I almost CRASHED this car!

Ford has just killed off the Focus. Should the Cougar be next? We're going to find out in this video.

I'm Matt Watson. You're watching Car Wow. I think Ford might have made a big mistake with this new Cougar.

And here's why. The Focus was the bestselling car in the UK from 1999 to 2008. And the Fiesta took number one spot for 12 years between 2009 to 2020.

But despite this, both cars have been cancelled forever. The Ford Cougar's best ever result was ninth. So, how come Ford just gave it a facelift and kept it on sale?

Especially considering how much competition there is from brands in Korea, Japan, and now China. In this video, I'm going to put the case forward as to why Ford should keep selling the Cougar for the foreseeable future. However, I'm also going to uncover some reasons as to why Ford should just hurry up and axe the car.

First thing we're going to consider is the exterior design. Now, last year, Ford updated the look to try and keep it looking fresh. And I like their new badge much better than Audi's new badge.

That's a good redesign. I guess the car does look a bit more modern with this new grill. We've got a light bar here.

This is the active version. So, you get this silvery effect down here. Make it look more rugged.

Doesn't look that futuristic, does it? Compared to something from, say, Kia. Also, what is going on with those headlamps?

They are just full of condensation. Moving down the side, once again, being the active model, you have like the cladding around the wheel arches, make it look rough and tough. It actually has slightly raised suspension and 18in allo wheels, so you have more sidewall.

Now, that should improve the comfort over bumps. However, you can get the car with 20-in alloy wheels and lowered stiff and sport suspension, which will probably make things worse. Anyway, as you move down, okay, once again, with the active models, so you got this cladding down the side, roof bars.

There's not much going on, is there? here. Although I do like the traditional handles.

While it's quite bright, and it responds okay. Problem with it is the fact that some of the menus are a bit confusing. It's hard to find stuff.

To be fair, you are just going to plug in your phone. In fact, you don't even have to plug it in anymore because you got wireless, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto. So, having a big screen is great.

What's not so great though is that they've shifted the climate controls into the screen. So, you have to do it like this, which is it's just harder to do when you're driving, isn't it? As for the interior design, bit like the exterior to tell you the truth.

And while there are some squidgy plastics here, which feel nice, then there's other plastics which are just horrible, such as this panel, this fake wood on the dash, the scratchy plastics down here and down here, and it doesn't feel particularly premium. a JQ7 just seems more expensive even though it's a very affordable car. And if you want to see my full in-depth video review of that, follow the link in the description of this video or you can just click on the pop out button appearing in the top right hand corner of the screen or scan the QR code on screen.

Now, few other things to know. You got a digital driver's display and that's all right. And you've got a heads-up display on this particular car, case of goodbye diesels.

You can't get a diesel Cougar anymore. Only petrols and hybrids. So, the entry- level car is a 1.

5 L turbo petrol with this much horsepower. Top of the range is a 2. 5 L naturally aspirated petrol engine mated to an electric motor and a 14 kWh battery pack for this much horsepower.

That's your plug-in hybrid, though you might be put off the plug-in hybrid, and I'll tell you why later on. Or this car here, which is the only four-wheel drive version of the Cuckers. the others are frontwheel drive.

It has a 2. 5 L naturally aspirated petrol engine mated to an electric motor, but it's just a normal hybrid and it has this much horsepower. Apparently, it can do naugh to 60 in 8.

3 seconds. But what is the truth? To launch this car, I need to get it into sports mode.

And to do that, I need to press this button here. Then I can't press it again. I have to cycle through on the screen, then pick sport up there.

Wait for a bit while it does some graphics for you. And now we're good to go. That's going to be a bit of a faf when you're driving, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm going to hold it on the brake. Drw the throttle. Did you hear that noise?

It's quite a lot of noise, but it's quite a lot of performance. Actually, I'm surprised by that. N 60, 7.

09 seconds. Way quicker than Ford claims. I am mightily impressed.

I hope it stops as well. Needs to stop as well. Let's find out.

Now, that is brilliant about this car. So, it spotted a car coming there. I couldn't see it because of that big B-pillar.

Got in my way, but the sensors picked it up, warned me, and I didn't reverse out into it. It's passed one brake test. They're not reversing into other cars brake test.

Now, let's do the normal brake test from 60 mph. We're looking for around 35 m. Here we go.

3 2 1. Oh, that's stood on its nose. Should be good.

Should be good. Wow. Really good.

33 m. So, it can also break well and break manually very well as well. In terms of performance and braking, the Cougar has made a very good case for it to stay around.

However, things change a little bit when it comes to pricing. You see, this car is quite expensive. The starting price is this much.

If you want a front-wheel drive hybrid, they start from this much. This particular car here with four-wheel drive costs this much. Now, the issue is that when you compare the pricing of the models to say a Kia Sportage or a Nissan Qashqai, they're cheaper.

And that's not all. You see, if you go on Carway, you can see how much you can save on each of the cars. And the average saving on the Cougar is this much.

The average saving on the Qashqai is this much. And the average saving on the Kia Sportage is that much. So not only are the Qashqai and the Sportage cheaper from the outset, you can get a greater saving on them through carow as well.

And then there's the leasing prices. So if you have a Cougar over 3 years, this is how much it will cost you in total. If you have a Qashqai or a Sportage over 3 You can also recline the seats for maximum comfort and knee room's decent.

