We were lucky enough to get our hands on one of the new Ford Kuga’s for a good, 2 week test drive. After having a little play in the snow while I was in Italy, I was looking forward to this one!
We were delivered a 2 litre Duratorq TDCI 6 speed manual Titanium. It had 140 brake and was the 2 wheel drive version. It had all the bells and whistles including touch screen console, power and heated seats, keyless entry, 19 inch alloys and of course parking sensors all round and a lovely rear facing camera (which was mainly used for pranks…).
Although a lack of torque in the lower rev ranges, once you get over 2000 revs the Kuga does what it’s asked, providing ample extra power through the 6 speed box to allow the extra burst of speed you may need for overtaking or a general play.
The handing is actually stiffer than I expected for quite a high car, although smooth over bumps, there is a distinct lack of body roll compared to some 4 x 4’s out there which make you feel much more secure on the road and when cornering at high speed. It’s a joy to drive on the little back roads where there are more potholes than flat road, you really feel in control when cornering through twisting turns and it never feels like it wants to leave the road.
We love the look of this car, although small, coming in just under 4 and a half metres long, it is aggressive to look at but maintains an understated class. Walking to the car from the pub (I was on OJ o course) the side profile in the dark looks very much like it should belong to a family of Mercedes or Land Rover class. The subtle lines and touches really make it stand out. In fact a friend of mine was in it for a couple of hours and thought it was a beamer and didn’t realise it was a Ford! Yes she is a girl, but still, some judgement!
All of the coupled with the black car we were supplied and ‘privacy glass’ made for an amazing looking car.
Although the build quality is generally high, the rest of the interior is really my only gripe with this car, and it comes from the centre console. Yes there is a cool touch screen and easy it’s fairly easy to navigate but we can’t help feel it looks a little dated? Sound is still controlled by a single turn wheel. Yes simple but a little 1980’s don’t you think?
Everything else is there and pretty much where you would want it to be, yes the UI could do with a little work but I think that is true of most modern day cars. Hopefully in the coming years, with more and more of the car being relied upon using modern technology we will see manufacturers invest in qualified and great people who work with UI’s for a living, rather than just putting something together that works half well.
Space wise, there is plenty: The boot is big enough to fit a few sets of golf clubs in and all the kit, put the seats down and you have a high, estate like space. We used this on a number of occasions to put a couple of complete bikes in when we went out for training ride. In terms of carrying the people, we done a beach day with 5 of us fitting in comfortably, and that 5 were not small! 4 over 6 feet tall (poor Dave!) and a combined weight of nearly 80 odd stone meant it was very much put to the test!
As a package, we are big fans of the Kuga, its mix of aggressive, contemporary and classy style make this look like a much more expensive car, it looks good with it as well. The handling is solid and spot on for such a high car, whether you are driving miss daisy on a Sunday or want to have a little fun you can do both with your right foot and a degree of weight. Yes the console lets it down, but I don’t feel this is a show stopper, the technology is there to make it a pleasant drive, even if that finishing touch isn’t. But I do hope that Ford look at this carefully in all their future cars and invest in the right way. Centre consoles are very much where everything happens, your sat-nav, parking, radio, iPod, CD and everything else, it needs to be treated in that way with the proper tech in place to allow drivers to use it easily and to its best ability.