I would be very wary of the Kuga phev, I got put off it by the sales manager of a big Ford dealership, my Nephew in Law. He said he would not sell one to his worst enemy until they had fixed all the problems with it. Said if I was determined to get one, give it a year. Then they might have sorted it out. Q2 might bring something nice on. Another vote for the 3008 300 AWD.
Hi Sif. I had originally discounted the Kuga PHEV for the reasons that you mention (i.e. the battery problems – customers told not plug them in due to fire risks) plus the fact that it has a CVT transmission. However, after almost a year of delays, Ford seem to have sorted the battery problem and a recall programme is currently underway to fix existing cars and new orders will be OK. The current challenge is that customer cars have been prioritised and the PHEV that our local Ford dealership has isn’t due to be fixed until the end of April and they aren’t allowing test drives until then. As for the CVT transmission, which most hybrid cars seem to have, they sound strained when revved hard but the better ones provide a near seamless transition from electric to petrol power.
It really surprised me when I read and watched some group tests on PHEV’s that the Kuga was rated better than the XC40 as well as the 3008. The Kuga’s electric range is far better than the others and mpg significantly more in real world driving. The XC40 reviews were pretty good, but the economy wasn’t anywhere near as good as the Kuga and the brakes were universally criticised as being poor (a problem with many PHEV’s apparently due to regenerative breaking), whereas they were fine in the Kuga. The XC40 interior looks better than the Kuga though as it’s more modern and definitely more premium. The reviews on the 3008 were all quite poor in comparison to the others. The engine is quite coarse and the transition from electric to petrol wasn’t seamless. On the basis that I don’t like the dash arrangement the reviews confirmed that it wouldn’t make my shortlist.