This week, our man tries out Ford’s mid-size SUV in plug-in hybrid guise to assess its worth for fleet drivers.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Ford Kuga 2.5 PHEV Black Package Edition

List price (BiK): £39,870 (30%) CO2: 127g/km Economy: 49.6mpg Test efficiency: 44.6mpg

Monday

The Ford Kuga 2.5 PHEV plug-in hybrid that has arrived this morning should be the ideal mid-size SUV for a company driver. After all, it has a punchy petrol engine allied to an electric motor capable of driving up to 25 miles on electric power alone. Claimed combined economy for this pairing is 256.8mpg, which bodes well for the week ahead with a couple of longer drives in the offing.

Tuesday

As a plug-in hybrid, this requires hooking the Kuga up to a charge point to make the most of its range. Without a home charger, I’m reliant on public ones locally and this morning’s attempt resulted in the first one not working and the second not offering a charge as another EV was already attached. Result, no electrons into the Ford and I had to rely on petrol power, which is fine thanks to the smooth power of the 2.5-litre motor.

Wednesday

An early start and it’s cold, so heated seat on. After about five minutes, I had to turn the heating of the driver’s seat down to just one bar as three proved thermonuclear hot. It’s very rare that I find a heated seat too much, but Ford seems to have gone for an Arctic spec with this Kuga. Later in the day, my daughter even commented on how hot the passenger seat became, so it’s not just my delicate posterior feeling the burn.

Thursday

The Kuga has always been one of the best handling and riding cars in its class and this one scores well on one of those fronts. Along some twisty country lanes today, with the lane keep assist easily turned off via the button on the indicator stalk, the Ford is more fun than you might think an SUV is able to be. However, the ride of this Black Package Edition model on its 20-inch alloys is too niggly and jiggly for my tastes.

Friday

With a successful charging session yesterday evening, it’s in to Glasgow this morning and the prospect of EV driving inside the city’s low emissions zone to do my bit. Most of the time, the Kuga happily breezes along without bothering the petrol supply, but there are a couple of times when pulling out of busy junctions that I can feel the two power sources joining forces. However, the Kuga never feels that speedy.

Saturday

Right, after a few days of driving the Kuga, I think I have finally cracked smooth braking in this car. Usually, it’s not something I even have to think about, but there is an unusual weight and modulation to the pedal in this car that makes it tricky to slow it down without any jerkiness. I’m sure it’s nothing to do with the CVT auto gearbox and more a result of the brake regeneration system trying to recoup as much as possible.

Sunday

With more use of the Kuga’s charging potential, it would be possible to see much better fuel economy from this car. As it stands, the best I’ve managed is a combined 44.6mpg according to the dash display. That’s 5mpg behind Ford’s claimed economy for the car in petrol mode, so it’s a bit disappointing, particularly when this Kuga costs as much as some very good pure EV rivals.