Great.. but not as good as you've heard. (Ford Puma in general)

Member Name: Coopdevil

Product:	Ford Puma in general
Date:	07/05/01 (2084 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Handling, Smooth engine, Style!

Disadvantages: Poor braking, Bad visibility

Ever heard the story of the Emperor's New Clothes? Well, when I purchased my 2001 Puma 1.7 I started to wonder if there wasn't an element of that old fable to be found in the hyperbole and all-round praise lavished on Ford's baby coupe. To be short, it's a very good car, but that final step towards being a truly great car isn't really there.

Firstly, the impracticalities. Forget Ford's claim that the car seats four adults - three is a more realistic alternative. Furthermore the front seats can only go a certain distance forwards before the top of the seat hits the curvature of the roof despite there being more room on the runners. Think of it as being a pure 2+2 and you won't be disappointed. The boot is surprisingly large, but there is a high 'lift' over the rear bodywork to get anything in which rules out heavy paving slabs or the like. Furthermore the design of the boot lid means that standing water runs in if opened too quickly and the oval rear window coupled with the high rear end of the Puma hampers the driver with very poor rearwards visibility.

However, if either of these bother you then frankly you probably aren't the sort of customer that Ford is targetting. Don't forget it's a sports coupe and a certain amount of impracticality goes with the terrority. None of the above really bothers me, and I have owned cars with only 2 seats and much worse practicality issues.

Equally bad, but much more important, is the apparent impotence of the brakes in their front discs/rear drums setup. The brakes are progressive which is the perferred performance setup, but dangerously lack any final bite - they'll slow you OK, but that final bite to actually stop the car isn't quite there and an emergency stop will have to be followed with a massive second stamp on the pedal to avoid tapping into the back of someone else at walking pace. These brakes have later been replaced with discs all round
- I haven't driven one of these so can't comment.

Anyway onto the drive...

There's no doubt that the Puma does handle exceptionally well, assisted by PAS that is responsive but does remove a lot of feel from the road. There is perhaps more body roll than would be expected in a car of this type, but this never seems to affect the car's stance. It is certainly less affected by bumps mid-corner than my old XR2 was. Unfortunately, like that old Fessy, it is badly prone to tramlining when you meet recently repaired road.

It's in cross-country travel that the Puma shows its trump cards. Although the 1700cc 16v Zetec is smooth, it's isn't staggeringly fast, and the smoothness of the engine and ride tends to insulate the driver from his speed. As a result, on my commute along a long stretch of B-road I find Beemers and the like catch me up (or leave me standing), but the corners really sort them out and you can make rapid progress through the bends totally effortlessly. Sit at speed behind a Beemer or similar and watch how much work they have to do to match your speed, compared with how little you really have to. This is the true brilliance of the Puma design.

Unfortunately, fast cornering is made a trifle tricky by the cockpit layout. Firstly, Ford's bloody irritating habit of placing the rear view mirror a long way down the windscreen leaves a dangerous blind spot ahead of you and slightly to your left. Like many modern cars, the pillars are thick and wide enough on the Puma for another car to hide in, just ahead and to your right. This makes urban junctions more hazardous than they need to be.

Motorway performance is surprisingly good for a car based on the humble Fiesta. Top speed is a claimed 126mph. The Zetec uses Variable Valve Timing to keep the valves open for longer at peak revs. This means that there isn't a dropoff in acceleration performance in 5th, and joining a motorway is a ple
asant surprise as the grunt available in 5th seems to match that available in 4th. It does seem prone to sidewinds unsettling it though.

So, to sum up, an excellent cross-country car that, due to quietness and insulating PAS, doesn't quite deliver enough feedback to the driver to rely earn it's 'drivers tag' label. The engine is smooth and revvy if not quite as fast as one would expect. A few impracticalities of design range from unimportant (seats) to quite poor (brakes and visibility).

I love the car, as it does have a lot of character and style and I can overlook most of the faults. Not as earth-shaking as some have said though.

Would I recommend one though (he asked rhetorically). Yeah, I suppose I would. It has the marketing advantage of being sellable to enthusiastic drivers and to people who want a more stylish alternative to a Fiesta. If do you buy one though and live in an area with harsh winters do yourself a favour and get a replacement screw-on gearknob for the winter - the famous aluminium gearknob is absolutely horrible on a bitterly cold morning!

There is a good egroups mailing list for the Puma. Try http://www.pumapeople.co.uk for a friendly, non-profit club.

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