As our time comes to an end with the Kuga (well, we've three more days but I shan't have time to sit and blurb like this) I thought I best go through the questions that need answering! So ...
What were you/your partner's first impressions of the car?
When I first saw the car pull in to the drive I was very impressed. It certainly looks a swanky number. I particularly like the chrome-like trim underneath the windows and of course my beloved panoramic window. I like the way the lights look both on and off (although not the brightness but we'll come back to that later). I also liked the colour even if it did take me a wee while to ascertain what colour it actually was (think pearl)! The interior of the car I like a lot. It feels like its finished to a high standard. The leather seats were a particular hit although I'm not sure how thrilled I'd be with them on a hot summers day when I'm bare of leg. I like the way the Sony music system looked too, as well as soudns. DH thought the car was very aesthetically pleasing, however he did feel the car was a little smaller on the inside than it looked. He is a whopping great giant of a man though. Both of us though were very pleased with the Kuga. It looked the part and seemed to be delivering to initial expectation. One of the mum's described it perfectly when I took it the next day; 'Ooh Wobbly, you look a right posh cow in that'. Ahhh, friends...
What do the children think of it?
DS is 7yo and LOVES THIS CAR. On day 1 he was asking how much it was. By day 3, he had already come up with a way to save up enough pounds in order to get one himself. The plan is he goes to see Grandpa (who gives him £1 every time we see him) every day for the next 70-odd years. When I asked DS what he liked most about it, he says he likes being high up and the space he has. He also loves the Bluetooth telephone and the voice control climate control as well as the bottom warmer. Basically, all the cool little gadget-y bits were a hit with him, as could be expected. He too thinks it looks 'posh'.
DD is 6mo now so obviously can't voice an opinion on the car. As this is the first time she's travelled in the rear of the car I think she of course missed her neurotic darling Mother gazing down at her checking she's still breathing. But she has most definitely fallen love with the panoramic window (or glass roof as us heathens call it). Most journeys have been spent gazing upwards and cooing at passing trees and clouds. I think both DD and I will really miss the glass roof as the hypnotising effect was instant. I have often carefully chosen a parking space under a tree just for her delectation :)
Do the children fit comfortably in it?
DS is just on a booster seat so can fit into any which car any which way. DD however was a slightly different story. She is in a Graco Cleo rearward facing car seat. It is quite the beast but then also one of the safest car seats around and not ridiculously huge. It took a few days to get the knack of securing her in safely. At first it seemed impossible to squeeze her in, but once I had worked out the correct angle, we were off. It was however very tricky to fasten her seatbelt around the carseat. This I think was due to a combination of the height of the car, the newness and lack of give in the seatbelt and the size of her car seat. After three weeks driving it, I can say that they both fit in comfortably.
Incidentally, as mentioned previously, this was the first time Nancy was in the rear of the car. At just under six months I was just about happy to have her out of my direct eyeline whilst driving. In my usual car, I am able to swich off the passenger airbag in the front of the car so DD has been in the front with me since her birth. Had I had the Kuga since her birth, I really wouldn't be very happy at all about having her in the back where I couldn't see her directly. I purchased a rear view mirror to spy on her, but it isn't the same as having her next to me where I can see if she's too warm, too cold, able to pass her the toy she's dropped and is fretting over... If Ford are marketing the Kuga as a family car, I think this function should be available, even if it becomes a visit to the dealership to sort out.
How easy is it to fit car seats/ adjust seats etc
For the DC's chairs, see above.
To adjust the drivers seat is an ABSOLUTE DREAM 
. There is about half a foot in difference in height between DH and I and we're forever adjusting the driving seat so we can both driver's drive comfortably and safely. With the Kuga, you just reach down the side of the seat and find the little electronic gizmo that allows you to raise or lower the seat, incline(?) or recline the back rest or slide the seat forward and backwards. Its not like my manual vesion in my usual car whereby you can pull the seat foward to the set interval and kind of make do (and hope the seat doesn't do the clicking into place thing as you're pootling down the motorway frightening the pants off you - we've all been there). With this little electronic device you can literally stop whenever you want it to so it really can become an almost bespoke driving position. That's priceless to us. And saved on a lot of the usual bickering that goes on. It is a shame that the same little gizmo wasn't on the passenger side as we do take turns in driving (as I'm sure many households do). The passenger gets the bum deal in this case, alas, as its back to the usual manual mechanism.
