[stotty1935]

The road tests that I have read by the motoring press are generally good. But5 adverse points have been brought up by several of them. They are that there is moderate road noise, intrusive wind noise at motorway speeds, lack of knee and head room in the back,small boot space for the size of car and that the gear lever is set at an awkward angle.







Would anybody having a test drive comment on these points as well as anything of note that they discover.

I know no cars is perfect but we need to know if there are real problems or if they can be lived with considering all it's attributes and georgeous looks.



Colin.

 

[SprayAway]

Hi Stotty


As reported on the Newbie forum, I test drove one on Sunday and came away extremely impressed.



In answer to your concerns, and please bear in mind I currently drive a facelift CMax Titanium so may be a little biased, I didn't find the road noise intrusive at all (and the demo had the upgraded 18inch alloys), neither the wind noise at motorway speeds.



As for room in the back, headroom is slightly less than the CMax but kneeroom seemed the same. I agree the bootsapce could be better - it seemed to have the same floor area as the CMax, however it is definitely shallower (to accommodate the four-wheel drive hardware maybe?). But it is definitely adequate for the car's size (we have a 3 year old who has a lot of travelling paraphernalia which would be easily accommodated).



Finally, as for the gearlever, well it is exactly the same as for the CMax, and myselfand my wife (who by her own admission is not a "natural" or "confident" driver) have never found it to be a problem in the last 10 months of ownership.



In conclusion, I'd seriously suggest trying one for yourself - as I said I was extremely impressed, but "one man's meat is another man's poison" so only you can judge if it's right for you.



PS - if you do decide to order one as we did, don't fall for the line they're in short supply so there's no discount. I managed to get another £500 off, on top of the £2000 Ford employee saving.



Good luck, and let us know how you get on!



Steve

 

[smax owner]

hi there i to have driven one today although it was only for about 20 mins


as for the road noise and wind noise i cant coment on as i did not do any high speed driving

rear head / knee room is good enought form my kids (19/17 and close to 6 ft)

the boot is small but owning an S-max most are

gear lever the same as the S-max and most ot the other cars i drive so dont realy know what they were on about there

as SA says drive one your self is the best answer

 

[WILDJO]

Hi there,
I got my Kuga on Thursday and spent the weekend out posing! Good motorway run and despite it being a diesel lovely and quiet.

My hubby says he found the indicator stick a bit tricky due to the other control paddle for radio etc, but perhaps my hands are smaller so no probs myself. Gearstick is snug but absolutely fine! My daughter sat in the back and said the legroom is a bit tight depending on the drivers position, but she looked high up and enjoys the visibility. Hope this helps.

 

[applematt]

I hate the motoring press... they never seem to be consistent with their comments or comparisons! The boot is just like the <?: prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><ST1:STREET w:st="on"><ST1:ADDRESS w:st="on">Focus ST</ST1:ADDRESS></ST1:STREET> with the foam insert ""“ I have a five year old and all our stuff goes in okay. Oh and this is due to the twin pipe exhause box & 4x4 system thats situated under the boot floor pan...


Head room/leg space... umm I'm 5'7" and have no issues with either of these.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><O></O>

<O></O>
Wind noise ""“ quietest car I've driven for a long while and I have the 18" wheels (235/50)""¦ <O></O>


Controls - are carry over from focus... most ergonomic i've use recently - try the bmw mini if you think this is fiddly!



As pointed out by others you'll just have to go out and drive this car and come to your own conclusions ""“ however I bet you'll place an order

Edited by: applematt

 

[Andrea]

It's two weeks I drive this car and:

1) moderate road noise: absolutely not, it's the quietest car I've ever driven

2) intrusive wind noise: true, but not so intrusive: when the speed gets over 100 km/h you hear some wind noise coming from somwhere around the two external rear-vision mirror

3) lack of knee and head room in the back: up to 190 cms you can sit comfortably in rear seats. If your friends are higher than that then buy a Fiat Multipla and don't bother us ;-)

4) small boot space: not at all

5) gear lever at an awkward angle: the angle is strange, it's true, but it's comfortable. And if you think it's too far from the armrest (or if you've got short arms), you can pull the armrest forward.

 

[Raptor]

Hi, finally picked my Panther Black Zetec up yesterday after the DPF mod finally arrived. So far I am 100% impressed and I hardly got any work done today as all my colleagues wanted to have a look (shame about the ones who didn't ask and put sweaty finger prints all over my side windows!).

My following comments are based on the fact that I previously had a pre-update Mondeo Edge 2.0i Petrol and was clearly spoilt for rear space and a cavernous boot... (I had to change cars due to breaking my back a year ago and although 95% recovered, getting out of the Mondeo was proving uncomfortable so went in to trade up to a C-Max and ended up with a Kuga).

