Reviews of the Ford Kuga

The Ford Kuga is a family SUV that’s been incredibly popular in the last few years. Perfect for families looking for an affordable and reliable car, the Kuga comes with a range of powertrains, a spacious interior, and decent technology as standard. 

Rivals to the Kuga include the Hyundai Tucson, Volkswagen Tiguan, Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4, and the Volvo XC40. 

Our Ford Kuga review covers:

• Updated and modern exterior design 
• Spacious and well-built cabin 
• 456 litres of boot space 
• Plug-in hybrid, full hybrid, and mild-hybrid options 
• Three trim levels

Pros:

• Comfortable and spacious interior 
• Great choice of engines
• Decent to drive 

Cons:

• Alternatives come with a much better interior
• Boot is quite small 
• Won’t really excite you 

There’s no denying the old version of the Kuga had a pretty boring exterior design. But don’t worry people, this is no more! Receiving a facelift in 2024, the new Kuga comes with an oval front grille, a light bar at the front, and redesigned tail lights that are in the shape of goal posts.  

If interior space and practicality is a priority, the Kuga won’t let you down. One of the more spacious family SUVs on the market, the Kuga provides plenty of space throughout the cabin. There’s ample leg and headroom throughout the cabin, and even six footers won’t have too many complaints if they’ve been put on the back row.  

Boot space comes in at 456 litres for the Kuga, but you can slide the back row of seats forward to increase boot space by an extra 67 litres or fold them completely flat to help with larger items. Granted, the boot isn’t as big as rivals like the Volkswagen Tiguan or Toyota RAV4, but there’s still plenty of handy features, such as an electric tailgate and underfloor storage.  

Even though the Kuga is a budget family SUV, the cabin is still a pleasant place to be. There’s some soft-touch plastics on the dashboard and it’s easy to navigate the infotainment system when driving. It’s not as nice as the cabins in the Volvo XC40 or Kia Sportage, but it will serve your family well. 

On the dashboard you get a 13-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Ford’s SYNC4 that’s easy to use and comes with sharp graphics. It comes with smartphone mirroring as standard and a 5G connection, allowing you to play your music and display your directions with ease. 

Three trims are available for the Kuga: Titanium, Vignale, and ST-Line. 

Titanium has 17-inch alloy wheels, a sporty front skid plate and rear diffuser, body coloured mirrors, side cladding and door handles, and LED daytime running lights. 

Vignale has 18-inch alloy wheels, windscore leather seats, a leather wrapped heated steering wheel, premium velour floor mats, and a satin aluminium finish for the roof rails, bumpers, and rocker inserts. 

ST-Line adds a large rear spoiler, twin sports exhausts, a dark cabin headliner, ST-Line seat designs with red stitching, and ST-Line floor mats. 

There’s plenty to choose from from the Kuga’s engine range. The line-up includes a plug-in hybrid, a range of petrol and diesel mild-hybrids, and a full hybrid. 

We’ll start with the EcoBoost mild-hybrid engines. For the diesels, you can choose between a 2.0-litre engine with 190PS or a 1.5-litre engine with 120PS. If you’re after a petrol, it’s a 1.5-litre EcoBoost engine available with 120PS or 150PS. 

The plug-in hybrid combines a 2.5-litre petrol engine with a 14.4kWh battery to produce 225PS and shoot from 0 to 62mph in a very respectable 7.3 seconds. You’ll get an electric-only range of up to 43 miles which is perfect for nipping to the shops or dropping the kids off at school. 

The full hybrid uses a self-charging powertrain that returns 183PS and goes from 0 to 62mph in just over eight seconds. It also comes with four-wheel drive and returns a combined fuel economy of 48mpg. 

The Kuga is a family SUV, so it comes as no surprise that on the road it focuses on comfort rather than enjoyment. Around town, the Kuga is a very good car to drive. You get a great field of view thanks to the raised driving position, and the automatic gearbox copes well in stop-start traffic. 

As you get up to motorway speeds, the Kuga is more of a cruiser than an overtaker. You’ll have no issues getting up to 70mph, especially in the hybrids, and once there you get a quiet and composed ride. 

On a country lane, the Kuga is okay to drive but it’s certainly not much fun. It handles itself well and is pretty agile in the corners, but that’s as good as it gets. The Kuga ST-Line edition does improve this slightly, but it's up to you if it's worth it for the extra money. 

Prices for the new Ford Kuga start from £27,745.00 OTR* or to lease from £272.71 per month.

Looking to get behind the wheel of the Ford Kuga? Nationwide Vehicle Contracts is one of the UK's largest car leasing brokers and offers a range of leasing deals to suit your every need.

Leasing may be cheaper than an outright purchase, thanks to a low initial deposit and fixed monthly rentals.

*' On the road' price correct at time of publication and includes one year's road fund license, DVLA first registration fee and number plate fee. Prices are subject to change; always check with your nearest retailer.