[Raptor]

Hi, just a work of warning to anyone who thinks they may want to us a roof box with their Kuga that they should ensure they order their Kuga with the £160 Roof Rail option from the factory.


It seems that what look like roofbar mounting covers have nothing underneath them and that the only way to fit roofbars for a roofbox is to fit them to roof rails.



My Kuga was the first from my dealers showroom and it did not come with roof rails. As a consequence I am having to have them retrofitted which as proved a nightmare as the merchantising is not yet set up and I have only just received them (ordered at the beginning of June) thanks to a very nice lady in Ford Customer Servicves pulling strings for me.



The next downside is that fitting them is a major job and is in the bodyshop for 2 days and is costing me £450 to fit on top of the £160 purchase price of the rails. Worse still I am away from my beloved Kuga and having to drive a loaned Fieasta for 2 days

I have fed back to Ford Customer Services that at only £160 they should fit roof rails as standard and make it optional to remove them.



Based on my experience, my dealer is ordering all their future stock Kuga's with the roof rail option to ensure upsetting future customers who might want to use a roofbox.



So, be warned.

 

[Siz]

Hi Raptor,


I am just starting down this process myself, I have been given the price of the roofbars at £160 but no fitting costs available yet. My Kuga was one of the first from the showroom without roof rails. Any idea how come it takes 2 days to fit roofrails, I bet it does not take that much time to put the ehole car down the assembly line at the factory. Can you also explain what you mean by your comment "mounting covers have nothing inderneath them" ? £450 to fit them is incredible, you can get them as part of one of the option packs which includes tinted glass, chrome trims etc (and bigger wheels I think) for arounf £500. Ford have surely got to sort this out.



I have also tried to contact a couple of roof bar companied on the web to see if there is foot pack which will fit onto the Kuga without roof rails, as of yet and because the car is so new, nobody is doing one.



Salesman who sold me the car said he would fit them for free, he is on holiday at the minute but you can be sure I will be on his case when his is back. £450 !!! still cant believe that.

 

[Raptor]

Hi Siz, My dealer did it in one day after all. I collected it at 5pm this evening. Total cost of roof rails (including the removable lockable crossbars which are additional to the rails) including fitting came to £698.58 Plus VAT (£65.03) coming to a grand total of £761.61

If you look under the blanking covers in the roof, there is nothing under them (on my old Mondeo there was a captive nut under these that the roof cross bars bolted into).

To fit the roof rails they have to drop the headlining within the car which apparently is quite a big job, that is what takes the time (in the factory they fit the rails before the headlining is installed).

Labour came to £325.00 and parts to £371.58 broken down as;

CAP Moulding: 2 x £15.10
Support: 1x £103.00
Cap Moulding: 2 x £13.30
Kit - Lugg Xbar: 1 x £76.60
Carrier Assy: 1 x £103.00
Moulding: 1 x £25.30

Pluss a few other small item sundries.

It seems that the current parts list in the dealers part department is not 100% accurate.

It has left a bad taste in the mouth. If it wasn't for the fact that Kuga is such a fantastic car all round I would have been even more upset by this.

Good luck with your dealer. Perhaps if you get into a strop with them you may be able to knock them down a bit.

 

[Siz]

Raptor,


Many thanks for this info, I will give the dealer until the weekend to come back to me with a price, if it is anywhere near yours I will certainly be venting my thoughts to them.



I actually want to buy a Thule aerobar kit together with four bike holders, these will cost me the best part of £350, if I add in the cost of fitting the roof rails this is going to top the £1K mark - unbelievable.



Does anybody know if there is a tow bar bike carrier available, I dont have a tow bar fitted either but this may be a cheaper option that the roof rails !!!

 

[quatroxquatro]

Maybe something like this?


http://www.roofrackshop.co.uk/bike/thule-9708-hang-on-bike-carrier.htm


I use something more like this:
http://www.roofrackshop.co.uk/bike/thule-9403-ride-on-bike-carrier.htm



Cheers,

 

[daisbuys]

I seen a roof rack for the Kuga on ebay the other day, didnt really pay much attention to it really at the time.


And because the kuga shares characteristics with the focus, wouldnt the focus's roof rack fit the Kuga? As with the ST, there was no fixing points under the blanking covers, but once removedif you prodded what looks like the metal of the car is just silicone sprayed the same colour as the car! So with a small scalpel, just start digging away where you thinkis the central point and VOILA a thread appears to where you attatch the bolts to from the roof rack!



Im not saying this is the same as the fKuga, but could be worth a look??

 

[Raptor]

Hi Daisbuys, I previously had a Mondeo and knew about the removal of the Silicone (I has the Mondeo bars and a Thule box) but when I removed the Blanking Plates on the Kuga there was no silicone to remove. I had the dealiers Sales and Service guys look at it as well and they all failed to find any way of fitting bars without the rails

.


Anyway, if I ignore the costs the rails do look good on it (finishes the car off nicely).

 

[daisbuys]

Thanks Raptor.


Think I will order them as an optional extra to save the hassle. Will just really need to get the roof rack then to attatch to the rails.



And thanks for replying to my other post to mate, much appreciated!
Edited by: daisbuys