A mid-sized SUV (sports utility vehicle) makes relatively affordable transport for the family and around the farm. Here Andrew Pearce pitches Toyota’s RAV-4 against Ford’s just-revamped Kuga
IThis is a story of old guard and new guard; of evolution and re-think. It’s now 19 years since Toyota first brought a little three-door, petrol-engined crossover to the UK, creating a minor stir and pre-dating Land Rover’s Freelander by three years. That was the RAV-4, and it started a bandwagon: today every major car maker has to have a fiveseat crossover 4×4.
Ford took until 2008 to roll out its Focus based Kuga, by which time the RAV-4 was into its third generation. The Kuga looked a real rival on paper but didn’t go down too well with UK buyers, so a radical overhaul produced the 2013 car you see here. Both are family-friendly 4x4s with an up-to-the minute turbodiesel engine and six-speed auto box. Question is, is Ford’s second nibble at the cherry good enough to unsettle the perennially popular Toyota?
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