Test drive Ford Kuga since 2008 SUV

All photos of Ford Kuga since 2008

Diesel Ford Kuga

This compact crossover with a small trunk can boast of a good engine, finish and handling, and for off -road it does not have enough automatic transmission. Ford brought a short -sized crossover more than Toyota Rav4.
On the decoration of the salon in no way inferior to Volkswagen. In control and sharpness of the steering wheel, no worse than Mitsubishi Outlander XL. With the tight rear row of seats, like on Nissan X-Trail, and the trunk like Qashqai. With a two -liter diesel engine available among competitors only on Jeep Liberty/Compass. Ladies really like it, but for them Ford did not provide a machine gun. There is not enough for us. Diesel and automatic transmission are our favorite combination.
Do not believe that the mechanical transmission on off -road is better. This can only be argued by people who do not know how to use the automaton correctly. Even on any of our tests, an automatic transmission with automatic transmission did not go worse than on mechanics. But the manual transmission constantly threw a pig. I recall the Jeep Wrangler, stuck helplessly in the Lyubertsy career, UAZ Patriot, who was packed with dumping half of the Envid Reserve, and Skoda Octavia Scout, which could not take a gentle sandy lifting in the Sychovsky GOK. All of them were at the manual transmission. Now Ford Kuga, on which we arrived at the dunes near Moscow, is worthwhile, bashfully smearing the clutch. What remains for him? After all, the equipment is only one mechanics.

Moreover, in this point -pointed Ford box there are as many as six programs. And since they are quite short, before each traffic light you reach the fifth. What would you think about the person who, sitting in the car, constantly moves with his right hand?
At a speed of 40 km/h, the second gear is already hard, the fourth is asked for 80, and it is time to move to 100 km/h to the fifth. In principle, it turns out dynamically. But fussy. Maybe it's good on the highway? Where can you generally go to the sixth for a long time, occasionally moving to the fifth and with complex overtaking to the fourth? Yes, if in a hurry you can get a lever into the desired gap between the first and sixth!
Once, somewhere between Moscow and Vladivostok on Skoda with a similar box, instead of the fourth, I turned on the sixth, the revolutions fell, the engine asked for the third, and instead I got into the fifth. All this fuss occurred when overtaking against the backdrop of KamAZ flying to my forehead. I still remember.

The only reason that manufacturers today make six -speed manual transmission is fuel savings. Great, but what's next? Seven programs? Eight?
Rushing them passionate
Now about the good. Next year, the Ford Kuga version is expected with an automatic transmission. Plus, a gasoline 2.5-liter engine with a turbine and a couple hundred horses under the hood will add to the only two-liter diesel engine today.
In the meantime, we are going on diesel fuel, and this motor cannot but like it. On our test, he ate only nine and a half liters of diesel fuel. Although the operating mode was very cruel from a long axle box in the sand to peppy acceleration to 180 km/h in those places where it is safe to ride in this way.
In similar conditions, the gasoline engine of the same volume would eat at least 15 liters. In fact, people who are accustomed to intensively and clearly work with their right hand will like not only savings, but dynamics and elasticity too. Especially when vigorous on the highway and at city games, find a hole. Frankly sporty, short and sharp steering wheel helps to grope in a dense stream. Only having made a couple of maneuvers, you understand Kuga created for an active driver.
Matter: Ford Kuga

The guard is tired
What a wonderful combination of qualities: sports and economy. However, what does this give on the road? Ford functionaries in their information materials without hints directly provoke consumers to try a fashionable crossover in pampas. We were not shy: we immediately plowed the clutch and after a while we stood, lowering their noses into the sleeves.

After adhesion, we overheated the clutch or drove crazy intellectual all -wheel drive, which leads to throwing the moment from one wheel to another. At first, Kuga took rather steep climbs and did it easily, and in the end he sprinkled sufferingly at barely noticeable differences. However, most likely, it is in the clutch that this is not the first time we are faced with the effect of tiredness of the Haldex coupling.
The stone will be heard
We will conduct more or less serious trials for off-road when a version with automatic transmission appears. Then we will also evaluate the declared system of ultramodern shock absorbers, excluding unpleasant movements of the head from side to side arising from off-road movement (quote from a press release).
Maybe then Kuga will acquire a more integral image in our eyes. In the meantime, it remains to praise him in parts. For example, for a pleasant and not for money, high -quality interior decoration. Combined materials include different types of plastics and even soft inserts for elbows in the doorway. In appearance and to the touch, there are only positive emotions.

In the salon, quietly, noise insulation deserves separate words. Even the mirrors have verified aerodynamics, so as not to foony. But this salon cannot be called spacious to a tall driver to push the chair to the stop (the adjustment range is barely enough) and only a small child can sit behind him. On the other hand, what did we want? This is a car for young and dynamic.

Author: Dmitry Leontyev, photo of Alexander Ortnova-Baranov