Ford Kuga: old vs new

It still has plenty of competition in the family SUV class, however - you might also be considering a huge range of cars including the Peugeot 3008, SEAT Ateca, Renault Kadjar and Hyundai Tucson. • Best family SUVs to buy now We compare the latest Kuga with its predecessor to help you decide whether it’s worth paying the extra for a brand new one or if you’re better off searching the pre-registered, nearly-new and used markets for an example of the old car. Image 2 of 10 You’ll make up your own mind about which version of the Kuga you prefer but the new model draws more heavily on the Ford Focus for inspiration - most explicitly in its wide new grille. Compared to the last model, we think the bonnetlooks a bit long on the new car, but otherwise it looks fresh and modern. The facelift improved things with an eight-inch touchscreen (on all but base-spec Zetec), but it still looked incredibly dated compared with newer rivals like the Mazda CX-5 and Skoda Karoq. Image 8 of 10 Once again, the Kuga’s interior is mostly shared with the latest Focus so, while it’s still not the last word in exciting design, it is at least modern and up-to-date. Titanium, set to be popular, adds luxuries like LED headlights and dual-zone climate control. The previous Kuga didn’t really live up to the driving experience we’ve come to expect of Fords but the company has rectified that for the newest model. Although the engine range is mostly the same as on the old car, the lower-powered models are noticeably quicker than before, and more powerfulengines give decent performance. The new Kuga also gets a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variant for thefirst time; it can manage up to 35 miles of electric driving, and Ford says it’ll return up to 201.8mpg - although this very much depends on how often you charge the car and how longyourjourneys are. The last car’s 456-litre boot was pretty good, and folding the rear seats gave you a cavernous, flat cargo space. Image 4 of 10 However, you’ll probably not notice the difference, and with the rear seats in place the new car has a much bigger boot than before.