It’s the brand new Ford Capri! And yes, it’s now an electric SUV

Fair odds that anyone over 40, upon seeing Ford’s new interpretation of the Capri, will spend five minutes simply saying ‘that’s not a Capri though, is it?’. And despite the Ford marketing department’s tenuous proclamations that this new Capri is ‘what the Capri would have been’ and that ‘the legend is back’, there’s precious little carryover from a long-bonneted two-door coupe that always seemed to smell strongly of four-star petrol and a five-seat, tall-riding, five-door semi-SUV.

That also happens to be pure electric. Suspension of disbelief is necessary, and the reality of spending many millions of pounds establishing a new nameplate taken into account. Ford’s just using what it’s got – see Puma for details.

Still, there are some hints of Capri in there. The ‘dogbone’ front end treatment that links the headlights is vaguely familiar, and ‘Capri’ is still spelled with the same letters. After that, it’s a beetle-backed electric SUV based on the Explorer. Ford did a deal with VW a while back to share some elements of electric production, so the Explorer is a re-worked ID.4 and the Capri is an ID.5. Simple, really.

And taken as is, the Capri isn’t bad-looking at all. Slightly generic in that there’s a definite hint of Polestar in the C-pillar, and the stance is that weird EV non-SUV height, but the sense of unfashionable fashion means it’s unlikely to date particularly quickly. And yes, there’s a lot of Explorer in there (doors, bonnet, bumpers etc), but that doesn’t hurt it.

From launch in the UK we’ll get a pair of models, both designated ‘Extended-range’, in either standard or Premium trim. The current base version is a 284bhp single-motor rear-wheel drive that gets a 77kWh battery and 390 miles of possible range, good for 0-62mph in 6.4s. That’s £48,075.

The quicker all-wheel drive version gets a pair of motors for 336bhp and a 5.3s 0-62mph time, with a still very good 368 miles of range on the WLTP cycle. That costs four grand more, with Premium spec on both adding nice toys and a bit more to the bottom line. Worth noting that after the initial mine of early-adopter wallets, there’ll be a rear-wheel drive version with a smaller 52kWh battery and 168bhp that will list at £42,075. So cheaper is coming.

As for convenience, the 77kWh car gets 135kW max DC charging, the 79kWh 185kW, so that means 10-80 per cent in 28 minutes and 26 respectively, and they both get 11kW AC, so pretty decent all round.

Inside, it’s pretty much like an Explorer, neat and well-made, with a 14.6in portrait touchscreen in the middle that can slide up and down to preference, which also reveals a ‘secret’ storage area behind, though that’s not very secret now. There are the usual ADAS and convenience features, and although the Capri’s tech is based on VW’s last generation software (VW has already moved on), it seemed to work well in the car we saw.

There’s also a ‘megaconsole’ central storage bin that holds 17-litres of stuff, but while useful for keeping things out of sight, feels more like a place to simply forget what you own in a giant hole. The rear seats are roomy but dark, the boot big – at 627-litres loaded to the roof, it’s actually bigger than the Explorer. So it’s perfectly practical.

And as for the way it drives, we’ll have to see – although the Capri will have 10mm lower suspension than the Explorer and a slightly more sporting bent, so it should be decent. Which means that if you want an electric SUV with a blue oval, you now have quite the choice between Mustang Mach-E, Explorer and Capri.

The Mach-E is supposed to be the topline – although both Capri and Explorer might eat some of the low-end sales – and although this doesn’t feel anything like the name might suggest, it’s also looking like a solid electric SUV offering. Let’s wait and see how it drives to be sure.

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