2025 Ford Everest Tremor review
The local Blue Oval bigwigs look like cats that got the cream when talking about the Ford Everest, and they have every right to be chuffed. Last year was an absolute ripper for the Everest, selling more than any other large SUV in Australia and breaking the record for the segment.
Its most popular variant is the Everest Sport, which is now being used as the basis for the Everest Tremor, an off-road specialty vehicle that will be a permanent part of the line-up. It follows a near-identical blueprint to the Ranger Tremor ute released as a limited-edition only model last year, adding a ton of modifications for better tackling the rough stuff.
How much does the 2025 Ford Everest Tremor cost?
The Everest Tremor starts at $76,590 (plus on-road costs) in Australia, which slots it above the equivalent Sport ($74,640) and behind the top-of-the-range Everest Platinum ($81,115). Of course, this doesn’t include a choice of upgrades bundled into four optional packs on the Tremor.
The Rough Terrain ($3500), Towing ($1900), Touring ($2500) and Premium Seat ($1100) packs add a bunch of desirable features, while premium paint – anything other than Arctic White – is an extra $700.
Our test vehicle at the Tremor’s launch in Victoria’s Yarra Valley was fitted with all four packs and Command Grey paint, taking the tally up to $86,290.
Even with all the trimmings, the Tremor is still competitive against off-road stars in rival line-ups, including the newly released Toyota LandCruiser Prado Altitude ($92,700).
It also presents a sharper buy against the Land Rover Defender (from $92,402) but does come at a premium compared to the facelifted Isuzu MU-X X-Terrain ($74,400) and the aging Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GSR ($64,840).
What is the Ford Everest Tremor like inside?
The Everest’s cabin has long been hailed for its blend of practicality, comfort and technology. It has the rugged, truck-like vibe of the Ranger ute from which it’s derived, with a near-vertical dash, big honeycombed air vents, and tactile buttons.
It’s all in service to a go-anywhere philosophy, where the latest vehicle trends of buttonless dashes and futuristic panoramic displays seem out of place. While the Tremor is essentially an Everest Sport, minor cosmetic tweaks to its seven-seat interior separate it as something special, with dark stitching and grey accents, as well as embroidered Tremor logos in the front seats.
There’s still some cheap-feeling plastic employed inside, particularly around the transmission tunnel, but most touchpoints are softened, and elbows are well looked after. The leather-accented front seats are quite firm yet cushioned and supportive enough for long stints touring.
There’s plenty of head and leg space in the second row for large adults, along with dual-zone climate control and additional USB-A and USB-C ports behind the large centre storage bin, plus a 400-watt inverter to power appliances.
As expected, the third row is best left to the littlest members of the family, while the boot offers a useful 259 litres of space, expanding to 1823 litres with the second and third rows down.
What equipment does the model come with?
First and foremost, let’s get into all those off-road goodies that make this the most badass Everest of them all. It has an extra 29mm of ground clearance over the Sport, thanks to a lift kit with new springs and Bilstein position-sensitive dampers that have been locally tuned for Australian conditions.
It all sits on 17-inch black alloys and General Grabber all-terrain tyres, with a full-size spare under the boot floor. Maximum wading depth is 800mm. There are new heavy-duty side-steps and up front are additional LED lamps, a steel bash plate and recovery hooks.
If you require even more hardcore gear, opting for the Rough Terrain pack gets more under-vehicle armour, a front bar that looks somewhat like a bulldog’s underbite, and an auxiliary switch bank.
The Tremor also adds tyre pressure monitoring and a Rock Crawl driving mode on top of all the standard Everest Sport equipment. These include an eight-inch driver display, 12-inch portrait infotainment screen, an electric parking brake, wireless smartphone charger, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and an eight-way power adjustable driver’s seat.
Front passengers have to make do with manual seat adjustment, unless you tick the Premium Seat Pack which adds heated, ventilated and power-adjustable front seats.
— Adam Smith
How safe is the Ford Everest Tremor?
The Ford Everest has a five-star ANCAP rating based on the 2022 testing of the Ranger ute.
The Tremor comes with almost every safety feature under the sun, including adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition and lane centring, speed assistance, dynamic stability control, blind spot monitoring with cross traffic alert, pre-collision assistance with autonomous emergency braking and intersection assistance, a lane keeping and driver alert system, reverse braking assistance, front and rear parking sensors, and a rear-view camera.
A 360-degree camera, however, is only available with the Touring Pack.
What powers the Ford Everest Tremor?
While the Everest Sport gets the option of a 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel engine, the Tremor is only available with the 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel powerplant that's been residing in higher-spec Everests and Rangers.
Paired with a 10-speed automatic, it has outputs of 184kW and 600Nm. Claimed fuel consumption of 9.5L/100km is a full litre more over the already thirsty Everest Sport V6. We saw an indicated 8.8L/100km while in 2WD mode on a country road loop in the Tremor, suggesting the figure might be achievable, but hopefully we can do a more comprehensive test in the near future.
As with other Everests, the Tremor also requires AdBlue diesel exhaust mitigation fluid to meet current emissions standards.
What is the Ford Everest Tremor like to drive?
There’s very little to distract drivers from a gratifying experience behind the wheel in the Everest Tremor. Intuitive controls, easy infotainment navigation and set-and-forget selection of driver assistance settings are a godsend in this age of tech-induced hair-pulling.
On the tarmac, the Tremor’s V6 and 10-speed auto package delivers seamless grunt that’s predominantly free from diesel clatter. Even with chunkier donuts, the cabin is well insulated from tyre roar and the 30mm wider track goes a long way to offsetting the increased ride height, giving as much assurance through corners as the laws of physics will allow in an off-road engineered SUV.
In recognition of Australia’s ever-growing towing fraternity, Ford has maintained the Everest’s 3500kg towing ability, which is achieved despite the Tremor’s off-road upgrades.
The advantage in ground clearance and approach/departure angles (32/26.8 degrees) gives confidence when off the beaten track, where deep ruts would force ordinary 4WDs to turn back.
Fair play to the Ford team, they took us to some challenging trails on the launch and one tricky section even necessitated the use of Maxtrax recovery boards. The Tremor’s rear diff lock and extra under-vehicle armour (in the Rough Terrain pack) ensured it was up to the task. The
Open Road’s take on the Ford Everest Tremor
Sales books for the Tremor have been open since December 2024 (apparently the Australian wharfies’ strike delayed the arrival of the Tremor press cars) and Ford says it has received 370 orders up to the end of February.
Whether it’ll help plug the gap left by the demise of 2WD Everests (victims of new emissions standards) and take the SUV to another record-selling year remains to be seen.
Anecdotally, we’ve heard of buyers getting the Tremor because it just looks more hardcore than a regular Everest. While we can’t disagree with the sentiment, buyers who will take it further into Australia’s remote corners are sure to get the most enjoyment from the Tremor.
Ford has done the heavy lifting for off-road devotees, negating much of the need for aftermarket modifications while improving on an already impressive SUV.
What we liked
- Off-road upgrades don’t diminish towing ability
- Smooth V6 power delivery
- Intuitive controls and no over-zealous driving assistance
What could be better?
- Embeds a few key features in optional packs
- Some hard interior plastics in a vehicle pushing $80k
- Requires AdBlue fluid top-ups
