Beefing up with the Ford Kuga

Found myself involved in a bit of sport the other day, though if I’m being honest it was more like a nightmare.

What should have been a summer evening stroll across a farmer’s field turned into a frantic dash for the gate.

I hadn’t spotted the bull. In fact I didn’t believe the thing was even irritated by my presence until it had reached full tilt.

And while it wasn’t exactly Pamplona, being chased by 2,500 lbs of prime beef isn’t my idea of fun – even with a 75-yard start.

Thoroughly shaken, I got back to the car and mused on whether the Ford Kuga would have outrun the bull or got stuck in the mud.

With an all-wheel drive set-up that can gauge ground conditions 20 times quicker than a blink of the eye I’m inclined to believe things would have been okay.

We aren’t talking the sort of heavy duty technology the big mud pluggers boast, but it makes even more difference to a car that’s well specced up anyway.

The fact that the tested Titanium X Sport version is now the highest specified SUV from the Ford brand goes to show how important a raft of goodies has become to buyers.

In this case you stuff like 19-inch alloy wheels, a body styling kit, DAB radio with sat-nav, rear view camera, privacy glass and silver roof rails.

That’s in addition to standard equipment such as opening panoramic roof, heated front leather seats, 10-way powered driver’s seat and body styling kit.

Ford says the introduction of a Kuga Titanium X Sport, with 1.6 EcoBoost petrol or 2.0 TDCi diesel engines, was prompted by high demand for the Titanium series, which accounted for 80 per cent of sales.

New Kuga, which arrived in dealerships a year ago, has sent sales soaring by over 40 per cent since last March compared with the previous 12 months.

And among its styling, safety and convenience options is a hands-free tailgate – the first to be offered on a medium-sized SUV in Europe.

The £350 option, which includes keyless opening, enables customers to open the boot with a gentle kicking motion under the rear bumper. Also featured are Active Park Assist and Active City Stop.

Technology apart the Kuga is a serious contender anyway, many versions featuring the all-wheel drive set-up that readjusts the power split to give the driver the best blend of traction and handling.

And there’s the extra security of something called Curve Control which acts as a safeguard for drivers who have entered a bend with too much speed, the system capable of slowing the Kuga down by around 10mph per second.

While the engine line-up now includes EcoBoost petrol technology, the tested version featured the higher powered of the 2.0-litre diesels.

A strong performer with 180PS of punch, it also has an official average fuel figure of 54.3mpg, though my own return was just shy of 47.

That said, the Kuga has a classy feel to it. Everything is sensibly arranged, you get a good view of the road, there’s ample head and legroom plus the benefit of a centre rear passenger being able to travel in comfort.

There’s also a large, adjustable, boot for packing in family clobber.