A family holiday brings a moral dilemma when it comes to plug-in hybrid charging. Nat Barnes reports.

Ford Kuga PHEV ST Line X Edition

List price (BiK): £38,855 (12%) CO2: 26g/km MPG/ EV range: 256.8mpg (35mls) Test efficiency: 89.2mpg

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Should plug-in hybrids charge at public chargers? Discuss. It’s a moral dilemma I wrestled with while staying at Centreparcs recently with the Fleet World Ford Kuga PHEV.

With only four chargers on site (there are plans for many more), it goes without saying that they were in high demand. Centreparcs however runs a ‘first-come-first-served’ basis and leaves people to self-police the charger usage. That’s fine, except for the fact that there were a couple of EVs that barely moved for days on the charging points.

So, given that some were willing to hog the chargers, then I figured I was justified in getting a brief charge of half a day for our journey home – thus best protecting my 89.2mpg high average fuel economy. I kept a close eye out and then quickly got the Kuga onto them during a rare free space.

That was good because the two-hour journey to Longleat did expose a weakness of the Kuga’s 2.5-litre petrol engine once the EV range was depleted. On flowing faster roads such as motorways and at low revs, it’s not an issue. However, heavy traffic meant our sat nav diverted us off the motorway onto faster A-roads, which was fine except for the fact that it meant that there was more regular heavier throttle input than when cruising and the higher engine revs bought on by the CVT gearbox were more intrusive into the cabin.

That said, I was still gentle enough with my right foot for it not to affect my average economy figure too much. And, jumping onto those aforementioned chargers meant I got a likely 30 miles of real-world EV range for my return journey – the secret to running a PHEV, constant and regular charging. Moral dilemma? On busier public chargers perhaps, but it’s fast-becoming every man or woman for themselves with chargers these days and I removed it as soon as I had a full charge, so I figure I can still look myself in the mirror in the morning…

Electric range took a tumble in the return to colder weather

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It’s my own fault, I spoke too soon. In my last report I talked about the weather warming up and improving the electric range of my plug-in hybrid Ford Kuga. And, of course, no sooner have I said that, than we get a cold snap, sub-zero overnight temperatures and snow. In March.

That meant digging out the ice-scraper and reaching for the Kuga’s windscreen defrost button (see report 2) once more. It also meant that the electric range took a tumble, delivering the slightly odd experience of seeing a full charge show as 27 miles and 34 miles within a handful of days as the temperature fluctuated.

Still, with longer days and lighter evenings now here, hopefully those temperatures are firmly in the rear view mirror now (he said, tempting fate for a second time…). What that winter motoring has taught me though is the brilliance of the Kuga’s automatic Quad Projector LED headlights, part of the optional £550 Technology Pack with the head-up display system.

Now, I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of automatic headlights that adapt their beam according to oncoming traffic. In theory, they all give the driver the maximum amount of light on the road ahead, while not dazzling oncoming traffic. In practice though, we often find they don’t work very well.

That’s certainly not the case with the ones in the Kuga however. Put simply, they’re nothing short of brilliant and there’s two bits of praise here that don’t sound like they are. The first is that it took a while to realise that the auto high-beam lights were even switched on until we noticed the light beam pattern changing on a dark country road. The second is that since then, we’ve left them on as they always adapt quickly and, more importantly, accurately to surrounding traffic. Technology at its best.

The Ford’s wider and higher boot space compared to an estate came in rather handy

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Moving house is reckoned to be one of the most stressful points in your life. There’s the never-ending list of things to do and constant unpacking, tidying and clearing up, but what nobody tells you is the amount of cardboard you end up with as you unpack all the boxes.

Having also bought several sizeable household items at the same time – TV, new mattress, Ikea furniture – that situation was more than doubled. So much so, that it meant the Fleet World Kuga PHEV was pressed into service multiple times for several runs to the local dump to clear the load.

