PERFORMANCE REVIEW: 2020 FORD ENDEAVOUR 4X4

Also in place was the world’s first 10-speed automatic transmission. In this review report I shall be primarily writing about the new Ford Endeavour powertrain that we got to test on the shifting sands of Sam Sand Dunes in Jaisalmer in the north Indian state of Rajasthan.

Of the 10 new Ford Endeavour SUVs that went on a long dune bashing exercise, a few of them got beached on the sand. So did that mean that the mammoth machines had some short coming in their 4x4 prowess? The lesson I learnt from other people’s mistakes was that you can beach the best of vehicles if you have the word ‘CLUMSY’ written all over your face.

 It was all about understanding the vehicle and applying the right moves. So let me start telling you the story of the new Ford Endeavour and its new powertrain.

The new 2.0L EcoBlue diesel engine is Bharat Stage VI compliant and is more fuel-efficient than the outgoing 2.2L TDCi engine and has reduced emissions. The EcoBlue engine delivers approximately 168hp of peak power and 420 Nm peak torque. The EcoBlue engine with 4X2 driveline will return 13.90 kmpl while 4X4 variant delivers 12.4 Kmpl, a 14% improvement in fuel efficiency.

With a simplified variant lineup, the 2020 Ford Endeavour is available in three-trims – 2.0L Titanium 4X2 AT, 2.0L Titanium+ 4X2 Automatic and 2.0L Titanium+ 4X4 Automatic. We were driving the 4x4 variant.

Ford India has introduced the 2020 Endeavour at an introductory price starting at Rs 29.55 lakh. The introductory prices of 2020 Endeavour will only be valid till April 30, 2020, post which the ex-showroom prices will see an upward revision of Rs 70,000. All customers who book their cars until April 30 will benefit from this offer. 

 The EcoBlue engine also offers a 20 per cent improvement in low-end torque from the outgoing 2.2L TDCi engine.  This new Ford EcoBlue engine is also more refined and quieter with a 4-decibel reduction in idle noise.

The Ford EcoBlue engine’s all-new design features multiple innovations that reduce friction, contributing to an improvement in fuel efficiency. The new engine uses Diesel Exhaust Fluid commonly referred to as AdBlue. Automatically injected into the vehicle’s exhaust system, this fluid will help reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.

Coming to the 10-speed automatic transmission with SelectShift, this was a piece of beauty. I found it very responsive and the best part was that its architecture reduces the gaps in available power and acceleration between gears providing smoother acceleration response. Let me explain that more lucidly for you. On a smooth tarmac, when you moderately accelerate, you can see the transmission skip gears and move from 1 to 3 or from 3 to 5 gears. This is a smart way to get to a higher gear by staying at peak rpm range. It thus helps in the driving performance.

Similarly when you are driving at a certain speed and when you brake, the transmission again skips gears and moves for example from 3 to 1. At cruising speed, when your vehicle is moving at a high gear, for example in the tenth gear and you apply heavy acceleration in order to overtake a vehicle in front, the transmission may step down multiple times from 10 to 6 or 8 to 3 and this helps the vehicle to accelerate faster.

Fun & Sand, experiencing the Endeavour in its 4x4 mode

Before we entered the sandy terrain, we had to deflate the tyres to around 17 to 20 psi levels in order to get more traction on sand. The next step was to rotate the knob for Terrain Management System (TMS) on the floor console to the sand mode. There are four preset modes here: Normal, Snow/Mud/Grass, Sand and Rock.  When we shifted into sand mode for our drive, the vehicle was a different monster all together. The engine response gets better in the sand mode as compared to for example the Snow mode. You can check this out when you are driving on a normal road and you shift the TMS from Normal to Snow. The vehicle gets very sluggish. This is to ensure that too much wheel spin is avoided on this sort of terrain.

A couple of points to be noted while dune bashing is that you are not supposed to let go of the accelerator as you climb up a dune. Also, since this new transmission allows Progressive Range Select or SelectShift, you can set the range too. We selected 3 range and this meant the gear will always be in the range of 1 to 3, not more. That controls too much of speed and in turn avoids wheel spins. We realised that this innovative feature that gives drivers the ability to lock gears in the desired range, delivers an engaging and more controlled drive experience – especially in challenging driving situations such as slippery roads or steep off-roading conditions, or even on sand.

So what happens when you take your foot off the accelerator for a wee second on your way up on a dune and the vehicle gets stalled? There was no need to panic and accelerate like a man possessed by a devil. That would only allow the vehicle to get beached as the wheels would begin spinning wildly resulting in digging into the sand more deeply. I saw a few people do that, much to their frustration.

All one has to do is to engage the 4x4L or Low mode, select the range select to 3, and engage the Reverse mode and tap the accelerator. I did that to experience such a situation and I pulled myself out of the sand and the vehicle slid back. Once I was at the bottom of the dune, I disengaged the 4x4L and accelerated all the way up and descended to the track below.

Thus dune after dune, the story continued and not once did I beach the vehicle. It was a challenging course, but the few hours we spent dune bashing, we realised that the new Ford Endeavour 4x4 was a monster with some very great off roading skills.

The suspension of the new Ford Endeavour too seems to have been tweaked as I found the vehicle containing its body roll on the rough, while providing ample comfort on the roads.

Other exciting features of the 2020 Ford Endeavour

Now let me run through some of the other features of the new 2020 Ford Endeavour. The 2020 Endeavour comes with Ford’s mobility and connectivity solution FordPass at no additional cost.

Ford Endeavour owners will be able to perform several vehicle operations -- like starting, stopping, locking or unlocking the vehicle, know remaining fuel levels & distance to empty & locating their vehicle– remotely, via the FordPass app.

All variants of 2020 Ford Endeavour will come with a factory-fitted, cloud-connected device that will communicate with vehicle owners in real-time via the FordPass smartphone application.

The 2020 Endeavour features all-LED headlamps, encased in an all-new contemporary square design lamp cluster. The LED lamps for both low and high-beam provide up to 20% greater lighting penetration for enhanced night-time visibility.

The new Ford Endeavour continues to be a safe vehicle and it comes with up to seven airbags, including a driver knee airbag, for all-around safety. It retains its water-wading capacity of 800 mm along with more than adequate ground clearance.

It also continues to have a voice-enabled, in-car connectivity technology SYNC 3 with 8-inch touchscreen and Apple CarPlay, Google Auto compatibility. Not to be missed are the panoramic sun-roof, covering up to 50% of the roof.

As for its flexible seating, it includes fold-flat second- and first-in-class power-fold third-row that can hold up to 2,010 litres of cargo. Besides, it comes with semi-auto parallel park assist, push start button, hand-free power lift rear gate, rear and front parking sensors, rear parking camera, automatic headlamps, automatic wipers, DRLs, dual-zone automatic climate control, 8-way power-adjustable driver & front passenger seat.

It also features hill launch assist and hill descent control for better control going up or down a hill. While the new engine and transmission proved that the new 2020 Ford Endeavour is a very capable off roading machine, it also comes with several creature comforts that typically remain the icing on the Ford cake.