Looking to get above car, any pros and cons 🤔
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Ford kuga 21 plate 2.0 diesel
- Thread starter borderbilly
- Start date
It’s a Ford……Thought we had been through Kuga diesel not very long ago. Consensus was diesel is good, but so is turbo petrol too.
Ford Kuga | Tow Car Awards
Ford Kuga for towing (2.0 EcoBlue AWD ST-Line) review | Horse & Hound
Find out what Horse & Hound’s specialist car reviewer Graham Courtney thought when he tested the Ford Kuga for towing (2.0 EcoBlue AWD ST-Line)
www.horseandhound.co.uk
Excellent tow car, the best for all round towing and solo fuel consumption in over 50 years of caravanniing. Leaves the new Discovery I bought. ( worst ever buy) and Sorento and Santa Fe autos standing for its ability. I have the AWD 190ps Auto box,and my son in law has the FWD manual gearbox and both cars tow excellently.
Will this one 21 plate have a wet or chain belt 🤔
I thought the diesel eco blue was either cam belt, or the later models from 2019;the wet belt. The petrol engines are cam chain forv2.0 litre, with the 1.5/1.6 cam belt. Best check out specifically what car you are particularly interested in. 2019 was the changeover year for Kuga diesel from dry to wet belt. So there will no doubt be overlap in that period. Easy to check by looking under the bonnet. Dry belt has plastic cover, wet belt will have casing sealed to engine.
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If you are buying a diesel it will be a Wet Belt. If it has a full main dealer service history where the correct oil will have been used,then no problem. With a main dealer at every oil change it is filtered when drained out, to look for any signs of belt degrading. If service history shows an independent I would walk away unless the seller can produce invoices showing the correct oil has been used, My last service a few weeks ago,now 60,000miles was all clear of any residue,
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Depends on the weight of your caravan.
Tow capacity 2100 kg. Grath tows 1800kg regularly to Spain and Portugal a few times a year and also says tows effortless. The Petrol model of same age even though has a 2,5 Engine has limit of 1600 kg,
lunar venus 570/4 mtplm 1350
You will probably forget it is there
Is that weight , Damp or Dry, 🤔
My van is 100% dry, better than the carp they are churning out now. 👍
I noticed on the kuga it doesn't have padel change for the gears, is the kick down responsive?
My car does have any problems with hand controls probably your best bet is take it out for a test drive
Just to clarify, the kuga is at Carlisle, they are bringing it up to Kelso ( local dealer) on Tuesday so I can check it out.
Cannot recall when I last hit kick down on an auto apart from occasionally checking it works. My last car with paddle controls was a Forester XT CVT and the paddles only dropped it down one “ gear equivalent”in each press. Whereas kick down was like lighting touch paper.
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Make sure the car has been serviced exactly as required , it has a wet cambelt, lots of tales of woe with wet belts. Also budget for a much larger bill for belt change £1500/2000. Change oil every year . I would do some research make sure you know what you are getting? I’m on my 4th kuga 3 diesels now a phev . I did not want to get involved with a wet belt . Kuga mk 3 / 3.5 very capable car and good value for money, if you avoid large repair bills. Good luck
Steering wheel paddles are just the equivalent to the Tiptronic/S-tronic/Geartronic modes using the conventional selector handle - I've driven a couple of cars with paddles but couldn't get on with them - they can be confusing if the steering wheel isn't straight ahead - especially if you have half a turn of lock on!
As OC posted, kickdown is for testing - and hooligan days in my case.
As OC posted, kickdown is for testing - and hooligan days in my case.
The MK 3 does have paddles but I have never needed to use them
Modern autos will have a Sport mode selection and some makers recommend using Sport when towing. And as Roger says there’s the selector lever that enables you to move up and down the gears at will.
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I find 'sport' mode far more useful than paddle shift for towing. I use it quite often on undulating country roads (I have both but not on a Kuga).
If you have the 190ps as mine is, I have only used the Sport mode when first purchased just to see the performance. I have never used it since as plenty of power towing caravan in Normal mode, way more than enough. With the 8 speed auto box you do not know it changes gears, it is that smooth and only clue is watching the rev counter drop as it changes up.
Its a 2.0 ecoblue 190 ST-Line X edition AWD Auto.
Yes the same as mine and the best all round tow car I have owned in over 50 years for performance and fuel economy. Sorento Santa Fe and Dscovery all towed fine but never ever matched the fuel economy of the Kuga. If you buy it I would advise to get a full size spare as it is AWD it will fit in boot as it has 2 floor levels to lift for the tyre width. If you know the registration put it in the DVLA Mot history check and it will show that if it has been serviced at a Main dealer it will have had a Software update done. If it shows outstanding it will mean non main dealer service and will need to go to a main dealer for it to be done,
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