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One month with the KUGA PHEV Vignale - the story so far...

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24K views 116 replies 25 participants last post by  Gregs24 
#1 ·
In late June I took delivery of my third KUGA in a row - previously I'd had a 64 plate Titanium X, and a 68 plate Vignale AWD. I really love the KUGA; for me it's the perfect mix of fun to drive, spacious for a family, and has some really nice features (power taillift, panoramic sunroof, huge boot space, etc.).

Having recently moved house to somewhere with off-road parking I was keen to switch to electric but still wanted the backup/convenience that comes with an ICE engine for longer journerys. As soon as the PHEV was announced I knew I'd be swapping to it since it offers the best of both worlds so I placed my order in February and waited patiently for it to be built and shipped over to the UK.

First impressions:
  • The electric motor is amazing, incredibly quiet and can handle the vast majority of driving on its own.
  • The transition from electric to petrol is buttery smooth, and the petrol engine is very quiet - this impressed me the most coming from a diesel engine before.
  • The ride is a lot stiffer than the 68 model - but in a good way, it feels more poised and confident.
  • The turning circle is noticeably tighter which is helpful in tricky situations and generally makes the steering feel more lively and precise than before.
  • In normal use I commute around 12 miles a day and on weekends we'll do an extra 100 miles or so. The vast majority of this is pure electric. Over the first two weeks we did about 250 miles of electric and 50 miles on petrol.
  • The Vignale interior is a step up from the previous model. The 12" digital dashboard is really nice, the heads-up display is pretty useful, and the new B&O sound system really delivers great audio.
  • Sync 3 is fine as soon as you stop using it and enable CarPlay. The wireless charging is a nice touch but without Sync 3 supporting wireless CarPlay it's not all that useful since you'll be plugging in anyway...
  • The quality of the reversing camera display is a lot better than the previous model but I think a lot of that is down to the quality of the screen rather than the camera itself.
  • The FordPass app is just OK, it's slow to update, using it to unlock the car doors seems to take about 10 seconds which is a bit pointless considering you have keyless entry anyway...
  • I really love the new styling of the bodywork (especially from the front), it feels more dynamic and less "blunt" than the old KUGA but without losing the overall style they have established for the range.
All in all I was very impressed - it's better to drive, the interior is improved, and the electric engine feels like stepping into the future. It's really a lovely package all round.

However... unfortunately there seems to be an issue with this new model which is causing the 12-volt battery to drain overnight. Mine is now back with Ford as they try to figure out what's going on (apparently Ford HQ are working on some software update to resolve it). I've read one other post on this forum with the exact same symptoms and my rep at the garage finally admitted late last week that it's now a known issue so perhaps something that's affecting all PHEV models? I'll keep you updated as and when they have fixed it...

In the meantime if you have any questions about the new '20 PHEV model feel free to ask!
 
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#4 ·
Nice write up.

How are finding the glare free LED headlights compared to the bi-xenons on your previous two Kugas? I saw a YouTube video featuring the standard LED headlights and they looked really good.

I'll probably be moving back to a Kuga when my Tiguan's lease is up. It's the most annoying and frustrating car I've ever had but it's dynamic LED headlights are superb.
 
#5 ·
How are finding the glare free LED headlights compared to the bi-xenons on your previous two Kugas? I saw a YouTube video featuring the standard LED headlights and they looked really good.
With it being the middle of summer they haven't even turned on yet! I'll try to give them a test when I get the car back though, I'm interested to know myself...
 
#7 · (Edited)
Good review , and i believe i am of similar opions, although no full leather seats here :)
And i do not believe i experienced the 12v battery issue on mine, could it be that i did not enable the Wifi Hotspot in the car, and if that continue to run over night it might drain battery over time?

I had my car since June 18. and i have not not done any refuel yet, and i got 50% tank fuel left, but done a lot of electric charging i think. The fact that i can drive 32km and earn 16km on electric driving is a nice earning, when i go "charge only"(edit: EV Charge) driving.
 
#8 ·
And i do not believe i experienced the 12v battery issue on mine, could it be that i did not enable the Wifi Hotspot in the car, and if that continue to run over night it might drain battery over time?
It's possible! I did enable WiFi hotspot but I suspect if they knew that that's what was causing the issue they'd have returned the car and just told me not to use that feature until they figure out a fix.

