Kuga passes the test
This durable SUV handles the winter well and is a dream to return home to
THE one place England might just about have us beaten is when it comes to country pubs. Yes, they might be a bit ‘ye olde inn’ in tone, but most manage to stay just on the right side of twee, and usually feature an array of beers we simply don’t see here. In this, I am a slight disadvantage, because I would rather drink dishwater than down a pint of sudsy real ale, but spectacularly good ciders more than compensate.
Anyway, I tell you this because I spent Christmas with my sister in Surrey, where such pubs lurk behind every hedgerow, not least the Dolphin Inn in a little place called Betchworth (the church across the road was the location for the first of the nuptials in Four Weddings And A Funeral). The fish and chips and mushy peas I had there on Christmas Eve are a memory I’ll treasure.
Anyway, after six days of being driven around and never taking to the wheel at all, I returned to Dublin Airport to find the temperature just above zero and a film of ice shimmering beneath the arc lights in the car park. I smiled. Months ago, in anticipation of just such a scenario, I booked a test drive in the all-wheel-drive ST-Line version of the Ford Kuga, the compact SUV that easily is the best among the EcoSport and Edge.
I try to do this every Christmas. Living at the end of a bit of a boreen in Co. Wexford is all very well in summer, but the last thing I want to be is marooned over Christmas and New Year, so I was delighted to know the 120km drive home wouldn’t pose much of a problem. And so it proved. Despite constant warnings on the dash about road conditions, the Kuga took everything in its stride. I returned it last Monday, before Storm Eleanor struck, and was sorry it wasn’t still in the driveway; there’s something very reassuring knowing you have a car that will stand up to pretty much whatever is thrown at it.
The Kuga is not the prettiest SUV out there, and the white paintjob on my test car did it no favours. I’m sure I’ve bored you senseless over the years here telling you how much I hate white cars, and this didn’t buck the trend.
It actually looks its best in a shade called green instinct, though the downside there is that you look like you should be in convoy heading for the Curragh Camp.
The ST-Line version comes with a full bodykit, including body-coloured front skirts, lower silver skid plate, front and rear body-coloured wheel arches, body-coloured side and rear skirts and door claddings, high-gloss silver lower centre rear diffuser and high-gloss rear black mesh. You also get 18-inch 5x2-spoke alloys and black roof rails.
The interior is fine, but not exceptional, and features the now standard Ford fascia with a SYNC3 touchscreen and multifunction steering wheel, though all the infotainment controls can be worked by voice alone, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are built in.
My test car came with options above and beyond the standard ST-Line trim, and included rear privacy glass (€350), powerfold mirrors (€150), hands-free powered tailgate with keyless entry (€750), Ford SYNC3 DAB navigation system with emergency services alert), rear spoiler (€310), bi-xenon headlamps with dynamic bending (€1,330) and winter pack with heated front seats, heated steering wheel and headlamp jet wash (€450).
As far as handling goes, I found it solid and responsive. Despite some improvement last year on my local national secondary route, the roads here still leave a lot to be desired when you nip across country. The 2.0-litre diesel engine is a good one, not noisy, and it is poky when you need it, delivering a 0-100km/h of 9.2 seconds. The suspension is a bit on the firm side, but I’d rather err on that side than on flabby. Some SUVs I’ve driven in the past have been like trying to balance on a blancmange.
With fuel consumption of six litres per 100 kilometres, economy is about average, and motor tax will set you back €280 a year based on emissions of 135g/km.
When I first saw it in action, I thought the hands-free tailgate operation was a bit of a gimmick – you just wave your foot below the bumper and the boot opens automatically. In cold weather, though, when all you want to do is chuck your gear in the car and hit the road, it’s a godsend.
Just maybe not quite on a par with a pint of cider in an English country pub at Christmas, though.