Ford Kuga SUV - Interior & comfort

The last Kuga was generally quite refined but was a little noisy on the motorway. From our drives so far, it seems that its replacement is better in this regard. The 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre mild-hybrid diesels sounded a little vocal under hard acceleration but settle down when cruising.

We found that the bases of the sports seats fitted to our Titanium-spec test car were a little flat for our liking, making them uncomfortable on longer drives. Otherwise, the Kuga features plenty of equipment to take the stress out of the daily commute; lane-keeping assistance, all-round parking sensors, cruise control and hill-start assist all come as standard.

Ford Kuga dashboard

Ford has decided to keep things simple, giving the Kuga the same interior as the Fiesta, Focus and other models. A Peugeot 3008 certainly has more design flair inside, but the Kuga’s interior is simple and intuitive, whether you’re familiar with Ford interiors or not. Besides, the cabin design is a marked improvement over the old Kuga, which was really showing its age having been around since 2012.

An eight-inch touchscreen sits on top of the dashboard, plus a 12.3-inch digital dial display on Titanium models and above. Beneath that is a panel for audio controls, the air vents and the heating controls, with a few extra buttons each side of the gearlever. 

The material quality is good in the places where you’ll touch, but there are cheaper, scratchier materials lower down. It all feels well-built, though, so it should stand up to years of family life.

Ford’s SYNC 3 infotainment system is fitted as standard and provides plenty of connectivity. It includes both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, allowing your phone’s apps to be displayed on the screen, plus DAB radio and Bluetooth. Voice control is also part of the package, so you can access the screen’s functions without taking your hands off the wheel or eyes off the road.

The digital dial cluster looks smart and gives you plenty of information but we’d like a little more configurability as you get in some rivals. There didn’t seem to be a way to have the sat-nav display in the cluster and it didn’t really have any more functions beyond a normal set of dials and a trip computer.

Equipment

Buyers have a choice of five trim levels. Zetec is the entry point, and includes luxuries like keyless start, auto lights and wireless phone charging. It also gets sat nav, cruise control and a handy heated windscreen, but you need to step up to Titanium in order to get dual-zone climate control and auto wipers. Titanium also brings LED headlights, keyless entry, a 12.3-inch digital dial display and a premium B&O sound system, too. It’s the one we’d pick both for its equipment levels and the wider choice of engines - although hybrid buyers will need to choose ST-Line trim or above.

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ST-Line gets sporty detailing inside and out, plus sports seats and cornering LED fog lights. ST-Line X models can be distinguished by larger alloy wheels and a panoramic sunroof that makes the interior feel very spacious. There’s also heated seats in the front and rear.

The top-spec Vignale model aims to look elegant rather than sporty, and has lots of equipment to offset its high price. You get metallic paint as standard, along with a different grille, leather upholstery and a full set of heated seats.

Options

Once you’ve picked your trim, you can then select from a number of options including a Technology Pack (upgraded headlights and a head-up display - £400), a winter pack (heated front seats and a heated steering wheel - £400) or a tow bar for around £600. We’d recommend spending £100 on a space-saver spare wheel instead of the standard-fit tyre repair kit.