra underbody protection and some interior auxiliary switches for $3550.

There's also the Touring Pack, which throws in a 360-degree camera, towbar, reversing assistance and an integrated brake controller for $2900.

Finally, there is also the Premium Seat Pack for $1200, which gets heated and ventilated front seats, along with 10-way driver and eight-way front passenger electric adjustment. Standard fare is eight-way for the driver and four-way manual for the front passenger, with heating only.

Check out what is available on Drive Marketplace when you're on the hunt for a Ford Everest of your own, because there are plenty on there. When I checked, there was a handful of Tremor models, along with plenty of the previous generation as well.

Find your nearest Ford dealer here to check out the Everest Tremor and organise a test drive, although you might not be able to test it off-road as much as we did here.

The interior of the Everest Tremor is still a highlight in terms of its suitability for larger families. It's a seven-seat SUV, and has a specific advantage over the Toyota LandCruiser Prado. The boot, in particular.

While the Tremor doesn't get both barrels of upgraded niceties on the inside (like a Platinum), it still looks and feels quite good.

There are some regular hard plastics below the waistline to worry about, but more common touchpoints look and feel appropriate for its price. Although, there is a bit of trim-wiggling to be had around the centre console and central stack.

I love the rubber floor mats in this car as well, which work well for muddy boots, off-road adventuring and mucky kids.

Perhaps more importantly, though, there is good practicality in here. The second glovebox and pop-out cupholders are nice to have, and the wireless charging pad (where you'll find USB-A and USB-C power) can also store a few extra incidentals.

As a seven-seater, there is a quoted 259 litres of boot space available, which is enough for a medium load of family groceries, or four or five school bags before you need to start stacking things up.

The third row seats fold almost flat to 898L, while 1823L avails itself in two-seat mode. That sounds like a lot, and it is.

The amount of space in the second row in this car is excellent, giving space for adults and child seats alike. Head room and toe room under the front seats are both good, and the sliding seat base can help apportion space when you need – especially if the third row is getting a workout.

Roof-mounted air vents help to keep occupants comfy, and we've got a drop-down central armrest with cupholders, a separate fan speed controller, USB power and a 230-volt power plug.

The third row of the Everest is pretty good overall, but not as good as something like a Nissan Patrol or Hyundai Palisade. The second-row seat needs to be slid forward a bit to make space, and head room is in short supply.

This is for an adult, by the way. A short trip, or short humans, would make light work of this space. There are air vents and power outlets in the third row, along with two cupholders. One of which extends outwards to hold a tablet, which tells me very clearly: whoever designed this interior has kids.

The 12.0-inch portrait-style infotainment display works well in the Everest and comes with plenty of tech-based bells and whistles.

There's wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto here, along with digital radio, AM/FM and native navigation.

The SYNC4 operating system is easy to navigate, and through here you can access some cool tricks, like zone lighting when you're camping.

There's also the FordPass app, which gives you remote functionality like location, locking/unlocking, remote start and climate control.

While the broader Ford Everest range gets a five-star ANCAP safety rating, there is enough change within this Everest Tremor to separate it away from the flock.

That means while we have the same airbags, general crash structure and safety aids here, the Everest Tremor is officially unrated by ANCAP.

Buyers can, though, glean some information from the ANCAP report for the Ford Everest range, even if the five-star rating doesn't apply here.

The range of safety technology in the Ford Everest doesn't change with the Tremor trim level. And for the most part, it's all well-tuned and calibrated for day-to-day operation.

Lane-keep assistance is well managed on a variety of Australian roads – including patchy lane markings – without going off too often. But you do occasionally get some strange interventions through the steering wheel.

If you can go to the extra expense of pre-paying your service costs at the time of picking up your vehicle, then you're looking at cheap servicing for the first five years. A total of $1596 works out to be $319 per year for the first five years, which includes new brake fluid in the third year.

Although, don't be surprised if some extra costs come into play here depending on your useage of the vehicle. It's not an utterly exhaustive capped-price coverage, and that's the case for just about every brand out there.

A premium of $2144.26 is a comparative comprehensive quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

While the high-capacity V6 of the Ford Everest is excellent to drive, it's not an outright winner in terms of efficiency.

It's something made a bit worse through the changes of the Everest Tremor. It's heavier, our tester definitely wouldn't cut through the air so well, and the all-terrain tyres will increase the wind/rolling resistance.

