Controversial? Our 2020 Ford Puma!

[Cloudy147]

Hi all,

Thanks again for your comments!

Yaboo said:

Reviving this thread: how are you finding it a couple of months in?

All good so far. We are 1,200 miles in (more than I'd anticipated actually) and the alarm has been fixed. Hurrah! When you buy a new car from Ford you are asked to fill in a survey and, as I was to discover, anything other than stellar marks has a direct affect on targets/bonus of your sales rep. I completed mine honestly and stated the rep was very good, but the car has problems which aren't yet fixed.

This apparently triggers a red flag against the dealer and that impacts the salesman directly. I got a call just a few days after submitting the survey to be told this by a not overly happy salesman.... But the good news was that amazingly the parts had just arrived for our alarm. What a coincidence eh?

Post fitting I'd have the opportunity to fill in another survey which will set things straight for the salesman if they've done a good job. Which they did, so I did.

The service at Ford isn't the same as the 'premium' brands though. The car was not washed, it was parked 'somewhere' in their massive car park and I had to go searching for it and they left grubby finger marks all over the headlining where the grease man had been fitting the new parts. I had to spend half an hour sorting those with Autoglyms finest (one of the stains hasn't fully come off, still need to sort that).

But as for the car itself, all has been well and no issues to report. DAB radio sounds noticeabley better than FM. The Ford App on your phone records your journeys so you can track how 'green' your drive was, mpg etc. It doesn't pair to the car though I've noticed, the app is on both phones and sometimes it'll record our journeys in my car rather than the Puma.

We had a courtesy MHEV model whilst ours was having the alarm repaired and the Mrs commented that it definately feels more nippy off the line than our standard petrol engine. Ours isn't exactly slow, but I think the MHEV is highlighting improvements that this sort of tech is bringing.

All in all these are just niggles. The car itself so far has been fine and the Mrs really likes it.

Average mpg is showing as a smidge under 40, which I think is very good given it is mainly used on non-motorways.

Edited by Cloudy147 on Sunday 25th October 07:12

[RC1807]

Seems you were extremely generous to have updated the survey, when the monkeys didn't wear gloves whilst fitting interior parts, and you're left to clean it.


... I love my Fiesta ST that I've owned from new for 6 years, but the dealer service isn't great, the mechanics are careless, or don't give a st. They've broken interior trim, kerbed a painted alloy - then touched it up thinking I wouldn't notice (they'd just been refurbished!), and last time in they completely fked a wheel nut when they changed my winter wheels over. I recently had to hammer a 19mm multi point socket on the nut to get the wheel off to change discs and pads. The wheel nuts are about €5-6 ea.

[Yaboo]

Cloudy147 said:

Post fitting I'd have the opportunity to fill in another survey which will set things straight for the salesman if they've done a good job. Which they did, so I did.

The service at Ford isn't the same as the 'premium' brands though. The car was not washed, it was parked 'somewhere' in their massive car park and I had to go searching for it and they left grubby finger marks all over the headlining where the grease man had been fitting the new parts. I had to spend half an hour sorting those with Autoglyms finest (one of the stains hasn't fully come off, still need to sort that).

Edited by Cloudy147 on Sunday 25th October 07:12

Does that not need reporting on the survey?
How’s the rear legroom behind the driver? (Haven’t had chance to look inside one yet)

[Steve421]

I like these! Enthusiasts rage at the use of the name but I think they look cracking, can't wait to test an ST.

Sorry to hear of the issues you've had, it's all too easy for things like this to take the shine and excitement off a new car, hope you get sorted.

[Mikebentley]

These also look good in every colour I have seen which never happens for me. The new Kuga though is properly ugly.

[Shappers24]

Mikebentley said:

These are growing on me. Have my own concerns about efficiency of 3 cyl 1.0 engines but that’s an aside. They look great when seen out in the wild.

I’ve had several Ford Focus hire cars with their 1.0 125bhp engine and they’ve been fantastic. Really changed my opinion of small capacity turbo units.

Plenty of low speed shove and last weeks car averaged 48mpg with a solid mix of town and motorway. Above 70mph I expect consumption would drop off as the engine would be working hard, but in normal driving I’ve found them more much economical than 1.6 n/a hatches enterprise have dropped off.

[Cloudy147]

RC1807 said:

Seems you were extremely generous to have updated the survey, when the monkeys didn't wear gloves whilst fitting interior parts, and you're left to clean it.

Yes I probably was, but it wasn't really the salesmans fault and didn't want to peanilise him for it. However, I do have my doubts about that particular dealer now. It seems very 'in-and-out', and I'd have expected more from a main dealer. Perhaps I'm expecting too much and have been spoilt with other brands like Porsche who's service is pretty exceptional.

