Ford Ranger Platinum vs Ford Everest Sport 2026 review: long-term

My Fords are multiplying, and mutating, with my Ranger Platinum now joined by its tray-less cousin, the ute-based seven-seat SUV that is the Ford Everest Sport.

That means the same big V6 diesel engine, and the same rugged capability, but a little more family friendly than a dual-cab ute.

That’s the idea, anyway. But is it? My wife and I have just had our first bub, and I’ve been living with these two, so I’m in a pretty good position to answer that for you.

But be warned! This isn’t a comparison in the traditional sense. You won't find Marcus 'Crafty' Craft sending these two through some rocky gorge. Nor Mark Oastler towing something big and cumbersome behind them.

There is almost endless internet already dedicated to these vehicles — two of Australia’s best-sellers — so if you really want to go deep, just use that little search bar at the top of this site.

What this is, though, is a closer look at how each one of these behemoths fits into family life, and specifically MY family life, so maybe it's best if we start with a little about us.

My wife and I are city folk, and — outside of the stuff I do for work — the furthest we usually venture off-road in our own time is when the local brewery’s carpark is being re-surfaced.

We also have just the one baby, an eight-month-old, and it was his arrival that suddenly sparked this sudden interest in bigger vehicles, not so much for their towing, payload or seating configurations, but because they’re about the only things big enough to fit the mountains of stuff we suddenly have to cart with us every time we leave the house.

More and more of these vehicles are being marketed as family vehicles, and so that’s what we’re really putting to the test here. And the most important thing to most families? Practicality.

Well, practicality and price, and on that latter point, both these vehicles are a touch eye-watering. Our Ranger, the Platinum, is a smidge under $90k on the road in NSW. The Everest Sport is a little cheaper, at just under $83k on the road. Those are big numbers, but they don't seem to be turning off buyers, do they?

Anyway, the two models are pretty much the same up the front, but it’s at the back where things really change. The Everest is a seven-seat SUV, and with the third row in place you’ll find 259 litres of luggage space on offer. Drop the third row, and that number grows to 898 litres. Drop both, and you’ll find a massive 1823 litres.

The reason I fell in love with the Ranger in the first place is because, despite a pretty constant stream off mid-size SUVs coming through my garage, none could easily fit all the stuff we needed when going away - prams, cots, baths you name it.

But the Ranger could, and so can this Everest. But… not as easily, and never with the third row in place. And given we don’t use it, it left me feeling like I’d paid for something that was just getting in the way.

Plus you need to load it to the gills and, should you need something from the back, you need to unload everything, get what you need, and reload the lot.

The Ranger, on the other hand, is easier. You end up flat-laying everything, rather than stacking towards a roofline, so everything is easier to get to. The bed is roughly 1.4 by 1.5m, away from wheel arches, and we found it plenty big enough for all of our stuff.

So, it’s a tight one, and obviously if you need the third row, then the ute is out, but I find the Ranger more practical.

So if that’s cargo, what about space inside? Happily, both the Everest and the Ranger have cabins big enough that, when you install your baby seat, the front passenger can still push their seat back far enough to be comfortable. And that’s not always the case – we had heaps of traditional mid-size SUVs through the garage in which my wife’s seat had to be pushed so far forwards that long trips were super uncomfortable.

But the big difference between these two models — apart from the tray, of course – is the third row of seats, with the Everest able to fit two extra humans at a pinch. But I do mean at a pinch. I'm 175cm, and my head was hitting the roof, suggesting row three is reserved for small kids only. But as I mentioned, we don't need it and didn't use it. For us, the Everest Sport was strictly a five-seat affair.

The other big difference between these two is the way that they drive, which is a little surprising, given their similarities, but the big change is in the suspension, with the Ranger adopting a ute-friendly leaf-sprung setup, while the Everest nabs a more conventional and SUV-like setup.

And that should, in theory, make the Everest the more comfortable cruiser, but in order to put that to the test, we'd have to encounter Ad Blue. It works its magic to reduce exhaust pipe pollutants, but it’s not cheap.

In fact, back in 2022, it was $1.50 to $2.50 per litre — prices deemed so outrageous the ACCC launched a price-gouging investigation. Fast-forward to 2025, and I paid over $50 for 10 litres. That’s more than $5 a litre. So I’m going to guess that investigation didn’t go so well.

Anyway, it’s a necessary evil – my Everest has been warning me every 100km or so that the engine eventually won’t start unless I add it – and it's not particularly difficult. There's a secondary intake next to the fuel cap, and you just buy the mysterious potion from any service station and pop it in. Ford tells me that a full 18-litre tank of Ad Blue should last more than 12,000km, so it's far from an everyday thing.

Under the bonnet of each of these behemoths is a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6, churning out 184kW and 600Nm, which pairs with a 10-speed automatic, and for that level of effortless grunt, a little AdBlue is probably worth it...

But the driving is curious. I honestly thought I would prefer the way the Everest steers, given it is more targeted at families. But I don't.

Both deliver similar acceleration, and similar (11L-plus) fuel use, but I think the Everest feels floatier on its suspension, serving up more body roll and movement in the cabin than its Ranger sibling. Drive it aggressively and you end up pitching about in the cabin a bit, like you're riding on rough seas.

Again, I'm giving it to the Ranger here, because while it drives a lot like an SUV for a ute, the Everest feels a lot like a ute for an SUV, at least on the road.

So there you have it, a tight-fought battle, but the Ranger gets the family win.

Acquired: July 2025

Distance travelled this month: 643km

Odometer: 13879km

Average fuel consumption this month: 11.1L/100km