FORD Kuga Road Test Reports and Car Reviews

Ford Kuga 2008

"You’re testing what?" asked my girlfriend. "The Ford Cougar isn’t new - it’s been out for years you fool!". "Ok Honey, if you say so"; I feigned ignorance and graciously accepted her mocking snigger at yet another demonstration of my inherent stupidity - then I slipped the glossy brochure onto the table before her. "Oh" she said as her smile faded, "It sounds like the other one". She’s right, of course, Cougar and Kuga do sound the same. The first was a valiant effort by Ford to market a sports coupe (it was around the same time that Vauxhall came out with the Calibra), whilst the second is their entry into a new market, the compact SUV (yet another bloody urban 4x4!). An hour or so before I was due to pick up the shiny new Ford Kuga an announcement was made in the slightly dysfunctional family kitchen - Jacob, my girlfriends son, had to stay away from school for the day. and I was designated babysitter. Eight year old Jacobs eyes were bulging as he checked out the range of new cars in the Ford showroom whilst we waited for our chariot to arrive. Not being particularly used to babysitting an eight year old boy alone I could feel my chest tightening under the stress as he fired question after question at the bemused sales staff. The surprising part was that he did actually know a fair bit about the cars, and in some instances proved that he knew more about them than the sales team! Now, if I hadn’t been "forced" behind the wheel of a Ford Ranger Thunder just a few weeks ago I probably wouldn’t have even contemplated taking out the Ford Kuga. I hated Fords, or thought I did, until the Ford Ranger Thunder single handedly reversed my views entirely. We watched, Jacob somewhat impatiently, as the Ford Kuga turned into the car park and snaked its way towards us. With its familiar looking grill, sweeping headlights, and menacingly masculine body styling it was already winning me over. The Ford Kuga, is a little more impressive looking, I’d say, than the Nissan Qashqai, without going overboard on the "mean" stakes. The chap from Ford gave me a very good tour of the Kuga, not just pointing out the obvious but talking at some depth about the pro’s and con’s to each feature (an unusual, but admirable trait in a showroom sales person). Some of the features were very obviously of more use than others, whilst some it seemed, were simply there to fill line space in the brochure. The first feature which springs to mind as being particularly brilliant and worthy of mention on the Ford Kuga is that you can’t accidentally shove a petrol pump nozzle into the diesel filling point - it simply won’t fit. As a driver of both diesel and petrol cars this little feature is reassuringly comforting. Another feature which I would find useful are the "secret" compartments (shhh!) hidden in the footwell behind the front seats. Ideal for hiding valuables from sight when parking up, but would be so much better if the designers had just added a simple locking mechanism of some kind. I was a little confused as to exactly what the purpose of the dual opening tailgate/boot is on a car like the Ford Kuga. Why would anyone want to only partly open the boot? The smaller opening is quite high up, so it would make loading anything into the car quite a tricky operation (imagine split shopping bags spilling fruit and veg all over the nice clean interior). Personally, I think that the money spent on developing and building this little addition would have been better spent on enhancing other aspects of the car (like adding a lock to the "secret" compartments!) or shaving a little off of the price. We jumped in. The driving position in the Kuga was excellent - the electrically operated and heated leather seat was comfortable with really good lumbar support, the multi-position steering wheel enhanced the feeling of control, and all of the buttons and gadgets were well within reach. Up front, the interior felt airy and spacious despite the dark colour. Jacob hopped onto the large and very comfortable rear seat (belted for three people). The rear seats of the Ford Kuga are elevated slightly to give a nice riding position. On the downside, legroom in the rear of the Kuga isn’t brilliant. Even with my stunted little legs in the front there wasn’t a huge amount of legroom in the back which seems to detract from the comfort-ability afforded by the elevated sitting position. I do love the capacious boot of the Ford Kuga though. Plenty of room to put in a dog cage and more than a few shopping bags, or golf clubs, or gun cases, or as Jacob mentioned, body-boards and wetsuits. The rear seats fold flat or split too so that you can carry loads that are just a little longer. One does wonder though, if the Ford Kuga is being sold as a family vehicle, why a little of the boot space wasn’t sacrificed to afford a smidgen more leg room for passengers in the rear seats. We pulled away from the forecourt, made our way through the town, and headed up the dual carriageway. The first thing that I noticed, as I always do, was the engine noise, or lack of it. Noise inside the Kuga was minimal - not at all like driving the diesel monsters of yesteryear. The car handled fantastically well. Steering was positive, and the visibility was generally very good (although the rear pillars did create a bit of blind spot for reversing). The six speed box was lovely and smooth, and for a heavy car with just a 2.0 litre engine, the Kuga didn’t feel particularly sluggish at all. Another version of the Ford Kuga is due to be released with a 2.5 litre turbo petrol engine (the same as in the Ford Focus ST) which should make the car much more exciting to drive. All in all I did like the Ford Kuga, but the 2.5 turbo petrol should make a great addition to the range. Nissan were first off the blocks for SUV’s with this type of styling with their Qashqai, and some would say that Ford were just a little too late too release the Kuga, but I disagree. The Nissan Qashqai set the scene, opened the market up if you like, and prepared it for the arrival of the Ford Kuga. I think sales of the Ford Kuga will take off quite nicely as a result. Being so new, outright purchase deals on the Ford Kuga are slim. Ford aren’t about to rush out and offer everybody generous discounts on their new baby when they really don’t need to. Contract hire deals are out there though, so take advantage of the cheap money.