Ford Kuga: a new level at an inflated price

Previously, buyers liked the Ford Kuga for its price, but few were completely delighted with its consumer characteristics. With the release of the new generation, the situation has changed exactly the opposite.

Kuga has never been the most expensive representative of its class, but now everything has changed. Whether this is justified is a big question. If you look at a new car with an eye to the previous generation, the answer is unequivocal – no. But now we have a completely new car in front of us, so it's worth trying to look at it without reference to the origins.

I've always liked Ford and so has its history. The cars of this brand come from the 1980s, I generally consider them to be among the best of their time. I found something interesting even in the very controversial second generation Scorpio. Yes, and my favorite Thunderbird also wears a nameplate with a blue oval.

Too lazy to read? Watch the Ford Kuga crossover test video:

But I once had a fourth-generation Mondeo, and I did not feel delighted with this car (to put it mildly). Then the brand started producing some other models: the third generation Focus, the previous Kuga… As a result, I never again recommended Ford cars to anyone as their next purchase. Since that time, Ford has died for me as a brand, and the reason for this is a somewhat irresponsible attitude towards models and their history. The former glory of different versions of the GT, the legendary Sierra RS or the luxurious Granada has sunk into oblivion for many years.

But now something has changed in the minds of people from Ford, and very good models have begun to enter the market. Among them, it is immediately worth noting the American Fusion (especially in the Plug-in Hybrid version) and the Focus ST, which I still consider one of the most interesting hot hatchbacks of our time. And the new Bronco with its charisma is worth something!

Most importantly, now there is a feeling that these models correspond to ideas for which the founder of the company, Henry Ford, would not be ashamed.

Appearance

But I don't think it's bad. In addition, the back of the Kuga is unmistakable: everything here is designed in the style of the latest models of the brand, and many elements easily resemble the latest generation of Focus. But still, I didn't really like that the window sill line was greatly narrowed – the car seems to be lower than it actually is. At the same time, the clearance of the new Kuga is full – 16–17 cm. It is because of this window sill line (and the profile drawing as a whole) that the crossover is somewhat reminiscent of the Focus Active model. What can be considered normal.

In the new generation of Kuga, interesting chips appeared that could previously be found on Skoda cars (Simply Clever solutions known to many). For example, automatically opening dampers on the ends of the doors, which protect the edges from damage.

In a word, if you do not pay attention to a certain similarity between the new Kuga and the Macan, it is safe to say that the design of the new crossover from Ford is still successful.

And not only design. For example, the windshield in the new Kuga is installed not ordinary, but noise-absorbing (not to mention heated, but this is a long-standing Ford feature). Due to the fact that there is a special acoustic vinyl inside, the glass dampens vibrations better and much less noise from it enters the cabin. Only such glass with SoundScreen technology costs about a thousand dollars, which, you see, is a lot.

Continuing the topic of noise isolation, it is worth noting that everything is fine with this parameter in the new Kuga. Double front side windows and an active noise reduction system, together with an advanced windshield, make it possible even at speeds under 160 km / h to talk in the cabin without raising your voice. True, all of the specified equipment is available only in the maximum configuration.

Salon

The interior of the crossover was redrawn from scratch, while taking all the best (as engineers and designers considered) from the new Focus. As a result, it turned out quite boring and not very holistic. Each element individually looks quite decent, but together it looks a little dated, as if this car is not from 2020. On the other hand, I think that VAG also went too far with their sensors.

It turns out that here it turned out not very modern, and there it was too fancy (which affected ease of use). Now, probably, only French and Japanese cars have taken the golden mean, but both of them have problems with the speed of the multimedia system. As a result, I can say so far that I have not yet been able to find the ideal balance in this class.

For example, in the Ford Kuga, the multimedia system does not slow down at all, but it looks rustic. First of all, I do not like her ridiculous blue color. I would like to change it to some other, but the engineers did not provide such an opportunity. But there is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as built-in navigation (however, there is no need for it, given the ability to connect a smartphone). But the sound – as for this class and the price of the car (which we will talk about a little later) – is absolutely not good.

The driving position is comfortable: it is not high and not low, and there is plenty of space in width. True, the seat itself should have been tilted back a little. But in general, ergonomics in Kuga is made at a good German level. Although not everything is perfect. For example, the climate control buttons are somewhat small, but you can quickly get used to it.

In general, Ford made sure that you were comfortable. There is wireless charging, and the armrest can move forward, although it is located a little low.