Yaboo said:

Does that not need reporting on the survey?
How’s the rear legroom behind the driver? (Haven’t had chance to look inside one yet)

Yes, I did record it on the survey in the comments section. Rear legroom, well... it depends on how tall the driver is! Think fiesta size though and you are in the right ballpark. If you are tall, its fine for kids.

Steve421 said:

I like these! Enthusiasts rage at the use of the name but I think they look cracking, can't wait to test an ST.

Sorry to hear of the issues you've had, it's all too easy for things like this to take the shine and excitement off a new car, hope you get sorted.

Thanks Steve. I know these new Puma's are a departure from the old one, but I think they actually suit the intended audience in the same way the old one did. I remember the original being launched, it was a rival to the Vauxall Tigra. Both were strereotypical 'girls' cars. I know they have a following now, and I've always loved them personally - but no bloke really wanted a Puma back at launch, they were looking at Cosworths, GTis and the like. This was a hairdresser type car - and the target audience at the time wanted something small but sporty, so thats what they got, based on a Fiesta.

The new model hits the same demographic, albeit that same audience now wants small SUV styling, rather than sporty coupe style. And thats what we've got, and with that similar 'face'. I imagine the upcoming ST will hit the sweet spot for those who enjoyed the Racing Puma back in the day.

[Mikebentley]

I agree with your comments ref the original Puma. When new I don’t know a single bloke that rated them enough to buy one instead of other stuff available at the time. They now seem to be talked of as something of a hero car. Horses for courses I suppose.

[mooseracer]

I'm finding myself more and more drawn to the upcoming ST. I must get a test drive booked when they are available.

[Podie]

RC1807 said:

Seems you were extremely generous to have updated the survey, when the monkeys didn't wear gloves whilst fitting interior parts, and you're left to clean it.


... I love my Fiesta ST that I've owned from new for 6 years, but the dealer service isn't great, the mechanics are careless, or don't give a st. They've broken interior trim, kerbed a painted alloy - then touched it up thinking I wouldn't notice (they'd just been refurbished!), and last time in they completely fked a wheel nut when they changed my winter wheels over. I recently had to hammer a 19mm multi point socket on the nut to get the wheel off to change discs and pads. The wheel nuts are about €5-6 ea.

Find another dealer.

Plenty of good dealers as well as plenty of bad ones, whether it’s Ford, Audi or BMW (in my experience).

I wouldn’t trust our local Ford dealer with a toy car, so I make the effort to do a 40 minute drive to get the level of care and service I want.

[Cloudy147]

Well, the ownership of this one was short and sweet, having decided to consolidate two of our cars into one, and so we've sold the Puma to make way for a Jaguar E-Pace as a bigger family car.

Nothing wrong with the Puma at all, it was a fun little car, but just not quite big enough for all of our stuff.

The Puma went to WeBuyAnyCar and I got what I considered a good price - such a nice and easy transaction with no fuss!

[Will H]

How the hell does anyone get 48mpg from the 125bhp 1.0 ecoboost? I've got one in a 2015 Focus and struggle to get more than 40.

Very much designed for low emissions over economy, and a really fun engine to drive. Enough torque to feel brisk, but not enough power to worry you at the top end so you can just go for it 99% of the time. Ah, maybe that's why I only get 40mpg....

Had one as a hire car years ago and got 30mpg, but I put that down to having next to no miles on the clock and not yet broken in.

The Puma isn't really my type of thing, but I imagine that as crossovers go (is it a crossover?) it's pretty good to drive.

[Trevor555]

I just got an ST for my missus, it did 40.2 mpg on the 100mile journey home, mostly A roads and dual carriageways.

It's dropped to 37mpg now that we've done some local trips.

[The Mad Monk]

Cloudy147 said:

Well, the ownership of this one was short and sweet, having decided to consolidate two of our cars into one, and so we've sold the Puma to make way for a Jaguar E-Pace as a bigger family car.

Nothing wrong with the Puma at all, it was a fun little car, but just not quite big enough for all of our stuff.

The Puma went to WeBuyAnyCar and I got what I considered a good price - such a nice and easy transaction with no fuss!

Quote
"Nothing wrong with the Puma at all"

Isn't strictly accurate, is it?

In fact it's not at all accurate.

If you wanted an SUV why didn't you buy a Toyota CHR?

Earlier you said-
"When you buy a new car from Ford you are asked to fill in a survey and, as I was to discover, anything other than stellar marks has a direct affect on targets/bonus of your sales rep. I completed mine honestly and stated the rep was very good, but the car has problems which aren't yet fixed.

