Ford Kuga ST Line Video Review

A Review of the Ford Kuga ST Line

Well, welcome to another OSV car review. Today we’re inside the Ford ST-Line Kuga. This has got a two litre, 180PS diesel engine under the bonnet. So let’s get it rolling, and see what she drives like. 

Overtaking and acceleration is good for an SUV. It means you’re not everybody left wanting for more [inaudible 00:00:27]. Nought to 62 miles per hour, takes 9.2 seconds, which is as quick as you really need an SUV to be. And you should be able to achieve over 50 to the gallon if you behave yourself. I’ve gotta say, this leather-bound steering wheel feels really good in the hand. Six-speed gearbox has a good positive action. The seats are comfortable. There’s no electric adjustment, just manual wheel and lever. But it gets me comfortable. 

The ride is comfortable, again, yet firm. And that’s because this being the ST-Line, trim level, has got a lowered, slightly stiffer suspension. So the trade-off is that you do feel the lumps and bumps in the tarmac slightly more than you would in a standard Kuga. But the positive point is that, hit any corners, bends on a twisty country lane, and you can have a little bit more fun because this will stick to the corners much better than the conventional Kuga. There’s no doubting the Kuga’s manual gearbox is a fine little box. You can save some money by having the manual transmission, and this is what we’d recommend. You’ve also now got the choice of running a Kuga in ST-Line trim with all-wheel drive. 

Don’t get me wrong, this car is not gonna set your world on fire. It’s no sports car, even though the word “sporty” I keep mentioning. But the ST-Line trim really is to make your neighbours and everybody else think you’re driving pretty sports-oriented ST Kuga. Well, ST Kuga, yeah okay. You might think that sounds a bit daft, but you know what, it’s all about emotion when it comes to leasing or buying a car. And if you have a car that you like the look of, and I think this looks better than the average Kuga, then, you know, why not, go for it. 

The grille and roof rails on the Kuga ST-Line are black instead of chrome and has a choice of two alloy wheels stars [SP] available, but both are, again, in black. It certainly does a job of making the ST-Line look more aggressive and bolder. Climb inside, and you’ll notice the ST-Line exclusive interior touches. You sit in sporty half leather ST-Line seats. [inaudible 00:02:27] or black roof lining. And there’s lovely contrast stitching on the leather steering wheel, around the gear lever, and on the seats, too. The dashboard also gets it’s own ST-Line exclusive dark metallic trim, which matches the sporty dark feel of the overall look. Other exclusive ST-Line touches include: alloy pedals, a sportier three-spoke steering wheel, and ST-Line branded scuff plates.

Come and join me in here and you’ll see…can you see here? Look I just happened to have a child seat in the middle. So you can see, there’s myself, there’s the child’s seat, and there’s you sitting right there. And the interior of this car is a mixture of leather and suede. Got vents here, for the rear seat passengers. So I’m six foot tall, and you can see there are loads more space to go before I start brushing the headliner. Look at the knee space as well, bear in mind I’ve just been sitting there, okay? So I’m a six-foot tall guy sitting behind another six-foot tall guy, loads of space. More importantly, look at this. Pull the lever and do this. Bring the seats forward, or you can recline them. So that just gives you a bit more space in the back, doesn’t it? See that? Or I can get out altogether though, and I’m popping [SP] it down.

Practically speaking, the Kuga isn’t bad when it comes to load capacity. The boot in our test car contains 406 litres with the seats up, but with them folded, capacity increases to over 1,600 litres. Shopping bags, a child’s seat, basically you’re easily gonna get luggage for the whole family if you’re going on holiday. Open that up, got a spare saver…space saver wheel in there. 

There you go, another OSV car review. Today we were looking at the Ford ST-Line Kuga.