Everything was fine with mine for two weeks until the first time it happened, after that it happened repeatedly in quick succession - hence the return to base! One symptom of the issue was having messages spamming into FordPass every few minutes saying "Remote features disabled for battery optimisation" so keep an eye out for that. I was getting ~100 of these messages overnight on the occassions when the 12-volt system was dead in the morning.

I filled the tank up just after getting the car which showed 393 miles of petrol range on the dashboard. When I took it back the final time I had 530 miles on the odometer and it was showing 290 miles of petrol range left - pretty amazing numbers to be honest, better than I had expected! We did a couple of longer range trips (> 75 miles) in that time but mostly just commuting and short trips. I charge it every night that I know I need electric range for the next day - so probably every other night or so.
 
#9 ·
I'm glad you like it. I've got a St line x phev ordered. Scheduled for September delivery.

I've never bought a brand new car before but I got a good deal! Used is cheaper, but I wanted hybrid, mainly for environmental reasons. Would have gone full ev But I don't think the infrastructure is there yet.

Besides the outlander there wasn't anything out there that has the space for wife and two kids. The Kuga had better range which is what swung it for me. And with the news that mitsubishi is pulling out of Europe that was a good choice I think.

I hope theyve sorted the battery issue by the time mine is built :)

When the 12v runs out can you charge it using the main battery? Or did you have to charge the 12v somehow?
 
#11 ·
I have a question about the charging cable.
I won't charge this away from home and getting the cable out of the boot, plugging it in etc is a faff..
So I was planning on plugging it into my waterproof external socket and then hang the other end on the wall - it has a sturdy waterproof cover.
Anyone see an issue with that?
Thanks!
 
#12 ·
I have a question about the charging cable.
Honestly I'd get a charge point installed if at all possible (there is currently a £350 grant for installs in the UK but it ends soon I think). The charging will be a lot faster, it'll be on a dedicated, isolated, circuit which is properly rated for the load and there won't be the temptation to do something silly like use an extension lead which may not be rated for the full charge current.

Is your waterproof socket one you that you can lock shut? These cables are expensive to replace due to their very large gauge so you want to make sure it is secure!
 
#13 ·
Hi.. thanks for the suggestion.
ive thought about a charging point but (a) my mains board is pretty chocka so I doubt there’s any space left for a dedicated connection and (b) the meter is in the opposite side of the house where the car will be.. I might check it out though.
yes.. socket is locked 😉
 
#14 ·
my mains board is pretty chocka
Yeah I guess every setup is different! Here they put in a dedicated breaker unit for the charge point that was just tapped directly off the head unit with a junction box (indepedent of the rest of the circuits in the house). I think the dedicated breaker unit monitors line voltage to determine how much current it can supply to the charge point without affecting supply to the rest of the house or something like that...
 
#19 ·
Just remember all you folks with the external sockets, plug in leads etc used to charge your motors please ensure they are protected by RCDs/RCBOs not just circuit breakers or fuses, for your safety. At least if there are any problems with damaged leads or water ingress they will trip instead of your hearts tripping.
 
#20 ·
Well that knocked a PHEV off my shopping list. My house has an old type fuse board that isn't RCD protected.

Also am I right in thinking that the RCD is supposed to trip before you get a shock.
 
#59 ·
Not necessarily. I had a Podpoint fitted and they fitted a dedicated RCD between the distribution unit (fusebox)
and the Podpoint, inside the garage in a weatherproof box..
Love the car by the way (ST Line X First Edition). Moved from a CX5 which I also loved. Seats more comfy in the Kuga though and the sat nav display MUCH better!
 
#21 ·
Yes RCDs trip at, normally 30mA well before you get a shock which wil do damage. You can buy individually RCD protected external sockets. I still have one despite the whole consumer unit (fuse board) being RCD protected.
 
#24 ·
I am pretty sure my daughter's house had a RCD fuse board. I got a shock one time as some numpty had wired the hall light from the upstairs circuit. I did turn the right circuit off. I always pull both circuits now or all circuits if sockets including cooker and shower as you never know if someone has taken a feed from them for a socket. My hair still stands on end.

