Decent
for a behemoth!
Considering that the engineers
at Ford were working with leaf springs at the back, I must say that
the overall ride and handling characteristics of the Endeavour are
quite good. But the industry has moved on far ahead and the levels
of expectations in people's minds are much higher. The excellent 265/70
R15 MRF ZVRLs are good over roads with slightly broken surfaces but
after that even the tyres are not able to make up for the deficiencies
of the suspension, specially the rear one because the front end is
quite fine. To draw a parallel, Ford's SUV behaves much like the Qualis
at times, specially on the pitching front.
Considering that this is a high vehicle even for an SUV, handling
was always going to be a problem. Forget about taking corners like
you do in cars and you will be happy with the Endeavour's handling.
The Endeavour comes with 256mm ventilated disc brakes in the front
and 270mm drums at the rear. Although the stopping distance is not
what one would call great, it remains totally under control under
the severest of braking thanks to the three - channel four-wheel ABS.
We did try quite a lot of off-roading and although I was a little
reluctant to do too much off-roading because of its large wheelbase,
once I got it off some high steps, I grew in confidence about its
abilities and explored a few more locations for photography, taking
the Endeavour to places we had not ventured out to before.
The kind of steering gear used in the Endeavour (recirculating ball
type) does not make for crisp steering and is quite evident. But the
Endeavour is not made for any spirited driving in the first place
so the lack of that crispness would not make such a big difference
February
2004