Ford s Capri Is back But Not How Your Dad Might Remember It

Let's get this out of the way right at the beginning. Ford has a new Capri, but it does not look like any Capri that's gone before, because it looks like that. So if it's not like the old Capri, what is it? Now, I think if you have eyes, you may have spotted just a couple of small differences. For a start, it's no longer a long bonneted coupe that smells slightly of four-star petrol. It is now a five-seat all-electric SUV with a slightly sort of coupe-ish bottom. Now, Ford says this is what the Capri was always destined to become and that the legend is back. OK, then. Let me know in the comments what you think. Please try not to use swear words. It looks a bit like the Explorer. Is it related? Yes. Well, Ford did a deal with Volkswagen some time ago to share electric car know-how. So where the Explorer is essentially the VW ID.4, the Capri is the ID.5. They're basically the same cars wearing different hats. Ford also needs to sell a boatload of Capri and Explorer models. Remember, the Heartland Fiesta and Mondeo are now dead, and Ford's first electric cars haven't really been for everyone. The F-150 Lightning is very, well, American, and the Mustang Mach-E just isn't as practical as either the Capri or Explorer. Mind you, the Mach-E starts at just under 44 grand, so committed Ford buyers will have quite the choice of electrified SUVs with a blue badge very soon. But what do we think of how it looks? OK, so as you might expect, there are quite a few bits of Explorer in the Capri. It shares things like doors, bonnet, front and back bumpers. But after that, I actually think it looks quite nice. It's not too showy, so I don't think it will date very much. And there are, believe it or not, hints of old Capri in the car. So at the front, it's what they used to call the dog bone, which is this basically big eye mask that draws all the way in front of the car with two sets of lights either side. Now, in the standard Capri, they're just LED, so quite good. In the premium grade, which we'll talk about later, they become matrix LEDs. And then quite a simple sort of drop front bumper with a little Capri embossment right in the front there. And then as you come to the profile, it's actually relatively simple. So you can have wheels that range from 19 to 21 inches. These are the 21s. I don't know, it's got a vaguely sort of Saab-y, Polestar-y shape to this side profile. It's got a floating roof because this A-pillar is black. And then it kind of swoops back here to this big rounded shape and then a big shoulder. I actually think, again, it looks quite nice. This is the Capri part versus the Explorer. So it's got a sloping rear and then there's headroom for the rear seat passengers because this comes quite far back before dipping down. And then at the back, we've got sort of a similar graphic. So it's got this big wide bar with two lights either side and these 3D Capri letters in the middle. Again, it's an Explorer bottom bumper, but it's not the most complicated car. But I think it looks well resolved and it's not going to date after too long. So it won't get on your nerves after two or three years. Speaking of dating badly, anyone under 40 might be wondering why old people are bothered by the fact that it's called a Capri. Well, back in the day, the Ford Capri was a bit of a blue-collar hero. A cool, credible and affordable fastback coupe driven by people with, as the young people might say today, a bit of swag. It had mechanical bits from the more practical Cortina and was essentially Europe's Ford Mustang. There were fast ones and slow ones, but they played a big part in petrolhead's lives by being a sort of attainable dream car. And a five-seat electric SUV definitely isn't the Capri many people remember. So it's caused a bit of head scratching and old people anger. What choices do we have? There are two versions of the Capri from launch, both called extended range, but either rear wheel drive or all wheel drive. The 284 brake horsepower rear drive car gets a 77 kilowatt hour battery, with the faster 336 brake horsepower four wheel drive getting a 79 kilowatt hour unit. And the base one costs £48,075, with the faster one starting at four grand more. Range is at a max of 390 miles for the less powerful one, 368 for the all wheel drive, though both of those drop if you have the bigger wheels. Oh, and the so-called slow one still hits 62 miles an hour from rest in 6.4 seconds, which is plenty, while the grippier all wheel drive manages the sprint in 5.3. So they're both pretty nippy. Worth noting here that there'll be another rear wheel drive car eventually with a 52 kilowatt hour battery and 168 brake horsepower, which will list for £42,075. So that'll be the cheapest. Let's have a look at the inside. Once you get in here, I do actually think it's quite stylish and quite calm. There's a little driver's information screen in front of you and then a square steering wheel with these little finger traps here, which I'm not sure that's what they're for. Then there's a big 14.6 inch touchscreen in the middle, which you can move around as you want if you want to have in a different sort of area to usual and a bit of secret storage under here. Although that isn't a secret anymore because I've just told all of you. There's also wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and wireless charging as standard. And there's two grades, there's Capri and Capri Premium. And it's as you might expect, Capri Premium gets extra stuff like this B&O stereo and in the UK, a full length panoramic glass roof. As well as all the other stuff, the materials seem quite nice. If you've seen an Explorer or indeed a Mach-E, it will be slightly familiar. There's cup holders, there's a sort of storage bin here with this bit you can take out and that goes quite a long way. If I put my arm in here, you could hide a body in there, which is always useful. One thing to note here, the software in this car is actually based on the last generation Volkswagen stuff and that company has already moved on. But Ford has done a really good job of disguising it. It seems to work really nicely. The back seats are comfy and useful if a little bit dark. And as for the boot, it's 627 litres loaded to the roof, which is actually bigger than the Ford Explorer. There is no frunk, however. What else is Ford saying about it? Ford says that the Capri is rebellious to its core because it's got massaging seats as standard and that secret storage area, which isn't a secret anymore. Also, because you can buy it in yellow. It seems that standards of rebellion have slipped since my day. Batteries and charging, what's the deal there? Well, the Capri rear wheel drive gets that 77 kilowatt hour battery and 135 kilowatts max DC charging, meaning a 10 to 80 percent stop will take 28 minutes. The all wheel drive gets a bigger battery at 79 kilowatt hours, but also gets 185 kilowatts max DC charge. So that takes less time at 26 minutes. Oh, and both have 11 kilowatts of AC charging as standard. So it's a decent performance without worrying any of the cars with 800 volt architectures. Not bad at all from Ford. What's the verdict without actually driving it then? Do you know what? Having had a little bit of a poke around it now, I do think the new Capri, contentious name aside, does look like a pretty solid effort from Ford. It's well equipped, it's got loads of range, and I actually think it looks really nice. The interesting thing about it is that it should also have about a 10 millimetre drop in the suspension height and slightly more sporty feeling to the driving. And seeing as it's a bit like an Explorer and that's been received really well, that should make it really nice. All in all, do you know what? I think the new Ford Capri is probably worth a look.