Ford Kuga launched – review hands-on

Ford has unveiled its 2013 Ford Kuga, and we were lucky enough to go to Valencia (where the European car is made) to drive it. There have been a number of improvements over the last model. The new Kuga is 81mm longer than the old version, which leads to more room for rear seat passengers as well as a larger load area.

We found there was plenty of room in the back for six-foot-plus passengers, but we certainly noticed the extra length when parking, to the ire of local Spanish drivers.

NCAP RATING

It’s just been announced that the new Ford Kuga 2013 has just won the Euro NCAP award for the SUV class, it not only got a five-star rating, but also beat over newcomers this year. Better still, it got the highest ever score for a mid-sized SUV at 88%. For those who are very safety conscious, but don’t want to drive something truly mammoth-sized, the 2013 Kuga is the safest car you can buy – something we wished we’d (for confidence’s sake) known before taking to the busy streets of Valencia.

SYNC

There’s also some extra kit inside to help make the car easier to live with. Probably the most important is Ford’s Sync system, which, while available since 2008 in Ford’s North American cars, has only just arrived in Europe.

A mass of buttons on the centre console is used to control the Sync system

Sync is an in-car entertainment and communications package that is designed to work with your phone. You can connect your mobile to the Kuga via Bluetooth, and then use voice commands to make phone calls, control your music and even have your messages read aloud. If you have an accident, the Emergency Assistance function will dial the emergency services for you, inform the operator you’ve had an accident and read out your current GPS location.

We had no problems syncing both an iPhone 5 and a Motorola RAZR i. You can pair more than one handset and use the Sync’s menu system to flick between them. Once paired, the system will download your device’s phone book automatically. To use voice commands, you just need to press a button on the steering wheel to activate them and then say “phone” and “call parents” to make a call, for example. We found Sync had no problems recognising our voice commands or any of the phone book entries we found. It even coped well with our dictating a phone number from scratch.

The voice control button on the steering wheel is within easy reach of your thumbs

Bluetooth audio worked fine on a basic level; we could play music from our handsets and use voice commands to skip tracks and pause, but we found it easier to just use the buttons on the steering wheel. The voice-operated music control steps up a notch when you connect an iPod or MP3-containing flash drive to the car’s USB port. You can then play back artists simply by speaking their name. Unfortunately we had neither an iPod nor music-full flash drive to hand to test the system in-car, but it worked well on Ford’s demonstration mock-up.

The Sync system is a no-cost option on the base Zetec specification, and is standard on the posher Titanium and Titanium X models. You can also add GPS navigation to a Zetec for £750 inc VAT. If you buy the more expensive Kugas, you have the option of adding a reversing camera for £750. This may be expensive, but we would have made even more of a mess of parking the huge Kuga without it.

KEYLESS ENTRY

One final feature Ford was keen to demonstrate was the keyless entry system, which was fitted to our test car. This is £350 inc VAT on the top-spec Titanium X model, but this rises to £700 on the Titanium and isn’t available on the base Zetec at all.

With keyless entry you can open the car door simply by having the key in your pocket and pulling the door handle, but it’s particularly useful when it comes to the boot. If you have your hands full, you just need to swing your foot under the rear of the car and stand back. The boot lid will swing magically open. You can also close it with the same movement, or just press the button on the end of the boot lid.

DRIVING

We drove the Kuga on a city route around Valencia. It’s an easy car to drive, despite its size. Large mirrors make changing lanes simple, and the torque of our test car’s two litre diesel meant we could leave it in third gear half the time while still darting into gaps. We did manage to set off the car’s Active City Stop system with a particularly snappy manoeuvre, which applied the brakes automatically as it felt we were about to collide with the car in front.

We drove the manual version, and the high-set gear lever took some getting used to – it felt more like a Transit than a Focus at first. However, just like a Transit, the car shrinks around you, and driving it in town soon feels natural. As mentioned before, parking wasn’t the simplest endeavour. The main problem was that we couldn’t see the car’s front corners from the driving seat, and had to rely on the parking sensors. When trying to reverse into a parking space with an impatient Valencian driver creeping forwards towards us, the sensors at the front-right bleeped continuously, leaving me worried I was going to take off his Passat’s nose; unable to see the end of my car and relying on the sensors, as far as I was concerned he was parked in my bumper.

We were impressed with the satnav, but found the screen a bit small for our liking

We were impressed with the built-in navigation system, which had clear prompts and warned us in advance which lane to take. We were spoiled by Valencia’s wide boulevards and low traffic density, though, and can’t be sure whether it would cope as well with traffic-blighted South-East England. We did think the satnav display could have been larger, but a small repeater display on the dashboard showing the next turning helped. We were also big fans of the clear dashboard dials, with their smart-looking and easy-to-see blue hands.

MODELS AND PRICING

The Kuga is available in front-wheel-drive and part-time four-wheel-drive models, and with 1.6-litre EcoBoost turbo petrol and 2.0-litre turbodiesel engines. You also have the option of six-speed manual and automatic gearboxes. The petrol EcoBoost engine paired with the automatic gearbox is a more powerful 180PS rather than 150PS version, and there are also 140PS and 163PS versions of the diesel. Bear in mind that the higher-powered versions have worse fuel economy and are also in a higher VED band, so will cost you more in tax.

Kuga engines and performance – CLICK TO ENLARGE

On-the-road prices range from £20,895 for the 1.6 petrol Zetec, up to £29,795 for the most powerful Titanium X diesel automatic.

Kuga pricelist 

Based on the specifications and prices, we think the 140PS Titanium model for £23,545 is the best value; the diesel we drove was smooth and powerful, and it’s hard to argue with 53.3mpg on the combined cycle compared to 42.8mpg for the petrol version. The new Kuga is on sale now.