So the Kuga went back 2 weeks ago, it was a sad day for me as I'd got so used to having it about. I'm just going to do my final roundup now that I've gone back to my usual car.
What were you/your partner's first impressions of the car?
Big, sleek and shiny were the words I used over the phone to describe it to DH. Compared to my little renault megane it was tall and wide. My car being over 10 years old it looked and felt really luxurious inside and out. I spent a good few moments walking around it admiring the paintwork, alloy wheels and tinted windows.
I did sit inside it reading the manual for a good hour to learn all the functions.
What do the children think of it?
DD isn't old enough to enjoy looking at cars, she's 11 months so a car is a transport device which means she has to be restrained. So her impressions at first were impartial. As time went by I could see the Kuga having an effect on her. She was much happier to be restrained in the car seat. Her view out of the rear window was better than what was in our usual car, the side windows too. I am sure her trips about were much more pleasant because of this.
Do the children fit comfortably in it? How easy is it to fit car seats/ adjust seats etc
DD is in an extended rear facing car seat and we had put it on the back seat passenger side, same spot as my usual car. We initially had some problems sorting it as it needed a seat belt extender to fit safely, but we did have one handy. Also had issues fixing her mirror for me to see her via the rear view mirror. It took some tweaking but we got there. I found the car seat was a little slippery on the 1/2 leather seats, making the car seat feel a little unstable, but still within safe standards, just not as secure as my usual car.
DH is quite tall and leggy, where as I am short, usually it's a real fiasco finding a car that suits us both. It was very easy to adjust the position in this car, almost every angle can be attained. If this was a car I was to buy, I would opt for the electric adjustment rather than the manual, as we did have to adjust each time we changed drivers though this didn?t take long, it would be far easier if it was electronic.
I would say that with DD's rear facing car seat we couldn't adjust the passengers seat back to far, as it can't touch, this meant it was only 3 clicks from the most forward position. DH did find it quite a squeeze in that spot.
What's it like to drive?
I was amazed at how smooth the ride was, our rough and bumpy lanes were not a problem at all. I've driven diesels before and they have all been quite heavy in looks and handling, this is the first time I've come across a diesel that is so light and responsive.
Visibility was a bit poor with the tinted windows, certainly not an option I would choose myself. Not enough ambient light on gloomy days to see DD in her car seat. It made reversing awkward as well.
I did like the parking sensors, especially the different tones for each sensor, it meant I knew where to adjust. It was handy to turn it off now and then. It did go a little overboard for the Ducks at Chew Valley Lake.
Is it a comfortable ride?
I found the ride really comfy. Smooth even on the roughest roads and biggest pot holes. The seats were comfy, I did find them quite awkward to start with, they needed to soften up as my generous figure was a bit squished to start with. Both seats were very comfy in the front, I even had the opportunity to be in the rear, which had tons of leg room and was really comfy too.
I did rely on the rural roads to get DD to sleep, found that the smooth ride made her harder to nod off.
What's the boot space like? How useful did you find the Split Tailgate?
The boot is deeper than my usual boot, but not as wide, so I found that I had to put the normal junk and buggy I carried around in different positions, but it all fitted. There was much more opportunity to stack things up. I liked the pull over tonneau cover, it meant that everything was hidden away easily. I did find the split tailgate useful as I could easily put something in quickly, by just lifting the hatch up. Handy when my boot is full of junk and something is likely to fall out if I open the full flap. I did have an incident where I had to dash across a car park to retrieve some bits that had rolled out, when I?d gone in via the full flap. I did find I had to almost climb into the boot to get at the stuff at the back, often getting the fronts of my thighs dirty on the bumper. It was also quite high to lift the buggy in and out.
Does it have any useful extras - cup holders etc?
Well we had the titanium model, which is the mid range option, so a good range of features and extras.
