UKH

I’m looking to replace my current Ford Mondeo car with an SUV

Looking at a second hand car around £7500 but unsure what to get. 
Ford Kuga looks nice but boot size is average but as I found my previous Ford Zetec engine really reliable and I don’t mind getting a roof box if required.

Has anyone got any experience of other models or the Kuga

Thanks

In reply to andyd1970:

I’m in a similar position. I know sweet fa about cars, but my son reckons Suzuki Vitara (my family is shrinking so looking for a small suv type). My budget has stretched to about £10k coz I’ve just been given some odd ‘Mis selling of solar panel loan’ payment of £2.3k. I’ve never had a cash windfall so well chuffed.

In reply to Bottom Clinger:

But I presume you've got some solar panels 😁

In reply to andyd1970:

Why SUV over an estate?

In reply to Michael Hood:

Shushhhhhh

In reply to stevevans5:

In my case, my wife feels safer on the motorway with the elevated seating position. TBH so do I , but I’d drive any car -I’m  easily pleased.  

In reply to Bottom Clinger:

The irony of feeling safer.

More likely to injure others, more likely to injure yourself.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/cities/2019/oct/07/a-deadl...

In reply to andyd1970:

Although the kuga boot size is small on paper, the ability to split fold the backseats means you can make a massive flat boot space. Obviously not possible with passengers!

Though I suspect you will get a MK2 or later, the split boot on the MK1 is amazing for us!

We also went down the roof box route (bars and box second hand), but find ourselves rarely using.

In reply to stevevans5:

I hate long cars as they are a nightmare to park

Plus I prefer being sat a bit more upright, as my car gives me a sore neck after a long drive. I use SUV hire cars with work but find most have small boots 

In reply to Bottom Clinger:

Lol good news then 😀

In reply to Andy Ovens - UKC and UKH:

Mines usually used with a trip to Cornwall with the wife, 2 kids and a dog in tow. Boots usually full of body boards etc etc 

In reply to andyd1970:

I had a kuga for 6 years and really liked it. Very reliable and comfy. I did sell it and get a used Discovery for even more space but I needed to tow heavy weights. I still would recommend the Kuga.

In reply to andyd1970:

MPVs often have a- relatively- elevated seating position. Not cool but as a family car they are hard to beat. Plenty of sizes out there too.

We used to have a large size Mazda (think Grand Espace sort of size) MPV which would swallow five people, two dogs and have room for lots of luggage eaily, yet it drove like a car. By contrast our Landcruiser (I know) we had before was less practical and a worse drive even though just as big externally.

In reply to andyd1970:

I'm on my third Rav 4, had this one 9 years. It takes all the camping and climbing gear plus occupants and we've had a surf board inside. The back seats slide and do a 60/40 split. 

But the best thing is it's 4x4 capability. Steep off road, snow, ice, mud etc it performs amazingly. 

Parked in a field once for my sons XC race all the other SUVs got stuck, the RAV just glided out. Similar on steep snow with 2 friends with 4x4 BMW and Audi. They were all over the place and the RAV was fantastic. Not sure how good the Kuga is in this respect. Guess it depends what you'll be doing with it. 

In reply to andyd1970:

For your budget you could look at a 10 year old XC60. I've had two over the years  (currently driving an XC90) and they've never let me down (including a rather nasty smash a few years ago which left me completely unscathed despite the apparent severity). Solid car, decent base spec and always been reliable for me.  

My driving habits have changed somewhat since covid and I can't justify doing short runs in an enormous and inefficient XC90. I'm just in the process of moving to a hybrid S90. 

In reply to Brown:

However, the stats used in this article are for the US where many SUVs are still truck based. In Europe, most are car based with quite a small percentage having engines above 2.4 litres. A current model Volvo XC60, a relatively big suv, scores better than a 2020 Ford Focus in all areas of the Euro NCAP test.

In reply to Brown:

I agree.  But when you’re  trapped between a load of HGVs on the M6 at rush hour in our little C1 makes you wished you were in something chunkier. 

In reply to andyd1970:

I’m keeping an eye of new cars either coming out new or due to be released in the next year or so, as I’m planning to repair my nearly 8 year old car in about 3, maybe 4 years. I’ll be going electric, I don’t want an SUV. This seems to be severely limiting my options.

In reply to andyd1970:

So are unnecessarily large cars. Except large cars are also less aerodynamic, handle worse and are far better at killing cyclists and pedestrians (if you even see them because blind spots are a thing)

In reply to The New NickB: 3 years from now new cars will be available, and I suspect they already may be.  Have you gone and actually sat in any of the current options ? 

Op - I had a Mazda CX-5 and liked it a lot, but as is common with SUV's the boot was big rather than huge

In reply to andyd1970:

I used to have a Nissan Xtrail & found it to be brilliant, until it blew up with 260,000 miles on the clock. It handled like a car, was very comfy and not bad on fuel either (2.2 DCI model).

Plus the aircon-cooled can holders on the dashboard are just the right size for a pack of chocolate hobnobs…

In reply to Siward:

Thanks I will take a look

In reply to Fozzy:

We had 2 X Trails and loved them. Our first was still going strong at 235k, he last one blew a turbo at 150k.

In reply to andyd1970:

Not if they have Park Assist. Amazing piece of kit.

In reply to wbo2:

I don’t need a big car, I don’t need a big boot. I want a C segment hatchback, ideally three door.  Could even go B segment if it looked nice. I wanted to like the ID3, I didn’t. The MX-30 is billed as an SUV, but I don’t mind the design too much, the range is a problem.

In reply to andyd1970:

Don't forget to to fit the "Baby on board" sign and drive it at 300mph everywhere, to show the world you're not past it because your driving a family car. 😋 

In reply to andyd1970:

Xmas 2019 and our friends came out to visit with their three kids for a week's skiing and they hired a Kuga - obviously pretty much brand new.

I can't say I know much about them let alone driven one but once I was a passenger in it, and remarked to my friend that despite being a very big car, it's pretty pokey and not very well proportioned inside. I just personally thought it was the worst of both worlds. Big and bulky but not very powerful, or good in off-road conditions, and not much space. Each to their own though.

In reply to andyd1970:

This is UKC. The answer is always:

Skoda Octavia

In reply to chris_r:

Surely the answer is the octavia scout, all the advantages of an estate, not so many SUV disadvantages.

We have a 4 generation RAV4 and it has a cavonous boot for dogs tit etc. It does the SUV muddy field high ground clearance thing well enough and is civilized enough on the motorway not to irritate. It doesn't handle as well as our previously saloons but the 4x4 and higher ground clearance are sometimes a blessing and there is actually loads of room in the back wich isn't always the case with some SUVs. Fuel economy is Ok but not stunning, at always around 50mpg (we have the AWD) no matter whether driven like a sain or hooligan, I think the newer 2 wheel drives do better. Overall an SUV is always a bit of a compromise just demands if that compromise suits you.