This apparently triggers a red flag against the dealer and that impacts the salesman directly. I got a call just a few days after submitting the survey to be told this by a not overly happy salesman.... But the good news was that amazingly the parts had just arrived for our alarm. What a coincidence eh?"

Well, whose fault is that? By putting moral pressure on you like this, Ford get a better rating on their products. Which is once again, not strictly accurate, is it?

Edited by The Mad Monk on Saturday 22 May 10:55

[Cloudy147]

The Mad Monk said:

Quote
"Nothing wrong with the Puma at all"

Isn't strictly accurate, is it?

In fact it's not at all accurate.

If you wanted an SUV why didn't you buy a Toyota CHR?

There was nothing wrong with the Puma for what it is. Perhaps my wording was wrong there, in that I meant to say nothing went wrong with it - i.e. we didn't sell because it was crap and riddled with faults, we sold because it didn't fit our changed requirements...

At the time of Puma purchase, I had a Cayenne and we had (and still have) no need for two SUV cars. It fit our needs then. We did look at the Toyota CHR at the time of purchasing the Puma, but it felt more cramped and definately more gloomy inside the cabin. But as I've now sold the Cayenne, the Puma wasn't quite big enough as a consolidated two-into-one car, so we've purchased a Jaguar E Pace instead, which is somewhere in the middle size wise.

The Mad Monk said:

Earlier you said-
"When you buy a new car from Ford you are asked to fill in a survey and, as I was to discover, anything other than stellar marks has a direct affect on targets/bonus of your sales rep. I completed mine honestly and stated the rep was very good, but the car has problems which aren't yet fixed.

This apparently triggers a red flag against the dealer and that impacts the salesman directly. I got a call just a few days after submitting the survey to be told this by a not overly happy salesman.... But the good news was that amazingly the parts had just arrived for our alarm. What a coincidence eh?"

Well, whose fault is that? By putting moral pressure on you like this, Ford get a better rating on their products. Which is once again, not strictly accurate, is it?

Edited by The Mad Monk on Saturday 22 May 10:55

I'm not sure what your point is here, but I believe the survey goes against the dealer (specifically the saleman I think, hence the calls I got afterwards), rather than about the car itself. We didn't have any issues beyond those first few teething problems.

Funnily enough Jaguar have contacted me as well to do a survey and I'm not doing one. I'm not going to lie and give an oustanding result, but I don't want the hassle from the dealership that anything less than a stellar survey would likely bring (based on my experience of the Ford purchase).

Edited by Cloudy147 on Saturday 22 May 11:31

[Trevor555]

Cloudy147 said:

Funnily enough Jaguar have contacted me as well to do a survey and I'm not doing one. I'm not going to lie and give an oustanding result, but I don't want the hassle from the dealership that anything less than a stellar survey would likely bring (based on my experience of the Ford purchase).

Edited by Cloudy147 on Saturday 22 May 11:31

What went wrong with Jaguar?

[TonyMac]

Interesting to see the reports of a smidge under 40mpg on non-motorway miles. 125PS/123BHP aren't they?

Coincidentally I have one of the "other" Pumas, my third. The 1.7 litre engines are 125PS/123BHP. MPG from the old 1.7, based on ownership of 3 of them and many many tanks of fuel, is a shade under 40MPG on A/B road driving. Driven like stolen or on short trips will see it drop to around 35 and a run might just about hit 50, though 45-47 tends to be more accurate as 5th is pretty low.

Progress.

[ChocolateFrog]

Controversial only in the sense they called it a Puma and that sets it on a hiding to nothing.

I'm sure it's a perfectly decent car in it's own right.

[ChocolateFrog]

Mikebentley said:

I agree with your comments ref the original Puma. When new I don’t know a single bloke that rated them enough to buy one instead of other stuff available at the time. They now seem to be talked of as something of a hero car. Horses for courses I suppose.

The Racing Puma was revered, maybe because you rarely saw one in the wild.

Was a proper little thing though, shame they've all rusted away.

[tvrfan007]

TonyMac said:

Interesting to see the reports of a smidge under 40mpg on non-motorway miles. 125PS/123BHP aren't they?

Coincidentally I have one of the "other" Pumas, my third. The 1.7 litre engines are 125PS/123BHP. MPG from the old 1.7, based on ownership of 3 of them and many many tanks of fuel, is a shade under 40MPG on A/B road driving. Driven like stolen or on short trips will see it drop to around 35 and a run might just about hit 50, though 45-47 tends to be more accurate as 5th is pretty low.

Progress.

Might want to look at things like weight too when making such a sweeping statement! 'Progress' includes many gadgets and safety features yours wouldn't be sporting!