Ford Kuga First Drive

FIRST THOUGHTS: Good-looking and comfortable to boot, the Ford Kuga arrives into a crowded segment of the market, but stands up well against its key rivals.

Four years after it went on sale in Europe, the Ford Kuga has finally made its way to Australia. Arriving in dealerships from next month, Ford Australia says it can only get its hands on 200 cars each month – such is the demand for the Kuga in Europe. So, with limited supply, Ford has opted to import a mid-spec Trend model (from $38,990) and a top-spec Titanium ($44,990) only. There’s only one engine and transmission on offer, a 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, which makes 147kW at 6000rpm and 320Nm from 1600rpm. This engine, the same as that in the Focus XR5, is mated to a five-speed automatic. Ford is claiming combined fuel consumption of 10.3L/100km, but at the launch we were well into the 12s.

What’s it like?

The Kuga was always going to be pretty good; the running gear is, after all, straight out of the previous generation Ford Focus. And that car was lauded all around the world as a benchmark for how small cars should ride and handle. While we sampled the car in New Zealand, on New Zealand-only 19-inch alloys, it didn’t fail to impress.

There’s good body control and impressive bump absorption, so when it arrives in Australia and is fitted with either 17-inch alloys (for Trend) or 18-inch alloys (for Titanium), its ride should be impressive indeed. Will that affect some of the car’s front-end grip? We’ll just have to wait and see when we test it on our own roads.

The steering is consistently weighted (if a little light) and very direct, and with a turning circle of just 11.5 metres it’s nice and manouevrable. There’s good vision right around, although only the Titanium is standard with reversing sensors (there’s no reversing camera option).

Despite being a four-year-old design, the Kuga looks contemporary, and that’s partly because it was such a good-looking car when it was launched. And the same goes for the inside; if no one told you it was a model nearing the end of its life cycle you probably wouldn’t know. Indeed, the interior looks a little smarter than the mish-mash that is the interior of the current Ford Focus.

That said, it’s not all beer and skittles inside the Kuga. On the whole the plastics are of a high quality with just about everything you touch being soft plastic, but there’s a little bit of scratchy stuff that takes the shine off what is otherwise a well laid out interior. There are a few small storage bins scattered around the cabin, and some concealed storage bins under the rear seat foot well.

Speaking of the back seat, there’s plenty of room for three adults across the back, the transmission tunnel is fairly low, and the middle seat itself is nice and wide. The width of the seat means there’s no room for storage bins in the rear doors, but that’s the sacrifice for extra room in the back. There are three child seat anchor points across the back, and such is the rear seat space I’d be surprised if you couldn’t get three child seats abreast... we’ll test that once we’ve had the car for a week.

The boot has 355 litres of space; drop the 60/40 split-fold rear seats and this grows to 1355 litres. The load lip is nice and flat and that makes loading and unloading a cinch. There’s even what Ford calls a mini tailgate, which you can open to load and unload smaller items without having to lift up the main tailgate.

So what do you get for your money? The Trend ($38,990) gets things like Bluetooth, voice control, keyless start, 17-inch alloys, power windows (front and rear), leather-wrapped steering wheel, six airbags, and a five-star ANCAP safety rating, plus more. The Titanium ($44,990) adds things like leather interior, rain-sensing wipers, panoramic glass sun roof, auto headlights, rear-only reversing sensors, rear view mirror with auto dimming, and more.

VERDICT: The Ford Kuga arrives right at the end of its life cycle (there’s a brand-new Kuga due out next year (2013), and its pricing puts it right at the pointy end of the segment. Our initial impression is that it’s good enough to match, if not outdo, the competition. More than that, the addition of Kuga to Ford Australia’s portfolio gives it one of the smartest line-ups in the country.