The digital instrument panel is informative, but the color schemes are not at all appreciated. For example, in standard mode, this display is blue (which, as in the case of a multimedia system, is not a very good solution). In Eco mode, the dashboard changes to turquoise, and it already looks a little better. But in sport mode, the backlight turns dark gray-red, and this combination looks really interesting. That's just constantly driving in sports mode is not the best solution. It would be great if the driver could change the color scheme settings of the dashboard arbitrarily, but here – only when changing the driving mode.

On the second row, as well as in front, everything is implemented quite conveniently. It is possible to change the angle of the back of the sofa, and the entire row can be moved forward, increasing the trunk. There will be enough space in the back even for tall passengers. With my two-meter height, I sat down comfortably “by myself”.

Passengers in the second row have air deflectors, heated seats, as well as two charges: regular and Type-C. But the armrest is not provided, and it will sometimes be missed. In addition, the plastics on the doors are hard.

If we discard the overall design, then every element in the cabin feels expensive (in some ways even premium). Efforts on the controls can be compared with the best representatives of the class (or even cars in a class above). Here, even the windows, when raised, slow down at the end of the stroke. Very cool and unexpected, but is it necessary for Ford? According to me, no.

Trunk volume of 435 liters is quite normal. There is an excellent hard floor, under which the dokatka hid. The backs of the second row seats can be folded directly from the trunk, and there are niches on the sides. In general, the trunk can be described as primordially “German”, and this is a positive characteristic.

Engine and dynamics

On city streets Kuga behaves almost perfectly. The fact is that Ford engineers in this generation abandoned the robotic gearbox – now a hydromechanical eight-speed gearbox 8F35 of Ford's own design is installed here. The same box can be seen on some GM vehicles.

In normal mode, the crossover is very easy to undermine, sometimes even a little harsh. This behavior constantly encourages you to drive more actively, which this crossover is given without any problems. A 2.0-liter EcoBlue turbodiesel is installed here, which produces 190 hp. with. and a moment of 400 Nm. By the way, according to the characteristics of the Kuga, it fully corresponds to its main competitor, the Volkswagen Tiguan, only the German crossover in this version (at the time of writing the test drive – InfoCar.ua) is no longer on sale.

The motor has good performance throughout the range. Therefore, the thrust here is even and predictable. Our measurements showed acceleration to 100 km / h in 8.9 s, which is a good result by the standards of the class. Although this indicator does not reach the indicators of competitors from VAG, where there is a gain of about a second, and this is felt. Here, the box is slow at the top speed, and it switches quite late.

As a result, there is a difference in acceleration, but in real life it is not so easy to notice it – only if you compare the Kuga with a VAG representative face to face. Under normal conditions, the fastest acceleration to 100 km / h is very rarely necessary: ​​no one turns the engine into the red zone every day. Switching usually occurs at 3-4 thousand rpm. In this mode, driving a car with a classic automatic transmission is much more pleasant than with a “robot” (even if it is as good as the DQ500).

Be that as it may, the robotic box in small gears behaves somewhat nervously, and it does not switch so smoothly. Well, in Kuga, especially in Eco mode, it is smooth and really pleasant. The car starts moving without jerks at all, except that the sound of the engine in the cabin is quite clearly audible, but this is due to the overall high level of sound insulation.

As a result, I am ready to call the Kuga engine and gearbox combination one of the most worthy in the class. It is probably even better than in the Peugeot 3008. And in this crossover, let me remind you, a box from Aisin is installed.

Suspension and brakes

The suspension feels typical “Ford”: the car is well controlled, clearly stands on the arc and obeys the driver without any complaints. There is no hint of laxity here. It feels like you are not driving in a crossover, but in a Focus hatchback. From the point of view of the kinematics of the suspension, as for me, a very good job has been done. But this is not news at all, because Ford engineers have always been well versed in chassis settings.

But here the situation with comfort here is a little different. The suspension works out small ripples for five, but medium and large irregularities are accepted by the chassis much more resiliently than that of classmates. Therefore, in cities with a lower quality coverage than in Kyiv, it is worth looking more closely at the quality of the canvas ahead. True, I note that we have a Kuga in the ST-line configuration on the test: here the shock absorbers are a little more clamped, and the clearance is one centimeter less than in the standard version. Therefore, it must be assumed that in the normal version the car will feel more comfortable.

Thanks to the perfectly tuned steering wheel, driving the Ford Kuga on the highway is a real pleasure. The car follows the set course perfectly – a certain solidity is felt. By the way, confidence in the behavior of the car on the track is supported by simply excellent brakes. In our traditional 100 km/h braking performance test, the Kuga came to a screeching 37.3 meters. Let me remind you that today a stopping distance of 40 m is considered to be an acceptable result for cars.

