Racing Puma's

[Mr_C]

I currently drive an Elise and I'm considering changing it for something a bit cheaper and more practical (the Elise just cost me £1000 for a service and some other bits..). A car on the shortlist is the Racing Puma. Does anyone have any experence with one and can give me an idea of servicing and annual running costs, average MPG etc and anything else you can think of?

I previously had a Fiesta Zetec-S and always had it serviced at the local Ford dealers, are these the best people to look after a FRP or are specialists such as PumaBuild or PumaSpeed a better (and cheaper?) bet?

I think I'll have one more summer with the Lotus, as it's a lovely car and now everythings been sorted it should only cost me for fuel (and maybe tyres..), then we'll see where we go from there, but any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Paul

[atgsambo]

Hi Mate

Lets start off with money, i personally wouldent spend any less than £8750 on a FRP. You should get a decent one with about 55k on the clock for that money which will of had most of the problem bits replaced. I would also make sure you buy one from an enthusiast.

The FRP has the following over a normal puma


- Imperial Blue Paint Scheme
- 17” MIM Ford Racing Alloys 215/40/R17
- Eibach Shocks / Springs - developed for the car
- Wide arches (Steel rear, Aluminium front)
- Wider & deeper bumpers
- Front Splitter
- Alcantara trimmed interior, Sparco seats , Alcantara Trimmed Steering Wheel
- Modifyed GearBox - I belive 1st / 2nd gears have been strengthened
- Diffrent Cams (Piper i belive)
- Ford Alcon 4 Pot Calipers & 295mm discs
- 4 2 1 manifold
- Sports Catalyst
- JanSpeed Exhaust
- Modifyed Airbox with cold air feed
- Modifyed inlet manifold

*off the top of my head*

It also comes with


- Heated Front + Rear Screens
- Ford 6000 Cd Player
- Air Con
- Electric Mirrors
- Passenger Airbag

The only "really" expensive thing ( that will need replacing ) are the brakes

Brakes , because theres no dirt seals alot of people dont clean them when changing the pads which meens all the crap that sits around the caliper gets pushed into the pistons. This meens the pistons get pitted which in turn meens leaky/underperforming brakes. A brake refurb which includes a full clean and new pistons / seals costs £550 this would only be needed if the brakes havent been looked after. Discs are around £218 each and a set of pads are £112. As you can see there expensive but the stopping power is amazing and well worth the expense.

You also have the panels which you wont want to damage, Front and Rear bumpers are about £700. Rear Archs are around £519 and the Front archs are about £800 each. Expensive because there isnt a great "supply / demand" as so little cars were built.

Apart from that your looking @ normal puma money to run. Suspension bushes / Hego sensors / Exhausts / TPS Sensors / Tyres ( I can get Yoko Parada Spec 2s for £75 Fitted ) . Servicing is no more expensive than a fiesta / puma either but if you were to buy one it would be a much better idea to get it serviced at a specialist like pumabuild / pumaspeed.

The Racing Puma is an awesome car to drive and for the money you wont find much that will keep up with it in the handling department. Nor will you find something that gives you the same kind of grin factor. The seating position , the noise , the handling , the braking , the attention it gets. It really does have the whole package.

Edited by atgsambo on Monday 5th June 18:03

[atgsambo]

Heres a few pictures of myn , NO 59











Pumaspeed / Pumabuild would be the best bet Personally i would take it to pumaspeed which is in leeds but i suppose it depends which one is closer to where you live. I love myn to bits , the sound is fantastic ( especially when you back off @ 5000 revs, makes ppl jump with the pops / bangs and crackles ) and the handling is just out of this world. Go drive one, you will be very impressed

Any questions let me know

Sam

Edited by atgsambo on Monday 5th June 18:41

[Mr_C]

Cheers mate, nice one.

over the time you've had your's then you've never had any problems?
I think they're good value at the mo as weren't they £23500 new??

your's looks lovely by the way


ta

Paul

[atgsambo]

Mr_C said:

Cheers mate, nice one.

over the time you've had your's then you've never had any problems?
I think they're good value at the mo as weren't they £23500 new??

your's looks lovely by the way


ta

Paul

Thanks Tony, i spend alot of time / money and effort keeping it that good

Unfortantley no i havent , i have spent over £2000 on the car so far with plenty more to go but i suppose it all depends on how you want your car. For me i want it like it rolled out of the factory.

Just a quick brakedown of the things i remember

Brake Refurb - New pistons/seals - £475
Ford Racing Pads - £100
Rear Arch Respray - £500
Hego Sensor + Other bits when it broke down - £250
Service - £150
Denso Plugs - £50 odd
TPS - Free from a mate as he had one lying around
Brake Light Switch - Cheap below £5

Then i had a problem with a squeeling noise which cost me in excess of £500 to sort out / changed the tensioner / idler pulley / water pump / waterpump pulley / belt

There a bit hit and miss really mate, i have plenty of mates with racing pumas and some of them have spent £600 in there year of ownership and some have spent £3000 + But at the end of the day its only a puma so shouldent be anyworse than another puma ( But remember its a Racing version so it will have been driven harder )

Sam

Edited by atgsambo on Tuesday 6th June 22:53

[Mr_C]

so it would appear that the brakes are the main concern really, the rest is relatively simple?

My mrs has convinced me to keep the Elise for a bit now, at least until she's got her StreetKa, then I'll prob start looking for a FRP.

thanks

Paul

[Podie]

Mr_C said:

so it would appear that the brakes are the main concern really, the rest is relatively simple?

My mrs has convinced me to keep the Elise for a bit now, at least until she's got her StreetKa, then I'll prob start looking for a FRP.

thanks

Paul

Brakes are the biggie, although there are conversions available. The rear arches are prone to stone chips too.

Puma's are generally quite solid and reliable, so you should be OK.