From the July 2004 Wheels magazine article.....
by Deputy Editor John Carey.
"....Personally, I would rather drive the Ford (Territory) that a BMW X5, VW Touraeg, Porsche Cayenne, Range Rover, Honda MDX, Lexus RX330, or Mercedes M-Class. Any of these will likelymake a bigger impressio on the neighbours than the humble Territory, and some of them are quicker or quieter, or both, but none of them has better suspension that the delightfully disciplined Ford."
Now it's things like this that Ford has to take a leaf out of Holden/HSV's book and market the ringpiece out of it in advertisements when such comments occur
I'm picking up my Territory Ghia tommorow. What makes it the worlds best is its steering and suspension. Every journalist who has driven one has raved about its steering, ride and handling for one of these types of vehicles as well as its practicality.
Not sure if the Europeans are into Territory class vehicles like we are at the moment however I can see a roadtest on European soil or US soil in an upcoming edition...with native journalists giving feedback as in the last XR6T story.
I haven't driven a Territory, but I have driven a 5.0 V10 diesel Touareg both on and off road, and also a few BMW X5s..... I am very doubtful the Territory will stack up, money aside... Taking money in to the equation, the Territory looks very good value for money.... If it wants to better the Touareg, it needs to offer a quiet CR diesel with more than 230kw/750Nm 6 speed auto, air suspension with rear and central diff locks and 2 speed transfer case.... I think other things like doubly glazed windows, would bring it up to spec, but that's not Ford's market so it wont happen...
I have driven a Territory, and from the very first corner, I knew I was driving something special. The steering is fantastic. A sign of good things to come for Falcons, I hope.
The Terrys interior feels a little cheap, but for the price, the car is fantastic.
chevy power whilst it doesn't have all those features, it is amazingly quiet, handles like you wouldn't think was legal for a vehicle of that price/size and SERIOUSLY keeps the X5's out there VERY honest in most ways, plus it has a 7 seat option which BMW's line is "we don't put seats in crumple zones". Well in that case they don't build their vehicle well enough, either that or they simply don't realise how popular a true 7 seater BMW would be... hence why people are paying a lot less for a justifiably similarly good vehicle that DOES have 7 seats. Nothing will substitue an X5 in the end, unless of course you can earn that $120,000 in less that half a lifetime... it's no X5, but as Wheels puts it it's an Aussie X5 for Falcon Bucks and they're dead on the money there.
Thanks Zetec, i would be interested to drive one... I am a little disappointed with the footwell in the 3rd row only having a small gap, if they could cut out the rest of it, it would probably be faultless, also with 4.11:1 gearing it needs a 5th and possibly even 6th gear.... I believe BMW were considering producing an X7 - hopefully that would have 3rd row seating, and we would hope the difference in price is similar to the X3-X5 gap (marginal)
Yeah they could do with a 5 or 6 speeder but honestly they are very healthy performers already, have beautifully smooth boxes for something that's "old and archaic" and the sequential sports shift is fab. Remember an X7 would always be dearer again and probably 2 years off at the minimum. For the slightly cramped footwell the Territory is still well worth the money, remember the middle row slides forwards by up to 10cm and it all balances out, you can honestly fit 3 adults 6'2" one in front of the other, and that's without a crowbar...
This is coming from the same magazine that was no where near getting the HSV GTS and DJR 320 into sub 14's 0-400m times
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