A week with Ford’s Chinaman outs its best. And worst.
We had a first bite of the Ford Territory a few months back, where we spent most of the test telling you why it’s Chinese roots make it the Car of the Future, from an industry point of view. A more recent annual sojourn to the Kruger however gave us the opportunity to literally spend another week in the car. An opportunity to delve deep in, warts and all, quite literally in a walk in the Park.
Positioned uniquely between its fifty grand more expensive traditional Ford-badge Western rivals and about the same more than its Eastern Chinese hometown competitors in the South African market, Territory’s biggest claim to fame is it is among the first cars to address that problem of cheap Chinese rivals. Its built there, has a Ford badge and all those Blue Oval advantages. And right in the middle of the pricing road too.
Considering how it works on a Kruger Park week, that seemed the perfect opportunity to find out a little more about what this JMC Yusheng S330 in drag is really like to live with. We collected it early on a chilly Jozi morning and after a few chores in the Big Smoke, headed east.
Ford says Territory is stylish
Ford says Territory is stylish and compelling with proper space, comfort, smart tech and safety. And you know what? We can’t really argue. Sure, that’s not quite Ford’s latest face, considering it’s Everest’s kid brother. Adopted, of course. And that lack of rear track makes it look a little like your anorexic auntie in a midi skirt. But this one’s 19-inch alloys win a bit back. Overall, it’s a solid effort in its own right.
Territory certainly benefits a comfortable ride. The 10-way power driver and four-way power front passenger seats remain pleasant to sit in all day long. We never felt fatigued in the car, and we spent a lot of long hours in it. Those big heated power folding wing mirrors with puddle lamps were nice for general freeway driving but not so good for game viewing, where they occasionally block an important view. The sunroof and electric seats were nice to have. It could do with heated seats though.
Our Titanium’s multicolour LED ambient lit two-tone leather trimmed cabin has a broad 12.3-inch landscape high-definition digital touchscreen and instrumentation sitting proud on the soft-touch he double-decker dash. There’s Bluetooth, CarPlay and Auto with a welcome wireless phone charger and three front and a rear USB port, as well as fine eight speaker audio and a proximity camera backed by parking sensors.
Plenty buttons but still too confusing
There are enough buttons in there along with the steering controls and centre console knobs and a rotary controller to deliver a decent balance between swipe and touch control. Even if Territory’s digital displays are a step above the average Chinese rank and file, we however spent the whole trip time connected to CarPlay.
Fortunately the wireless connection was seamless because the infotainment system is a real half job. I couldn’t escape the half-arsery with the drivers display screen. It had all the necessary info, but never all in one place where you’d want it.
So you must keep searching around to find what you’re looking for. To make things worse it’s difficult to navigate because one toggle handles both navigation and audio controls – so you must remember to press a separate button to switch between the two function types. There’s a ton of unnecessary info too. What was pretty good is the spacious 448 litre boot expands to 1422 litres via the flat-folding 60/40 split bench.
A juicy 138 kilowatts and 318 Newton metres
Territory has decent power with a juicy 138 kilowatts ad 318 Newton metres from its 1.8-litre turbo four-pot with EcoBoost badges on its tappet cover. I didn’t struggle too much with overtakes and it was easy ad comfy on the open road. Remember, it ran a handy 8.8 second 0-100 on out test strip.
Fuel economy is however below par. We averaged 8.1l/100km over the 1,300 km round trip with much of that in the Park’s where slow running actually favours economy and I was trying to drive frugally on the open road there and back. The average person should expect 9 litres per hundred, which is some way north of claimed.
Steering feel is almost non-existent. It actually sometimes has a mind of its own and starts turning itself. This is with lane keep assist off and on roads without any lines… So what I’m referring to is totally unrelated to LKA.
Territory blends Chinese roots, Ford traditions
The cruise control was helpful, especially in the Park, considering it could go as low as low 30 km/h . But it’s quite stop-starty. The car has overly sharp brakes, which even catch the cruise off-guard. And we missed thee function which keeps you nicely centred in the lane. Would’ve been nice to have.
So yes, there’s a lot of good and a bit of not so good with the Ford Territory. It blends it new world Chinese roots well enough with enough true blue Ford traditions to make its subtle premium over its home badged Chinese rivals more than palpable enough. And pretty much a no brainer over its hundred grand dearer ‘first world’ rivals to anyone with real world budgeting to contend with.
And it left us with some great memories on a great South African trek, which is a very good thing too. – Giordano Lupini
ROAD TESTED: Ford Territory 1.8T Titanium
Engine: 138kW 318Nm 1.8-litre turbo petrol I4
Drive: 7-speed double-clutch automatic FWD
TESTED:
0-60 km/h: 4.21 sec
0-100 km/h: 8.84 sec
0-120 km/h: 12.73 sec
0-160 km/h: 23.54 sec
400m: 16.5 sec @ 139 km/h
80-120 km/h: 8.06 sec
120-160 km/h: 11.27 sec
CLAIMED:
VMax: 210 km/h
Fuel: 7 l/100 km
CO2: 161 g/km
Range: 860 km
Warranty/Service: 4y 120K/2y unl. km
LIST PRICE: R721K
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