Against a claim of 9.5 litres per 100 kilometres (which is a clean one litre more than non-Tremor'ed V6 Everests), we saw a result of 11.3L/100km. But, this did include a good batch of off-road testing, a bit of suburban driving, and some long highway stints.

There's a lot to like about the driving experience of the Ford Everest, both on-road and off-road.

On the former point, the Tremor treatment doesn't really change the overall recipe of what the Everest does. The tyres are noisier and feel a bit heavier, and there is more weight to contend with overall. But the dampers haven't gone overly stiff in this case, which is good.

Position-sensitive damping allows for varying damping forces at different stroke positions on the damper, giving an important soft cushion in the general ride quality. It's very good overall, and would suit both suburban driving and long-distance touring with equal aplomb.

The 3.0-litre diesel V6 is equally peachy, providing smooth and torquey responsiveness through pedal prods. It's a lazy kind of performance, though, not revving up eagerly. But instead, it builds up a head of steam with a solid sense of purpose.

The 10-speed automatic transmission works well, and the clutch-based four-wheel-drive system is also quite imperceptible. It's a good advantage to have over the likes of a part-time four-wheel-drive system, loading up all four wheels in 4A mode on slippery surfaces. Drivers can also opt for dedicated rear-wheel drive, or locked up in 4H.

The more traditional gearset-based full-time four-wheel-drive system in the Toyota LandCruiser Prado isn't as flexible, but the mechanical Torsen setup is appealing in its own right.

Off-road, there is an obvious improvement in the performance of the Everest Tremor. Tyres, clearance, traction aids and protection all are good assets to have.

And it builds the Everest – which is a solid but not excellent off-roader – up in the right direction.

What's holding it back, do I hear you ask? Compared to something like a LandCruiser Prado, which still has an edge over the Blue Oval in this particular fight, there are a few things.

Firstly, the Watt's linkage rear suspension benefits in terms of poise at higher speeds, but feels a little more limited in terms of wheel articulation at low speeds. The Panhard rod of a LandCruiser Prado feels more slinky.

Secondly, the off-road driving modes aren't as polished or effective. We've got the addition of the Rock Crawl driving mode here – borrowed from the Ranger Raptor – but other modes are limited to being used only in high-range.

Still, the Everest is quite good off-road. And likely, this Everest Tremor will deliver more capability than most will need.

The appeal as I see it, though, is having a vehicle that is more ready to tackle off-road conditions more confidently with the extra clearance, more protection and grippier, more durable rubber. There's good value to be had in the Tremor pack as well, even though the handful of options we have on this test car really does ramp up the price overall.

Although, the location of the AdBlue tank – which is right at the back next to the spare wheel on the passenger side – looks like it could be damaged if things go awry. It's not hugely likely, but a punctured tank would spell the end of any journey, so pay heed.

A 3500kg braked towing capacity is good, but it's worth noting that the increased kerb weight is offset by a bump in the gross vehicle mass from 3150kg to 3240kg. And with a portly 2550kg kerb weight, there is 690kg of payload available.

Although, this doesn't include the extra weight of optional equipment like we have on our test car.

The payload is likely a little bit on the low side if you want to accommodate a few passengers, some gear, and the weight of the towball on the back.

For example, a 3500kg trailer will take the gross combination mass down from 6350kg to 2850kg. Deduct the vehicle's weight from that, and you only have 300kg left over for the towball mass

Considering the ball weight of the caravan would likely be around the 10 per cent mark of the trailer (350kg), you can see that you will likely be overloaded.

Stick to a 2–2.5-tonne trailer and you will be in a much better position.

We're big fans of the Everest, and have regularly given it strong reviews, wins in comparisons, and plenty of Drive Car of the Year gongs.

And with this Tremor variant, nothing really changes. The base quality of the car still comes through, but now with an extra dose of off-road cred and capability.

Compared to the Ranger Tremor, the ride quality doesn't take as much of a beating here. It's still comfy and plush for an off-road vehicle, and has an interior well suited for families.

For a jack-of-all-trades that can do the weekend fun and mid-week hauling, the Everest Tremor takes some beating.

Sam Purcell has been writing about cars, four-wheel driving and camping since 2013, and obsessed with anything that goes brum-brum longer than he can remember. Sam joined the team at CarAdvice/Drive as the off-road Editor in 2018, after cutting his teeth at Unsealed 4X4 and Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures. Off-road writer of the Year, Winner - Sam Purcell

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