1) Noise: Considering this is my first oil burner ever I am simply amazed at how quiet it is (I pushed it to 85MPH on the A1M). Much quieter than the Mondeo was in all aspects (Road, Engine and Wind)

2) Headroom and Knee Room in back: Considering I am 6' 2" tall it is tight for me but I don't intend to sit in the back. It does restrict knee room when I am driving as the seat is fully back but I can drive one notch in to make it a bit more comfortable. It doesn't seem really any worse than most cars on the road bearing in mind that we have been spoilt with the Mondeo which really is class leading in terms of passenger space.

4) Small boot: well compared to the Mondeo, anything is small. We are off caravaning this weekend (towing with it for the first time!) and we are trying to work out how we are going to fit everything in that used to disappear into the Mondeo Boot. We'll let you know how we get on. A roof box is also worth considering but if you want to fit a roof box, at the moment you HAVE TO HAVE THE OPTIONAL ROOF RAILS. So if a Roof Box is important make sure you specify the optional FACTORY FIT Roof Rails at only £150. I am having to spend a small fortune to have the roof rails retro-fiited by the dealer.

Given this roof box restriction I have fed this back to the dealer and Ford Customer Services that they should automatically include Roof Rails and make it optional to remove them.

Finally, I am blown away by it's handling. Having a colleague with an X-trail that rolls like there is a force 10 gale in the Atlantic, I forgot I was in the Kuga and took a tight corner joining the A1M from Peterborough South a little to fast and thought I would be in trouble. The Kuga did not complain at all. Top Marks to Ford on this one!!!

 

[Black Pantha]

Hi Stotty,

Had mine a week now...done 600 miles so here goes -
Road noise - I have the 18" wheels but find the noise very dependant on surface. 90% of the time its a quiet ride.
Intrusive wind noise at motorway speeds - Not noticed this at all
Lack of knee and headroom in the back - my only concern however took the kids on the test drive and they were more than happy with the space even though it was less than the rear of my Picasso. I am 6ft 1" and yes, my hair does touch the roof...just.
Small boot space for the size of car - looks small but very useful. Will wait a while to see if anyone removes the spare and replaces with a gunk pump. The boot would be perfect then
That the gear lever is set at an awkward angle - quite like it myself but each to their own

Got to ignore the reviews and try it yourself. If you want the internal measurements I can get my tape measure out

 

[CliffMac]

Generally I agree with the comments above. I'v had the Kuga since late June and would say:

Small Boot - definitely shallower than the Focus but there is significant space around the spare wheel which we used on holidays. Most friends remark that it is a big boot.

Wind Noise - I haven't noticed this - some reviews said that 'some Kugas' suffered from this so maybe I'm lucky

Road Noise - there's more than my Focus had but I'm on 235x18 Goodyear tyres. In my experience the tread pattern can have a significant effect

Gear Stick Position - it's different but I like it. Jumping from the Kuga to my wife's Focus (and bearing in mind I changed from a Focus) the Focus stick feels far away and less comfortable

 

[hessisgod]

Only had a test drive as still waiting for mine, but took it out for a good half hour (the salesman said it was the longest drive he'd done in a Kuga).
I took it down the M20 at a decent speed as I do a lot of motorway miles and compared to other diesels I've owned and driven, it was remarkably quiet. I'd driven a CRV just before my Kuga testdrive and it was one of the things that sold it to me.

The gearstick was also a plus for me. I ideally wanted an auto, but not many cars have diesel autos so I really liked the gearbox where it is.

The thing with the motoring press is its opinion. I loved the Kuga compared to a Rav4,CRV, X3 etc, but others may have different views.

Not on this forum though

 

[Griff]

Test drove a Kuga yesterday afternoon again only 20 mins.................. personally thought the handbrake looked a bit strange not fussed about the gear stick position and had two kids and the wife in the back with no probs or complaints................


To be honest I was quite impressed.

 

[lochydog]

Been driving a kuga (mine & stand in) for over 5 weeks now. Well impressed with my first diesel - didn't think you could stall a diesel, till I did. Actually quite like the purring engine noise. As to the concerns:
1) intrusive wind noise/moderate road noise: on the contrary I haven't noticed it urban or motorway.
2) lack of knee and head room in the back: am 6 foot 1 but you can't get me out the drivers seat. Have had 4 largish people in and no complaints. However the rear passengers did pull down the centre armrest because they were rolling a touch on the rush home. Ooops, blame the driver?
3) small boot space: Ok it's not massive but I trialled my electric golf buggy and clubs etc before I bought so I'm happy. Also fitted my cases when we went on hols. It's very flexible space with the drop seats.
I like the controls and handbrake and gear lever. In fact I find it a very comfortable car to drive full stop.