Foot space is good. Head room's good as well. It's generally quite comfortable.

That is unless you need to carry three people in the back at once. Then it's not so good. So, jumping jack.

Jumping jack. It's Jack and he jumps. Um Nick as well.

Here we go. We got Nick and Jack in Nick and Jack in here. I'm losing it.

It's cold. Right. This is not good, is it?

There's no shoulder room at all. Um, other than that though, headroom's all right, you guys. Yeah.

Yeah, head room. You see? Headroom's all good.

But yeah, it's tight in it. It's very tight. I think it's better for three in the back in a Volkswagen TIG one.

Do you concur? I do. Yeah.

Do you concur? Yeah. Do you want to see my review of it?

Let's have a look. So, with the seats in their most relaxed position, so all the way back and reclined, you got 412 L of space, which isn't that much, but numbers don't mean a whole lot. It's much better to just test things with suitcases.

So, I'm going to see how many I can fit in underneath the load cover. Load cover. Right.

So, that's three. I reckon we're going to do five. And if I can fit another one there, that's actually not going to be too bad.

If that can get Well, that's shut. Might take a little bit of assistance. Yes, it's shut.

It's fine. It's shut. Shot.

Now, what I'm going to do is slide the seats forward, and you'll see how many more I can get in. All right. So, right away I can do this.

Anyway, that brings me to five annoying things about the Ford Cougar. The Ford Cougar comes with a three-year warranty. That was fine 5 years ago, but now many manufacturers offer 5ear warranties, 7year warranties, and in some cases even 10 years warranty.

Remember when I said earlier that you might want to avoid the plug-in hybrid and just stick with the normal hybrid? Well, that's because there's been a recall this year for around 26,000 plug-in hybrid for Cougars in Europe due to issues with their battery. To be completely transparent, those are vehicles up to 2023.

So, should be okay with the new ones, but you never know. This active model of the Kiger is supposed to be the rough tough version ready for off-roading. But look at this.

See this? That's the sill. The door doesn't cover the sill.

All right. Look. See when you open it there?

I'm going to show you five good things about this car. Here's one of them. Door protectors built in.

See this? Watch it. Watch it.

Watch it. Watch it. You open the door, pops out so that if you open it in a car park, you'll dent the other person's door, but your door will be fine.

Brilliant. I love the fact that the low cover is just this thin floppy fabric. Look, which means it's easy to just store in the boot and load things on top of it.

Don't have to worry about damaging it. Hopefully, this won't damage it. Catching it.

Go, go, go, go, go, go. Dude, perfect. Nick, ready.

Ah, I tricked you. Go on. Oh, ready, Nick.

Let's go. Oh god, Nick. One will last one last go, Nick.

Go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Oh, that was that was that should have been it. Go on, Nick.

Another go. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Ah, you know that European law which says that all cars have to have a speed limit warning which defaults to on every time you start the car.

Well, the Cougar's like to drive. One of the things I really like about the Cougar, which makes it good for driving around town, is the driving position. Such a good view forward.

And with this active trim that's like raised up, I feel like I'm sitting higher than quite a lot of other cars, even other SUVs. It's got a great big back window as well, so I can see what's behind me. Big door mirrors.

The only issue is the fat door pillars, but I can't really complain. Now, I can't complain about the smoothness of this hybrid system in town. So, just a lot of the time it's just going to tickle you along on battery power, but then the engine does kick in if you put your foot down a little bit, but it doesn't give you a jolt or a jerk.

Neither do the brakes. Sometimes hybrids press the brake and bit inconsistent. This is good.

As for the turning circle, let's speed up to 50 miles an hour. And the pickup of this hybrid is actually quite good. Well, I say it gets better.

This This is really jiggly now. H. And that's not so bad cuz the road surface has changed.

It really is road surface dependent, this card. It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be.

It's going to get worse again. Oh, actually, it didn't. Huh.

I don't get this. It's actually smooth. It suddenly got jiggly again.

Now with my eyes, I can't tell the difference in the road surface, but the car can. It's like picking up the imperfections and telling me about them through my bottom. Okay, so let's check the pickup on this hybrid system from 40 to 70 as we come to this dual carriageway.

We're at 40. I'm going to punch it in 3 2 1 go. Yeah, that's not so good.

here we go, Cougar. This is where you need to shine. Have you got the same poise, balance, and fun factor as a Focus, just a little bit taller?

Well, do you know what? The handling and steering, I'm liking it. It does just have a great balance to it.

And dare I say it, for a family SUV, yeah, it has a fun factor. What it doesn't do quite as well does the Focus. And this is because it is taller, so it has to have slightly stiffer suspension to stop it leaning in the bends.

It doesn't balance that sporty handling with a nice smooth ride. The suspension is just too jiggly. Such a shame.

But as these kind of SUVs go, yeah, goes around corners. Well, there might be life in the old dog yet. So, we come back to the original question.

Should Ford axe the cougar? Well, do you know what? According to AI, this time last year, it was the top 10 bestselling vehicle in the UK.

Now though, it's not in the top 10. It days could be numbered. However, what's more important is whether you should avoid, consider, short list, or just go right ahead and buy the new Ford Cougar.

Well, I reckon you should consider it. It's a decent enough car.