FORD ENDEAVOUR
Making grown men go weak in the knees since 2003
BEFORE THE FORTUNER THERE WAS THE ENDEAVOUR terrorising folk with its ginormous proportions. It also laid the template for Toyota to so effectively employ, using the ladderframe chassis of a pickup to make a rugged, unbreakable SUV complete with the 4x4 drivetrain.
The Endy, badged Everest in South East Asia, came to India in 2003 with a 2.5-litre Mazda-sourced diesel. Three years later it got a facelift to bring its styling in line with the Ranger pickup on which it was based, along with the option of a more powerful 3-litre diesel that was frighteningly badged Thunder +. What was also frightening was its handling. This is the only Ford that didn’t ride or handle properly, the rudimentary rear leaf springs leading to a constantly unsettled ride while the less said about the handling the better. Body roll was scraping-the-door-handles in its generosity and the suspension was so bouncy that, on a group test through the coffee plantations in Chikmagalur, the Endeavour bringing up the rear of the convoy recoiled over a bump every other SUV on that test took without a murmur, and bounced off the track and into a ditch. We spent the next five hours winching out the monster.
In 2010 the Endy got a second facelift and my father-in-law got himself a 3-litre automatic to serve as a workhorse for the hundred trips he would do while building our farm house. Construction material, heavy equipment, feed for the goats and cows, workers, the Endeavour thundered up and down the highway and village tracks without missing a beat. I think that did 2.5 lakh kilometres and while everything felt like jelly by the end of it she never missed a beat.
In 2014 the Endy got a full model change and mercifully the leaf springs were swapped for proper coilovers. It meant the Endeavour was dynamically more sorted than Fortuner and with the 3.2-litre five-cylinder diesel it was also faster. To the very end we rated the Endeavour as the best in its class, though it has to be said it lost its edge in performance when the 3.2 was swapped for the new ‘Panther’ 2-litre diesel in the BS6 switch. And it got a 10-speed automatic which was just one gear too many.
Late in 2021, surfaced renders of the Endeavour complete with head-turning Raptor-inspired front-end styling. There were also rumours of a twin-turbo version of the 2-litre diesel being tested. And now there are rumours that the Endy will return as a CBU, though how they will make the pricing works remains to be seen.
On a side note Ford had also started assembling Ranger pickups with a contract manufacturer in India. Wonder what will happen of that.
THE MORE POWERFUL 3-LITRE DIESEL WAS FRIGHTENINGLY BADGED THUNDER +