About Car System Installs

The Ford Kuga was the first foray by Ford into the crossover market. These are family-friendly medium-sized SUVs that keep the rugged styling, high driving position and interior space of a traditional 4x4, but do without some of the hardcore mechanical kit needed for extreme off-roading.

That means that while Kugas are available with four-wheel drive (though many are front-wheel drive, especially the later models), they don’t have low-range gearboxes or locking differentials. The benefit of this is the lower running costs you get from reduced CO2 emissions and lower fuel consumption.

Ford was a little late to the party with the Kuga, as it arrived some time after the Nissan Qashqai and Volkswagen Tiguan were already lighting up the sales charts. But although the Kuga certainly wasn’t the first to the midsize SUV party, it was immediately one of the best options in the segment.

The first-generation Kuga shared much of its chassis and other mechanical parts with the mk2 Ford Focus and, like its family hatchback cousin, it was a well-equipped and likeable car that offered reasonable running costs and was surprisingly enjoyable to drive.

Early Kugas were available with petrol power, but the five-cylinder turbo petrol was rather thirsty, so most were sold as diesel models. In fact, it’s only with the Kuga plug-in hybrid version in the mk3 model that petrol-powered Ford Kugas really make sense.

Each new model generation or facelift has brought improvements in refinement, engine fuel efficiency and infotainment technology (Ford’s SYNC 3 system in the Ford Kuga mk3 is a world away from the clunky systems in previous models), but every Kuga is an impressive and capable family car.

In particular, the way the Ford manages to combine family car practicality, affordability and a fun driving experience is something none of its rivals can really manage quite so effectively.