Heading
Close X
Menu
Our team at Ford decided to each take the Ford Kuga PHEV home for a day - and who could get the best MPG whilst driving it to work!
The All New Plug-In Ford Kuga. A car that has gone from strength to strength through the years with its upgrades and face lifts.
This car really does grow on you the more you look at it and the more you drive it. The car educates you every day of how to drive it to the best of its ability. It really does make you think twice when putting your foot down in a Kuga PHEV compared to your usual diesel or petrol driven cars. Simply because it gives you so much aid and guidance into when you are using the battery vs when you are using fuel.
And why do we all want to go down the hybrid route? Because you want to boast about how much MPG you are getting, and how little fuel you use on your day to day life.
A Plug-In hybrid isn’t about how fast you can go or how you can chuck it around corners. Those days are on the way out. And now it is all about how big can you go on the MPG.
So a couple of weeks ago, the Halland Boys took the Kuga home for 2 days each. Those 2 days focused on one goal – who can set the best MPG between them.
Both Ross, James and Jack live in Eastbourne and travel exactly the same distance to Halland when they go to work. 1 of the days was a commute to work and the other day on their day off was a full 1 hour behind the wheel driving around town and a bit of country roads and dual carriageways.
The results:
| Driver | MPG |
| Ross | 72.8 |
| James | 68.5 |
| Jack | 74.6 |
Not only was it about the best MPG between 3 very competitive guys, but it was all about learning and experiencing what the new Kuga is all about.
It is a huge upgrade to the previous model. Much more cabin space in the back with plenty of leg room and headroom. So much legroom that you can stretch your legs fully out if you are the average height guy, with adjustable rear seats to go forwards and backwards for the perfect position. The new Kuga is a breath of fresh air inside the cabin with the space, making you feel much less claustrophobic to the old one. A very comfortable and luxurious experience when you are inside the Kuga.
This new model also comes with a heap of new technology. It has some very familiar toys to the old model, but modernised in the best way to keep it fresh and simplified as best possible.
Giving you features like park assist, lane keeping aid, traffic sign recognition, pedestrian detection, blind spot detection, electric hand brake with auto hold and hill start assist, fully electric seats with memory program mode. Front and rear sensors along with a front and rear view camera, panoramic roof and tonnes more. The infotainment system has been given a huge upgrade with the updated Ford Sync software on a beautiful 8” touch screen.
The digital dashboard also shows off the different themes it can offer when you flick through the driving modes, completely changing the colour scheme and design of the dials and information in front of you.
The Kuga is a car that we have been waited for an upgrade on for a long time. And now that is here, it’s been well worth the long wait for this to come out.
Choosing between a range of specs with different trims and toys – there is a Kuga for everybody out there who wants the height, cabin and boot space for you and the family.
And the big bonus as well – what you will be driving will be helping this planet stay around a little bit longer. Bring on the MPG bragging wars!
Ross Gibson, Halland Ford
As a Sales Executive here at Azur SKODA, I have had the great pleasure of being one of the first people to try out the new electrified offerings form the brand. The new eCitigo and Superb Hybrid are a glimpse into the future of the SKODA brand and indeed of the industry as a whole.
The first thing you notice about driving a car with electric power is the of course the noise, or lack of noise should I say. The Superb will drive for an estimated 35 miles on electricity only, meaning if you have a short commute as I do, or if you are just using the car to pop to the shops it is effectively a fully electric car. Even when you are doing a longer journey, as a hybrid car, as long as you have a charged battery you will see returns of around 80mpg, we have had our demonstrator up to over 110mpg!
I knew the Superb would be a fantastic experience as all Superb’s have been in the past, with a comfortable and smooth ride only enhanced by the electrified experience. The biggest surprise to me was how much I found to love about the Citigo.
Previously being offered in a 1.0l petrol, in theory the electric Citigo should perform similarly to its fossil fuel powered parents, however in my experience the pure torque you get from a wholly electric drivetrain makes the Citigo feel like an entirely new car and doesn’t fail to put a smile on my face.
The ethos of the Citigo, as evidenced in the name is to do one thing very well, going to the city! Or if the case may be, a reasonable commute and filling the surprisingly spacious boot with the weekly shop. The electric Citigo then, would probably get away with a fairly low battery range, however it will do around 140-170 miles before it needs a charge, which if you as my customer I sold a car to from 120 miles away, is achievable as long as you keep the heated seats off!
In conclusion to this short piece, these two cars have, at least in my experience, really set the tone for what is to come from SKODA. With a plug in and mild hybrid due for the all new Octavia, and the all-electric Enyaq SUV coming in 2021, I am incredibly excited for what is to come, and I think that what we have now is a huge stepping stone into tomorrow’s world. Bring on the new age of Electricity!
Harry Welsby, Sales Executive at Azur SKODA
