RE: SOTW: Ford Puma 1.7
Discussion
Chapppers said:
Christ you two, lighten up.
I was just making an observation that these well renowned driver's cars look a bit girly. I'm not questioning your manhood in any way. I have an MX5. it's Brilliant.
Oh, the Ka handles well too doesn't it?
No idea - wouldn't be seen dead in that girly shopping trolley! I was just making an observation that these well renowned driver's cars look a bit girly. I'm not questioning your manhood in any way. I have an MX5. it's Brilliant.
Oh, the Ka handles well too doesn't it?
Still not sure what makes a car 'girly' though... I agree with the previous poster - A car's just a car, not a badge of sexual orientation (unless you drive a Nissan Micra of course, which implies you've given up the idea of sex, or living really, altogether!)
M.
Edited by marcosgt on Monday 1st February 14:25
Great Shed in my opinion. I regularly read SOTW but am never bothered enough to comment until now!
I worked at a Ford dealer from the late 90's until '06 and had 2 or 3 of these as company cars and enjoyed almost every minute of driving one. I drove it hard everywhere because the company paid the fuel bill, which was a good thing as I had a 40 mile each way commute and fuel economy wasn't suited to my driving 'style'. The short gear ratios didn't help either.
The drive was smooth but firm, the gear change wonderful and the handling was sharp and precise and it pulled well out of corners. Had some massively scary understeer moments in the rain though. I actually though the brakes were great, you just had to be heavy footed with them. The traction control wasn't actually called traction control, I think it was traction assist or something like that, either way it wasn't much use and made the car really hard to drive in snow and ice (when combined with the overly enthusiastic ABS) as it couldn't be switched off.
Best colour was Melina Blue in the early cars. I'm sure the limited edition Millenium with the fanatstic full leather Recaro's and Yellow paint is a future classic as only 1000 produced. The Racing Puma was just to expensive and although it was a limited run of 500 I belive only 497 were registered as 3 got nicked from a dealer storage compound somewhere.
Interior was great for just 1 or 2 people (I even managed to have sex in a Puma, she was very small though) I remember that the metal gear knob would freeze your hand on a cold morning and burn the 'H' pattern into the palm of your hand on a hot day. I still have a Puma gear knob as a paperweight on my desk. The Lux Pack with the AC and heated screen was the must have upgrade, you lost more at P/X time not having it than you would pay for it up front.
If I was back in the market to buy a shed (and still lived in the UK) this would be high on my list.
Thanks Shed for letting me re-live the fun for a while.
I worked at a Ford dealer from the late 90's until '06 and had 2 or 3 of these as company cars and enjoyed almost every minute of driving one. I drove it hard everywhere because the company paid the fuel bill, which was a good thing as I had a 40 mile each way commute and fuel economy wasn't suited to my driving 'style'. The short gear ratios didn't help either.
The drive was smooth but firm, the gear change wonderful and the handling was sharp and precise and it pulled well out of corners. Had some massively scary understeer moments in the rain though. I actually though the brakes were great, you just had to be heavy footed with them. The traction control wasn't actually called traction control, I think it was traction assist or something like that, either way it wasn't much use and made the car really hard to drive in snow and ice (when combined with the overly enthusiastic ABS) as it couldn't be switched off.
Best colour was Melina Blue in the early cars. I'm sure the limited edition Millenium with the fanatstic full leather Recaro's and Yellow paint is a future classic as only 1000 produced. The Racing Puma was just to expensive and although it was a limited run of 500 I belive only 497 were registered as 3 got nicked from a dealer storage compound somewhere.
Interior was great for just 1 or 2 people (I even managed to have sex in a Puma, she was very small though) I remember that the metal gear knob would freeze your hand on a cold morning and burn the 'H' pattern into the palm of your hand on a hot day. I still have a Puma gear knob as a paperweight on my desk. The Lux Pack with the AC and heated screen was the must have upgrade, you lost more at P/X time not having it than you would pay for it up front.
If I was back in the market to buy a shed (and still lived in the UK) this would be high on my list.
Thanks Shed for letting me re-live the fun for a while.
Good choice, I had a short-list of cheap yet fun cars to act as a daily driver a couple of years ago and ended up with a '98 Puma because it was so much fun to drive and the engine has a nice chunk of low down torque that seems to be missing in cars with similar power levels. Shortly after my other half bought herself a later version with the Lux pack, FRP intake, suspension mods, exhaust etc and a number of modifications to help prevent the inevitable rust for a while. Hers feels more "sorted" than my older car but with new bushes, later brakes and good tyres the gap has been closed slightly.