We had the Sony single CD DAB audio system, which was pretty awesome, the sound was really good and easy to adjust. We loved having the DAB radio as I mainly listen to BBC 6 Music. I also liked that via Bluetooth I could connect my mobile to answer and make calls, this was a feature I have never had in a car before and it was very handy. DH commented on the clarity of the call, you really wouldn?t guess that you were speaking to someone driving in a car. Though personally wouldn?t use it for long phone calls, but for DH to check in with me when out and about, it was very handy to have. I did like that I could plug in my Ipod and listen to my music, but it didn?t pick up any of my audiobooks. We did try the voice control aspect of the Bluetooth, but really struggled with our Somerset tones, it didn?t like most words we used, and I am notorious for confuddling my words, so gave up.
We also like that you could control what temperature your passengers get. For example I like a lot more heat than DH, so could increase the temperature wherever I was, driving, front passenger, or rear. I also found it handy as it was generally quite nippy over the three weeks we had the Kuga and could heat the rear, which has never been an option, before I used to put some extra blankets on, that I could remove throughout the trip.
At this time of year the days are generally dim and foggy, so I was excited by the automatic headlights, but found they weren?t as sensitive as I would have liked. So I continued my usual habit of lights on as standard.
We did try the cruise control a few times, again nothing I have had before, so it was all new to me. It?s certainly very sensitive and can see uses for it on the bigger roads and motorways, but not so much in the rural roads and lanes.
There are quite a lot of storage options, some were useful and others were hard to reach. For example, in the rear, there is storage below the seats. Which is okay for people who don?t have car seats or boosters, I suppose, as it would be a PITA to have to get the car/booster seat out each time to access what you have stored. There were pockets in the doors, some of these were quite low and would be hard to access if you are driving, I usually keep things handy like water, chamois pad to wipe windows, wet wipes, tissues and the other usual stuff that gets shoved in these pockets for later date. There was a storage unit as part of the central console, this had the USB port for the ipod to connect to the stereo and a 12v charger, it was also quite deep so you could fit lots of stuff, but it wouldn?t be easy to hook out what you need. I did like the cupholders in the front slidey section, only because I could support my bottle of water, also slip in gum, keys etc. I also liked that it had a sliding cover to hide things away in there too. There is also the glove compartment, which is generously sized to fit a map and a couple of CD?s.
How does it cope with different road conditions eg town, country, motorway
The only type of road it wasn?t tested on was the Motorway as we don?t often have to get on them. We live in a rural area, so main driving was on rural roads and single track lanes. It coped pretty well and it did take me some time to adjust my driving style to suit the conditions. I am not a confident city driver, only because I don?t drive in them that often these days. I did take the Kuga a few times into Bath and Bristol, I had a few moments of worry when I didn?t see a motorcyclist through the dark tinted windows. I did find that the range of the gearbox in low gear quite hard to get used to, in stop start traffic it was awkward to get the right gear. It did have a green light that came on to encourage you to change gear, keeping your revs below 2,000. This may have been handy for those that do long trips on the A roads and motorways, but mainly driving on B roads and country lanes meant that this was an annoying thing that kept popping up, so mainly ignored it. No way could it know I had to be in that gear for the twists, turns and hills ahead. I didn?t get to test the off road capability. I did find it quite good around the lanes, the reversing was not as awkward as I first envisaged.
What do your friends/ family think of it?
Our families were both suitably impressed with the Kuga, everyone who had a ride in it found it very comfortable, they even found the back seats comfortable too.
Has testing this car made you more or less likely to buy a Ford?
Though this car isn?t for me, I?d certainly look at the range in more detail.
Has testing this car changed your perception of Ford cars at all?
Not particularly, having owned a few fords before, but it?s certainly made me think about the options on my vehicles, and I would look at ones with more features and extras in the future.
What one thing do you like best about it?
It would have to be the radio, it made my travel experience much happier.
What one thing would you change about it?
I wouldn?t choose the tinted window option that?s for sure. I would make it more car seat friendly if it was up to me.
Any other comments
Though I thought this car pricey for what it was, it?s more down to what suits our needs, an AWD vehicle really isn?t suitable for our family. By comparing it to other cars on the market, I now know it is pretty standard pricing for an AWD with the range of options that I had.
I?ve always thought of a car as a means to get from A-B, as long as it gave heat, had some audio and was relatively economic to run then I was happy. Until the Kuga I?d never thought about the optional extras you could get, now if I was to buy a new car I think I would add on some extras to make my driving experience more pleasurable.