What's it like to drive?
I think the Kuga is a very nice car to drive indeed. So does DH (who drives a great deal more than I). It's a very smooth ride - the usual potholes that fill the local area are barely felt in the Kuga. In my usual car, you can bash your head on the roof of the car with them. During my time with the Kuga, I've driven it around town, on the motorway, down country lanes in the darkness and slightly off road. When driving around town, it does take a little getting used to but is still a dream to drive. It has a handy little green light on the revometer to inform you when to shift up a gear if the decision seems to have passed you by. Initially, this light was on all the time but as I've got used to the car and driven it more, the green light hasn't showed its face any where near as much. I like this green light. Saves me money I imagine! The brakes do still seem a little heavy and/or sensitive but I imagine that might be down to my driving 
.
Driving the Kuga on the motorway is a very pleasant experience (which coming from a motorway-phobe is high praise indeed). It overtakes effortlessly and has more than enough welly in it to overtake safely and quickly if needs be. The height of the driving position enhances the experience and I felt I had a very good visual field at all times. It is very easy to adjust the wing mirrors whilst driving if necessary too (ie when your DH has been driving and decides to change EVERYTHING). I got used to having six gears by the end of the second week of the test drive. I'd go as far as to say that I might even miss it when the Kuga goes! I also had a dabble with the cruise control. Whilst I don't drive anywhere that far that often to warrant using it, DH thought it was marvellous, if not a little daunting at first.
Driving down country lanes in the pitch black was marvellous due to the excellent lights on the car - the area they cover is vast and with full beam I felt the road ahead of me was almost flood lit. I'm am quite concerned about the dazzling impact of these lights though but I'll reiterate that later.
Most of all though, at all times driving the Kuga, be it day or night, sunny or rainy, in wind or frost and ice, even at great speed, I felt safe. The car was going to handle anything that nature or I threw its way. That's brilliant, that.
Is it a comfortable ride?
As a driver and passenger, the Kuga is very comfortable. The front seats both have bottom warmers which I am addicted to. The leather seating also added to the comfort as did the armrest, especially when using cruise control on the motorway. My heavily pregnant friend hopped in for a ride and found it be very smooth, even in the car park of our local precinct which is like a patchwork quilt of various road surfaces, all at slightly different heights and depths. The only thing that impedes the comfort is my heavy footedness on the super sensitive brakes. A little bit of whiplash never did anybody any harm though.
What's the boot space like?
Both DH and I were very much looking forward to fitting in the dog crate and pushchair into the boot so we could go for the kind of trips out we miss and crave. Alas, we couldn't fit both in and the usually enclosed dog ended up having slight free reign in the boot (thanks to a well-placed tarpaulin and blanket). For a car this size, I am surprised the boot isn't larger. If you wanted to fill up the boot and block the rear window, you would probably get a great deal in it. I however am a coward and can't drive without being able to look through my rear window. I did the big shop the other day and had forgotten to take the pushchair out and got about 12 bags in the boot and another couple in the footwell. Incidentally, the pushchair is an umbrella style Maclaren number and does fold up relatively small. The boot space is ample for day-to-day living for me and the DC's. It just doesn't work for us as a family car. We holiday a lot in the UK, we're Glasto veterans and in summer we go camping a heck of lot, all with the dog in tow (except Glasto. Poor Jimmy). We unfortunately wouldn't manage to fit all our gear in the boot for either of these excursions, even without the dog. This one factor was what put the nail in the coffin for us ever getting a Kuga alas.
Does it have any useful extras - cup holders etc?
The useful extras in this particular model of the Kuga (Titanium) were what has made this test drive so enjoyable. The car boasts the following little extras that I mostly love:
- Heated seats at the front of the car
- Heated windscreen - which has been amazing on these cold mornings. We can all be in the car, demisted/frosted and off on our way in about a minute. What busy parent doesn't want that in their life?
- Electronic seat adjuster as mentioned before
- Auto-dimming rear view mirror - if a car behind you has full beam on, the rear view mirror tints itself to stop you getting dazzled
- Arm rest
- Cruise control
- Three sepearte 12v points - one near the gear stick, one in between the rear passenger seats and one in the boot
- Voice control - you can control the climate or entertainment in the car by yelling at 'Janet' as we called her. She is a tad tempremental and I don't think she was overly keen on my Northern accent and it is often a lot easier to use lean over and press the required button of your choice, but an extra it is! DS loved her!