For the budget given to SOTW it's a great cheap to run option that will return an average ~35mpg with plenty of spirited driving.
The driving position is a little flawed, the standard suspension sits high, there a number of design issues that niggle you but once you get in and chuck the car around you forget all of this.
Because of the petite dimensions they make great B-road cars, I love to take ours over to Wales and explore the little places that I wouldn't feel comfortable in the Supra.
I'm going to sell the Puma and Supra at some point and try to find a car that fills both gaps - I suspect I'll fail and end up missing both of them though.
Brilliant, brilliant car.
I like the looks but can understand those who aren't keen. Mine was a replacement for a VW Polo GTI which lasted about a month and totally died never to return again at about 3.5 yrs old and 36k miles, sack of s
te it was.
So, Puma was NOT my choice at all, hairdresser's car I thought but found it in the dealer network as they wouldn't cash refund the crappy polo, drove it and loved it, handling immensely better than the polo, such a good FWD set up.
Had mine about 4/5 years, no problems at all, done 65,000 miles, doesn't use oil, one little bit of rust on rear wheel arch about to be sorted, apparently they weren't very well undersealed or something in this area. Average 36/38 MPG on run, 34mpg generally and I have an enthusiatic right foot.
Great car, you look after them and they'll look after you.
Got to DRIVE one, they are serious FUN! EVO mag gives them 5 stars!
I like the looks but can understand those who aren't keen. Mine was a replacement for a VW Polo GTI which lasted about a month and totally died never to return again at about 3.5 yrs old and 36k miles, sack of s
te it was. So, Puma was NOT my choice at all, hairdresser's car I thought but found it in the dealer network as they wouldn't cash refund the crappy polo, drove it and loved it, handling immensely better than the polo, such a good FWD set up.
Had mine about 4/5 years, no problems at all, done 65,000 miles, doesn't use oil, one little bit of rust on rear wheel arch about to be sorted, apparently they weren't very well undersealed or something in this area. Average 36/38 MPG on run, 34mpg generally and I have an enthusiatic right foot.
Great car, you look after them and they'll look after you.
Got to DRIVE one, they are serious FUN! EVO mag gives them 5 stars!
Yep, like this one - great little cars. Nice handling and quick enough in 1.7 guise (for the time).
Remember finding a brand new Racing Puma shell languishing at the back of our local salvage yard about 8 years ago. Not sure why it was there, but a good opportunity for someone to make a nice track car...
Most recent Puma experience was a red one (identical to the shed - same year too) driving into the back of my Astra on a slip road a couple of months back. It didn't fare too well compared to the Astra - maybe there's some truth in a previous poster saying the brakes were no good!
Def appears to be going good shed (Laguna) bad shed (Lexus)...
Remember finding a brand new Racing Puma shell languishing at the back of our local salvage yard about 8 years ago. Not sure why it was there, but a good opportunity for someone to make a nice track car...
Most recent Puma experience was a red one (identical to the shed - same year too) driving into the back of my Astra on a slip road a couple of months back. It didn't fare too well compared to the Astra - maybe there's some truth in a previous poster saying the brakes were no good!
Def appears to be going good shed (Laguna) bad shed (Lexus)...
VAGdave said:
Yep, like this one - great little cars. Nice handling and quick enough in 1.7 guise (for the time).
Remember finding a brand new Racing Puma shell languishing at the back of our local salvage yard about 8 years ago. Not sure why it was there, but a good opportunity for someone to make a nice track car...
Most recent Puma experience was a red one (identical to the shed - same year too) driving into the back of my Astra on a slip road a couple of months back. It didn't fare too well compared to the Astra - maybe there's some truth in a previous poster saying the brakes were no good!
Def appears to be going good shed (Laguna) bad shed (Lexus)...
the later cars had better brakes, not great but a darn site better than the original ones.Remember finding a brand new Racing Puma shell languishing at the back of our local salvage yard about 8 years ago. Not sure why it was there, but a good opportunity for someone to make a nice track car...
Most recent Puma experience was a red one (identical to the shed - same year too) driving into the back of my Astra on a slip road a couple of months back. It didn't fare too well compared to the Astra - maybe there's some truth in a previous poster saying the brakes were no good!
Def appears to be going good shed (Laguna) bad shed (Lexus)...
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