This is where the Kuga came into its own. I’m on record as preferring traditional estate cars to crossovers as a rule, but there’s no denying that the extra height and width of the Kuga’s boot and load area really starts to count for a lot in situations like this. As much as I hate to admit it, in terms of its ability in times when you need a practical workhorse, a crossover does have an advantage here.

Of course, the multiple short runs were perfect for the plug-in hybrid drivetrain too. In my last report, I criticised the cold weather having an effect on the all-electric range and that continued with a couple of chilly mornings recently where I saw as low as 28 miles at one point. It doesn’t sound much of a drop from the officially claimed 35 miles, but that’s effectively a 20% loss.

However, the good news is that as the ambient temperature has started to creep up, so has my EV range. Before, the most I saw was 31 miles and now that’s my minimum with 32/33 a more regular sight and even, once, 34 miles – though I suspect that’ll be on a par with the contents of editor Challen’s wallet in terms of sighting frequencies…

That said, I’m being very diligent with my recharging and keeping it constantly topped up. Although chillier mornings have seen the engine start up even when in full EV mode and with a full battery to keep some of the ancillaries such as the heater going. It can feel frustrating, but it seems to only stay on for a short period of time before thankfully deferring back to battery power.

The Kuga’s weight-saving parcel shelf solution has left our tester a bit cold

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It’s been a busy (and chilly) opening few weeks for my time with the Ford Kuga PHEV and the cold snap took its toll on the Kuga’s electric range somewhat.

Officially, a full charge is meant to see 35 miles of range, but in the recent cold weather the best we saw was 31 miles, so we’re hoping that improves as spring starts to kick in. Plenty of long motorway journeys have pushed our average fuel economy down too. All that said, the frosty early mornings did mean that we could take advantage of possibly one of the best inventions since someone at Hovis picked up a bread knife – the Quickclear heated front windscreen.

Yes, yes, I know that it’s been around for a good while now and I also know that other brands have the same technology, but flicking that switch rather than getting frozen hands struggling with an ice scraper will never get old. Also, despite the fact that it has been around for nearly three decades, many people are still unaware that the technology exists. And, even for me, it still feels like something of a novelty.

What isn’t a novelty though is at the other end of the Kuga. Car manufacturers have been pushing their weight-saving in all directions in recent years, but I think there’s a fine balance between weight-saving and quality perception. And the perfect case in point is with the Kuga’s parcel shelf.

Well, I say shelf, but the usual moulded felt-covered cardboard has, in the Kuga, been replaced with a piece of thin fabric with a wire surround that holds into place with two clips and fabric loops. This isn’t the first time we’ve come across such a solution (the Kia Niro has something similar), but it looks and feels cheap and the clips and fabric loops holding it up look like they’ll break in anything stronger than a stiff breeze. For a car that’s knocking on the door of 40 grand, I’d expect more.

I’m hoping that my time and experience with the Kuga is more along the lines of the brilliant invention of the Quickclear windscreen rather than the pair of tights stretched behind the rear seats. Fingers crossed.

The Kuga was the fourth best-selling PHEV in the UK in 2021

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For all the talk around both crossovers and electrified models in all their forms, it’s odd how the Ford Kuga can sometimes be forgotten amongst its newer crossover rivals.

The Kuga was the fourth best-selling PHEV in the UK in 2021 and the ninth best-selling car overall in 2022 (outselling even the Fiesta) showing that, while it may not get much credit, it’s still a popular choice and keeping the lights on for Ford – though the Puma was more than 8,500 units ahead.

With Ford also making headway with its electrified van range, I thought it was worth taking a closer look at the Kuga PHEV, which is why I’m running it for the next three months. My past with plug-in hybrids is well documented with my previous Peugeot 508, so it’ll be interesting to see how family life deals with the transition from traditional family estate to a more modern crossover.

My first impressions are good though and we love the Chrome Blue paintwork (a £600 option) along with the ST Line styling kit and 18-inch alloy wheels with red brake calipers. A bit out of sync mixing sportiness with the frugality of a plug-in hybrid? Perhaps, but there’s no question that this is a smart-looking combination. The next three months will see if that beauty runs more than skin deep.