The great Escape... in a Kuga!

The all-new Ford Escape has been launched at the LA Motor Show this week ahead of its arrival next year in the showrooms of the US and Europe. For the European market, this compact SUV will be called the Kuga and it’ll make its big continental debut at the Geneva Motor Show next March.

While Ford is yet to announce UK prices, there are plenty of other details we can share on the Kuga. The star features include a hands-free power liftgate that lets you open the back by foot, a 5mpg improvement in fuel economy on the last model and an upgraded 4WD system for better traction if you take it off-road and beyond the school gate?

Like every new car worth its grease and oil change, the new Kuga has a hi-tech information system. It’s called SYNC with MyFord Touch and works with voice commands, touch screens and steering wheel controls. There’s also handy technology to help with parking a car of this stature, blind spot sensors, Curve Control to slow the car if you take a corner too fast and Torque Vectoring Control to help accelerate through a turn.

There’s no news yet on the powertrains that will be offered to the European market but the US will get a choice of two EcoBoost engines, a 1.6-litre, a 2.0-litre, as well as a 2.5-litre engine. The 1.6- and 2.5-litre versions come with an active grille shutter system to keep the grille slats open when the extra air is needed to cool the engine, such as low-speed and stop-start city driving, while closing while driving at highway speeds to improve aerodynamics and fuel efficiency.

We’ve test-driven the current model Ford Kuga SUV and you can read our review right here.

www.ford.co.uk














By Georgia Lewis

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