FORD KUGA 1,5 ECOBOOST TREND FWD 6AT

WE shouldn’t take for granted modern technology and creature comforts in new cars (of which the Kuga sports a comprehensive bouquet). This dawned on me when I recently shuttled someone not in touch with the evolving world of automotive tech and he was blown away as I talked him through the features fitted to this family SUV from Ford.

To my passenger, adaptive cruise control appeared to be some kind of black magic where the car kept the distance to the car in front with my feet nowhere near the pedals. He was intrigued by the orange flickering lights in the side mirrors (blind-spot recognition) but even more surprised the Kuga can spot painted lines on the road and warn the driver when they are crossed (even applying slight steering torque to keep the vehicle in lane). Fortunately, we did not experience emergencybrake warning or assist to help prevent an accident, but he appreciated the cross-traffic alert when we reversed out of our parking spot.

Features like automatic headlamps (with a self-dimming function), auto wipers and a touch-screen infotainment system were foreign to him. Imagine the surprised look on his face when I showed him the music he was listening to emanated from one of the two USB slots in the armrest. There are also two 12 V sockets (one in the boot) to power auxiliary devices.

Climate control kept the cabin cosy during our cold Cape winter drive but, regrettably, there was no opportunity to show off the self-parking feature of the Kuga (although I suspect the twirling of the steering wheel without my hands close to the wheel would have been too much for him to handle).

As CAR journalists, we are sometimes too close to the technology to realise how far it has come over the years and the Kuga is an excellent example of what was once ground-breaking tech filtering into everyday family vehicles.