- Bluetooth - you can connect your phone very easily to the car sound system and then dial a number by shouting it out (again, with tempremental Janet) or receive a call just by pressing a button on the stereo front
Speaking of which, the Sony sound system is very good - excellent clarity and a sound that fills the car.
- There is also a DAB radio which means we've had the joy of 6 Music, Absolute Radio and Smooth Xmas FM [geek]
- There is a USB port in the arm rest of the car for easy connection of your iPod/iPhone. This proved to be a lot of hard work and it seemed to dither about whether it wanted to work or not BUT when it did, it was marvellous and could be controlled via a wand behind the steering wheel. It also (when it felt like co-operating) played Spotify through it, more or less without problem. I can't stress though just how temperamental this was for us.
- In the rear of the car, there are two pull down tables. Each have a cup-holder but I have slight issue here as I very rarely give DS a cup in the car. He'll have a bottle of water of juice and it just slides right through the cup-holder as the diameter is too wide, thus rendering it useless nine times out of ten.
- The car also has a panoramic window - glass roof! - which I don't think has any real use whatsoever but it BEAUTIFUL. I love it. I really, really do.
- Oh yes, and it also has a split tailgate
How useful did you find the split tailgate
To put it succinctly, not at all useful. I think I have used it once during the test drive and even then it didn't feel like this was an amazing idea. The idea is you can just pluck something out of the boot without knocking everything left right and centre. The only time I used it was when I went to get a shopping back out of the boot. This feature has very much been wasted on me and its purpose has totally passed me by.
What do your friends/ family think of it?
My dad said it suits me . My friend called me a posh cow . It certainly is an attractive looking car and a definite improvement on my usual wheels.
Has testing this car made you more or less likely to buy a Ford? Has testing this car changed your perception of Ford cars at all?
In my mind, Ford having always been a middle of the road kind of car. Safe, reliable but nothing swanky. Driving the Kuga has made me realise that high-end Fords are indeed very comfortable and do have a luxurious feel that you perhaps wouldn't expect from a Ford. If I could afford it, I'd buy the Kuga tomorrow. For me and the children, its perfect. Unfortunately, the way of the world at the moment means I've got more chance knitting fog. I would however perhaps steer towards other Ford models when coming to buy a new vehicle, which will be next year I expect.
What one thing do you like best about it?
I think the thing that has really made a difference to my whoel driving experience whilst having the Kuga has been the heated windscreen. It really has saved a lot of time and effort on these cold mornings when I'm trying to get out of the house and to school in one piece. It doesn't matter if its been frosty or icy, or even if I've just not managed to finish drying my hair and steaming up the car all over the shop. The heated windscreen just does all the donkey work for you.
In close second though, and for sheer luxury, it has to be the panoramic window, followed very closely by the bottom warmers. A warm bum on a cold November morning whilst watching leaves fall on your glass roof ... What's not to love?! I shall genuiunly miss all three!
What one thing would you change about it?
Well, I'd obviously make the boot size bigger! But seeing as that's not going to happen, I think there's a real issue with the lights on the car. I have been flashed at three times when people have presumed I had my full beam on (when I infact only had dipped). I was even the 'victim' of a bit of road rage! As a driver, the lights give a great field of vision but to other drivers, it would seem I'm quite dangerous as they're mostly getting dazzled. And the model of my car meant I couldn't change the headlight settings. A crying shame, and worrying in equal measures I find.
I'd also like a push button feature to open and close the panormaic window blind. Babies with sun in their faces cry! And thats not too clever if the sun comes out suddenly and you're crawling along on the M60 and can't pull over any time soon!
Overall though, my experience with the Kuga has been a very positive one indeed. It feels a well built, reliable car and is very pleasant to both drive and be a passenger in. I filled up the car with £25 towards the end of the test drive and that took my estimated fuel mileage left from 35 to 172miles 'til empty and took the gauge to just under half full. I think that's quite economical for a relatively big car. Whilst it doesn't suit us personally as a family car, for many I'm sure it would be perfect. I think what best sums up the pleasure of the experience and me 'feelings' towards the Kuga is that DH has already got a table booked at our favourite restaurant for Thursday evening as he knows too well that I'm going to be in a foul mood once the shiny new car has been taken away and I'm left with my usual chug-a-long. It's been fun, Mumsnet! Thanks!