Ford Kuga vs Kia Sportage vs Hyundai Tucson: here's our winner

The SUV-Crossover is here to stay. In the used market, our favourite brands hold sway, with Toyota’s RAV4 and Volkswagen’s Tiguan doing battle with many popular alternatives, such as the Ford Kuga, Kia Sportage, and Hyundai Tucson. We pitched the latter trio against each other in this comparison.

Ever-increasing pricing is one of the main reasons why many buyers are downscaling and opting for a medium-sized SUV instead of a larger model – the big ones are simply becoming unaffordable. So, keeping an eye on the budget, we selected the 3 pre-owned examples from the Ford Kuga, Kia Sportage, and Hyundai Tucson families.

We have gone the pre-owned route because the Kuga is no longer offered locally, while both the Sportage and Tucson have recently been replaced. Our prerequisites include vehicles that are 2019 models or newer, have covered less than 20 000km per year, that offer automatic transmissions and have to use petrol as fuel. With these in mind, we have found the Ford Kuga, in 1.5T Ambient Auto guise, the Kia Sportage in 2.0 Ignite Plus Auto and Hyundai’s Tucson in Premium Auto derivatives to be best suited.

Facts and Figures

*Manufacturer’s official figures.

Power, performance, and drivetrain

Although the Ford has the smallest engine in this group, it produces much more power and torque than the two Koreans’ shared 2.0-litre engine. From only 1.5-litres, Ford manages to extract 132 kW and 240 Nm, thanks to the miracle of turbocharging, against the larger but naturally aspirated Korean engine’s 115 kW and 196 Nm.

17 kW and 44 Nm extra definitely won’t go amiss in a car of this size, so score one for the Kuga immediately. All three cars feature 6-speed torque converter automatic gearboxes and front-wheel drive, and their kerb weights vary by at most 25 kg (the Kuga being barely the lightest and the Kia the heaviest).

Predictably, this makes the Ford the quickest sprinter and the fastest runner of this trio, with the 0 – 100 km/h dash taking a claimed 10.1 seconds and a 200 km/h maximum speed. That’s by no means blistering, but it does out-punt the Koreans’ identical figures of 11.1 seconds and 181 km/h. On-road and overtaking performance should also result in a Kuga victory, thanks to that helpful wedge of turbo torque.

Economy

Even with its power- and performance advantages, the Kuga also lays claim to using the least petrol. Its official average consumption is only 6.9 ℓ/100 km, but it would likely use closer to 8.5 ℓ/100 km in the hands of an average driver.

With most of their other specs being nearly identical, it’s surprising that the Sportage and Tucson have such different fuel consumption claims: Kia quotes an average of 8.1 ℓ/100 km and Hyundai an average of 9.0 ℓ/100 km, although they will probably both average closer to the latter than the former in real-world driving. Either way, it’s another Ford victory (even if the difference will be smaller than you’d hope for).

Practicality

The Ford will inevitably take this one as well, for one simple reason: it’s slightly larger than the others, specifically in length, which creates more cabin space. While the Tucson has (barely) the largest boot volume with all seats in use (the Kia comes in second, with the Ford taking the third spot), the Ford’s added length comes into play to create the largest utility space with the rear seats folded.

Ford’s designers clearly prioritised passenger room over luggage space, using the Kuga’s extra length to maintain a competitive boot volume but add useful room for the rear passengers. That extra rear-compartment room also comes into play when the rear seats are dropped, which adds to its total utility space. So, even though the Kuga loses the boot space race to the Tucson by 32 litres, it wins by a massive 175 litres of cargo room when the seats go down. This, combined with the Kuga’s superior rear-seat space, relegates the Hyundai to second position and the Kia to third.

Equipment and safety

These three contenders are very evenly matched in the safety stakes. They all start off with 5-star safety ratings in Euro-NCAP (Kia and Hyundai) and ANCAP (Kuga) crash testing. At least 6 airbags (7 in Ford’s case) and ISOFIX child seat anchors are present, and stability- and traction control is also standard. All these cars will do their best to protect you in a crash, even though none have much in the way of other modern safety add-ons.

As far as standard equipment goes, the entry-level trim Kuga’s specification includes 17-inch alloy wheels, air conditioning and power steering, a leather-trimmed multi-function steering wheel, cruise control, a rear-view camera, electric windows all round, and an audio system with Bluetooth- and USB functionality. The Koreans match This list almost exactly, barring the absence of a leather steering wheel from the Hyundai.

The Ford has a warranty for 4 years or 120 000 km, but the Kia ups this to 5 years or 150 000 km, to which the Hyundai adds a powertrain warranty for 7 years or 200 000 km. The Ford compensates with a service plan for 6 years or 90 000 km, compared to the Kia and Hyundai’s 5-year/90 000 km plan. The Kuga’s extended service plan largely offsets its shorter warranty, but the Tucson’s powertrain warranty does compensate for this. Make it a draw all-round, then – losing on the swings but winning on the roundabouts even things out a bit.

Verdict

Given its (slightly) more barren spec sheet, it’s hard to justify the Hyundai’s inflated price tag. It’s a very capable car, and a very handsome one too, but it’s not demonstrably better at anything than the other two, other than its slight advantage in boot volume and a longer warranty. Like the Kia, it’s also a bit lazy to get up and go, with their normally aspirated engine at a distinct disadvantage against the Ford. The Kia is the next one to drop out of the race. It’s the least practical, slower and thirstier than the Ford, and again, doesn’t do anything better than the Ford (apart from its warranty) – and yet it’s more expensive as well.

Going into this comparison, I suspected that the Kuga would have the performance advantage, but not that it would also be more frugal and more practical and carry a features list that about matches the Koreans at a lower price as well. But, as the pertinent questions were asked, the Kuga just kept on coming up with all the right answers. It blends all the important family-biased attributes with a strong value statement, and for that reason has to get the winner’s trophy.

Keyword: Ford Kuga vs Kia Sportage vs Hyundai Tucson: here's our winner