Thanks for the offer but not a good idea to be sticking your fingers in your mouth since a certain country wanted to share their latest creation with the rest of the world.
 
#25 ·
There should always be a single downstairs light wired on the upstairs lighting circuit, and one from the upstairs wired on the downstairs, so that it's safe to get from one place to the other when one of the circuits tripped... I've had two brand new houses like that, and had some electrical work done here where the sparky told ne that's what needed to be done under current regs...
 
#29 ·
Never had that in any house I have owned. Downstairs lights always been on downstairs circuit and the same with upstairs. I haven't owned a new house since 1999 and it still doesn't make sense especially when electrical regs used to say that all fuses had to be marked what they were for. Also what happens to safety in the event of a power cut or have they started putting emergency lighting in houses now.
 
#28 ·
Someone, not a long time ago, made a comment that you couldn’t get a real answer on here for BS and I think it was aimed at me......and now here’s a thread about RCD panels on a car forum and I didn’t start it....
Well I go to the foot of our stairs.....
All I want is a straight answer to a legitimate straight forward question and I get tripe, utter tripe.
I had an RCD panel fitted some years ago as I found with my fat fingers winding fuse wire through a ceramic insulated block in total darkness sometime of a real task, made me cuss a bit, those were the days.
 
#30 ·
RCD panels are going to be fitted to cars soon so when a fuse blows you can just flick the switch. It will save your fat fingers trying to grip the small plastic tweezers needed to extract the fuse which if you haven't grabbed the fuse properly, said tweezers catapult themselves into somewhere unreachable. On a Mokka it's usually behind the kick panel near the passenger door.
 
#31 ·
Sorry to have taken the thread away from the opening post but having seen a few posts on folk dabbling with leads for car charging though I would just try to ask them to stay safe. After having to attend numerous properties following electrical fires and electrocutions to prepare reports though it might be worth a mention.
 
#33 ·
Are there any new owners that have “ buyers regret”.

It’s a tough question but sometimes you know right away, you’ve boobooed
and other times doubts start to creep in when you get that saying “ my other car never did that”.
Most posts are positive but there’s a few that seem underwhelmed with it.
 
#35 ·
Jealousy is for immature people.

I did say that it was a hard question and one that I have been there myself with a deffo big yes. VW Tiguan with a petrol engine !

Maybe it takes someone whose honest with themselves to admit such an error, other wise how can you move on.

Recognise the issue, sort it, move on.


People who think other people are jealous of what they have must have an awful ego to deal with. Lol
 
#38 ·
If you’re still undecided.. there are some great reviews of the Kuga on You Tube. Sadly because of lockdown many of the traditional sources have stopped doing reviews, but Petrol Ped has a great review and Cambs evs has posted several discussion videos, showing many of the key features. A pretty average review inn todays Sunday Times has met with quite a bizarre barrage of comments!
get a test drive - in these Clovid days, you get to have the care for a while on your own.
only complaint..when I got my test car there was zero electricity miles left! C’mon Ford..for every test drive make sure it’s fully charged up! 😳
 
#39 ·
Test driving a PHEV without charge...wow,. That's pretty poor from the dealer. When I test drove mine I had it all afternoon. Took it home to show the family (make sure it looks good in the drive!).
Then took it back with zero sales pressure when I handed it back in. I signed the paperworkd a few days later.

Most of the youtube reviews i've seen have been favourable. Range seems to be on the money, adequate power for day to day driving (it never claimed to be anything else)..

My concern right now is teething issues with a new car. In particular the issue with the 12v battery draining ovenight!

Mine is due for delivery in september so hopefully sorted by then.
 
#40 ·
Whilst on subject, does anybody know if any charge points can use 3 phase electric?
Not many domestic houses have 3 phase I know, but some do. (not mine before you ask)

If you could use the 3 phase ability for charging the battery is it quicker?
Or does the EV market only cater for 1 phase charging?
 
#41 ·
The Kuga only supports single phase 3.6kwh.

Even if the kuga supported higher chargin or you had a higher capacity car I would argue more than 7kwh at home is pointless unless you drive 150 miles per day on a regular basis. Plug it in whenever you are home and you should have a full charge most days on most cars. Unless you're a taxi driver :)
 
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