Electronic assistants

Some of the electronic driver assistance systems in the new Ford Kuga work better than many of their classmates. It has adaptive cruise control and lane keeping system, which many certainly have. But only in Kuga these systems work almost the same as in Tesla.

With cruise control activated, the car does not yaw from side to side. It clearly and confidently takes a position in the lane, and if it were not for the requirement to keep your hands on the steering wheel, then it would be almost a full-fledged highway autopilot. Even when the markings on the road completely disappear for 20 meters, the car absolutely calmly adheres to the set course, while the system does not turn off and does not start to nervously report an error. When the marking appears again, the car simply corrects its position and quietly moves on. In the end, I can say that this is the best implementation of active cruise control with a steering system in this class, and in the next. At least for now.

Another useful option I can note is the projection on the windshield, which is implemented similarly to the projection in the Mazda CX-5. That is, the information is displayed not on the windshield, but on the exit screen in front of the driver. Such a solution, although not the most modern, can not be denied information. In addition to speed, navigation tips are also displayed on the screen. Only this function only works with Android Auto, but the system does not yet support Apple CarPlay.

There are also funny features in Kuga. For example, when you are on cruise control in Eco mode, the dashboard shows a Ford Fusion (Mondeo in our latitudes), in sport mode, a Ford Mustang is drawn, and in off-road mode, a large F-150 pickup truck is drawn.

A few more words about optics. At night, the headlights shine well, and they switch from far to near automatically. In addition, Kuga headlights can be switched on separately. In this case, the right headlight shines far to the side of the road, highlighting the signs, and the left headlight shines forward. This scheme is quite working, but, on the other hand, for the money that is asked for the Ford Kuga, I would like to see a full-fledged matrix optics here.

Off-road capabilities

To test the off-road capability of the new Ford Kuga, we drove up the now-standard climb with loose sand and tree roots. Not every crossover managed to pass this obstacle the first time, while some could not go there at all.

In Deep Snow/Sand mode, the Ford easily drove up the hill on the first try. The force on the accelerator pedal is predictable, so it is easy to dose the thrust.

But after only four attempts at such races, the instrument panel displayed information that the four-wheel drive was disabled. This means that the clutch is overheated and you need to wait a while for it to cool down. An unexpected end to such a promising start.

The off-road result is as follows: the all-wheel drive control electronics are set up perfectly. I don't remember a single car that could have driven up our test hill without fully disabling the ESP. But such a rapid overheating of the clutch still confuses me. I saw something like this in a Honda CR-V about eight years ago – a very poor result. On the other hand, let's not forget that the Kuga is an urban crossover, and for such off-road behavior, this reason can be considered an excuse.

Prices

It's time to finally announce the prices. The basic version (at the time of writing the test drive – InfoCar.ua) will cost you 31 thousand dollars. The test version of the ST-Line in the maximum configuration already costs 44 thousand. And this, in my opinion, is a lot.

For this money you can buy a Lexus NX. Of course, not in the maximum configuration, but not in the most basic. Also, you already have the opportunity to look after yourself for this amount of gasoline Volkswagen Tiguan in the Highline configuration with a 220 hp gasoline engine. with. or SEAT Tarraco with all-wheel drive and a similar 190-horsepower diesel engine. In some ways SEAT is better than Ford, in some ways it is the other way around. For example, Kuga has more expensive options that are simply not offered for SEAT.

findings

Because of the price, Ford has a lot of competitors. While the Lexus NX may not be the best comparison, the Volkswagen Tiguan, Toyota RAV4, Peugeot 3008 or Mazda CX-5 are serious players. In addition, in the maximum trim levels, they will be equipped with a leather interior, which Ford does not even offer (the maximum is fabric upholstery, and even that is not of the highest quality).

On the other hand, in terms of handling and implementation of electronic systems, Kuga can easily show everyone who is the boss. But the presence of such systems can be considered an argument only if it is very important for you. I think that today Ford Kuga is overpriced, too expensive car.

Maybe you just need to wait a while until the price drops a few thousand dollars. Then, perhaps, these cars will become much more common on our roads.

In general, Kuga has “grown up” in every sense. Whether this crossover will grow in the minds of consumers, time will tell. But if before I thought that you could no longer lure me to Ford, then thanks to the new Kuga, I looked at this brand from a different perspective.