the Bucket: Bucket Seat: Ford Puma

The Ford Puma started its life as a compact coupé back in 1997. Available only in Europe, sales weren’t the greatest and it never really caught on apart from the UK, hence it was retired in 2001. Fast forward to 2019 and the badge was revived by Ford and spawned into a compact crossover. Based on the Ford Fiesta platform, the revived Puma became quite a hit, offering a different take on the crossover from everyone else with it being almost like a raised sporty hatchback. Now I know what you’re thinking, if the Ford Puma was launched in 2019, why the hell did we only get it in 2023? Well, there were a number of factors for this, biggest being Ford South Africa still had a lot of Eco Sports to sell. While there is big difference between the two as I soon found out after testing the Puma, the price point would have had the EcoSport killing its own sibling in the market. So what Ford decide to do? Kill the EcoSport for the sake of the Puma. Will this pay off though? That is the question.

DESIGN

The Ford Puma styling is really top notch, even with it arriving in SA a whole 4 years later it doesn’t seem dated at all because it’s so unique. The sport lines and curves with its bulging headlamps give it that feline look of it ready to pounce. I don’t think there is a bad angle on the particular car and it’s so easily recognisable that I could spot it a mile away in a parking lot. The detail on the front of the car is quite cool, from the chrome border grille to the silver accents on the bottom diffuser. The way the nose is sculptured from the grille up to the pronounce headlights and which then transcend to the windscreen following the curves of the wheel arch really give the car a higher look that what it really is. Everything about it is bold and funky, which adds to the appeal to the youth but as I noticed while spending time with it, it was often the old folk that I would catch staring. The rear is well rounded off with winged tail lights that extend a bit over the side and this particular model being the ST Line, featured a nice rear wing to add to the sporty nature. The bottom diffuser is finished off with more silver accents with borders around the dual tail pipes. The interior follows the standard Ford design guidelines, and I did mention it looked similar to the EcoSport, which wasn’t completely wrong but there are some big differences, biggest being the quality of materials used in the Puma, these are much more high end that the EcoSport.

PERFORMANCE

So how does this 1.0-litre 3 cylinder Ecoboost engine perform in the Puma? Look at the brochure and it will give you the power output of 92kW and 170Nm of torque, not a lot you might think for a car that’s asking price is north of 600K. The big question is how does it drive? Well, I have to be honest it goes rather well, that 7-speed auto gearbox works like a charm in both city driving and on the highway. One must remember this car is made for Europe so the key factors were for small commutes and city driving, it serves those two purposes like a charm. On the open road it can reach a cruising speed of 120km/h without it breaking too much of a sweat and can maintain it on uphills as well. The car feels solid and the ride quality is pretty decent, there’s a big difference between driving this and the Ecosport so one could say that this does deserve its higher price tag. I like taking the car cars through some twistys and the Puma navigated whatever I threw at it rather well with its punchy acceleration and well mannered cornering. With my heavy foot and aggressive driving nature, it did not bode well for the fuel average but Ford claim it can do 5.3L per 100km.

COMFORT

So it’s described as a “compact crossover” but it is still rather spacious. Look, it won’t fit a family of 7 but 4 adults can go along comfortably. I must commend the quality of the seats though, not sure if it’s specific to the ST Line but the quilted leather styling was not only great to look at but extremely comfortable too. There wasn’t a heating function for the seats, and don’t see if it’s available as an extra on the website but it’s not a deal breaker for me. The car does have single zone climate control which was a let down for me, I expected minimum dual zone for it. The Puma comes with a nice 8-inch TFT touch screen with but it still has SYNC 3, because it’s still an old model. This means it has mobile applications built in but your device needs to be plugged in for use. The car came with an impressive 10-speaker Bang & Olufsen premium audio system that wasn’t listed on the extras sheet so I’m guessing it’s standard. Other notable standard features include keyless entry and push button start, tyre pressure monitoring two USB ports and wireless phone charging tray. Safety features include lane keeping assist, 6 airbags, ABS and cruise control with adjustable speed limiter.

VERDICT

The Ford Puma is a disrupter to the segment, it’s a wild kind of car that is a cross over but could easily pass as a hatchback. There are few things that didn’t sit overly well with me, one was why did Ford decide to bring this model in now when there’s a facelift due very soon and secondly, I know I said the car did warrant to cost more than the EcoSport but it is A LOT more than the EcoSport which makes me wonder of the market would take to it. I got it on test a good 5 months after it was launched and haven’t seen a single one on the roads of Durban but mind you, spending the beginning of the month in Cape Town, I saw quite a few! So I’m guessing it would take some time to see them filter through the various spots but it’s nice to see such a refreshing option in the segment and even better seeing Ford bring something new, other than 20 variants of the Ranger.