New Ford Endeavour review, road test

The Endeavour gobbles up bad roads, and you only hear a muted thud driving through sharper undulations. At low speeds, it does get a bit jiggly on bad roads, and passengers sitting in the second and third rows feel it the most, but this is quite typical of SUVs built on a ladder-frame chassis. As the speeds increase, the Endeavour settles down nicely and it doesn’t get ruffled by high-speed bumps. Straightline stability is quite good too and even at very high speeds, the car feels composed.

Full marks to Ford for handling – this feels surprisingly agile for a vehicle with large overhangs weighing over two tonnes. The previous Endeavour was pretty good to drive for what it was, but the new SUV moves the goalposts further. The chassis balance is quite good and unless you do anything extremely silly, you won’t find the ESP intruding either. Big credit goes to the steering – there’s some slack, but it weighs up nicely at speeds and gives confidence to the driver. There’s some body roll, but it doesn’t feel as top-heavy as its size suggests; in fact, overall, it feels very light-footed for a vehicle this size. Ford has found a great balance between ride and handling for the new Endeavour.