RE: Ford Puma 1.7 | Spotted

[gmackay2]

These 1.7 Puma's are awesome little cars to drive. A friend was loaned one as temporary pool car while they waited on delivery of their new company car. I managed to borrow it a few times, such direct and sharp steering. Nice gear change, good driving position etc. Also the 1.7 was sweet free revving engine too.

Compared to the current Puma, you couldn't get a more polar opposite car

[GeniusOfLove]

These appear all the time on BCA, probably one or two most months, but they're always completely rotten and go for £250 or so, I think they must have sold loads of them.

maxwellwd said:

Also, on this subject, when did you last see a Cougar on the road, it's bigger brother?

I see one in the Tesco staff car park quite regularly, a V6, and I'd say I probalby see a handful every year which is impressive given they didn't sell all that well. I always thought it looked a bit meek and apologetic, but a friend had one and it was a very good car. The Duratec V6 wasn't very punchy, none of these mid sized sixes ever were, but it was smooth and sounded great.

Edited by GeniusOfLove on Wednesday 26th June 10:42

[DrEMa]

I really expected there to be a 1 in front of the 2995. Great car, even better price when everything nostalgic seems to be going through the roof.

[TIGA84]

Had 2, an early R plate in black and a silver on a T.

Had an order for a Racing as well but cancelled it as 23k was just too much for what you actually got. Should have taken it really given how much they are now and I still think (EP3 Civic Type R aside) one of the great gearchanges.

Fantastic things.

[Muzzman]

My sister rolled one of these into a country lane ditch when she was 18, got another one and rolled that into the same ditch.

My mum went to pick her up after the second roll and a bloke took her to one side said ' She overtook me and I was doing 60!', therefore i think it was more to do with my sister's terrible driving than the car's propensity to end up in ditches

[GeniusOfLove]

Muzzman said:

My sister rolled one of these into a country lane ditch when she was 18, got another one and rolled that into the same ditch.

My mum went to pick her up after the second roll and a bloke took her to one side said ' She overtook me and I was doing 60!', therefore i think it was more to do with my sister's terrible driving than the car's propensity to end up in ditches

Your sister sounds cool

[AlexGSi2000]

Is £2,995 considered cheap these days?
I was anticipating <£1k - doesn't feel so long ago when you could pick these up for £500.

I've personally never liked them, didn't look like a "blokes" car in my view - only thing I thought they were good for was for taking the engine and fitting into the MK5 Zetec-S - which I incidentally owned.

As far as I'm aware they were the same chassis?

Edited by AlexGSi2000 on Wednesday 26th June 11:32

[Turbobanana]

GeniusOfLove said:

maxwellwd said:

Also, on this subject, when did you last see a Cougar on the road, it's bigger brother?

I see one in the Tesco staff car park quite regularly, a V6, and I'd say I probalby see a handful every year which is impressive given they didn't sell all that well. I always thought it looked a bit meek and apologetic, but a friend had one and it was a very good car. The Duratec V6 wasn't very punchy, none of these mid sized sixes ever were, but it was smooth and sounded great.

Edited by GeniusOfLove on Wednesday 26th June 10:42

A Cougar 2.0 was the best of the many cars I've bought by accident over the years.

My SAAB 9000 died and I spotted a Cougar advertised locally while I should have been looking for a sensible family hatchback. I went to view, made a cheeky offer (which was accepted) and picked it up a couple of days later. Notwithstanding the fact that a child seat was quite awkward to fit in the back, my son* loved it and it proved an extremely reliable, economical, practical and fun car to own. I have nothing but praise for it and question whether I'd ever bother with the additional expense of the V6 over the 2.0.


*The same son I'm now considering buying a Puma for. Time flies, eh?

[thehardman07]

Turbobanana said:

thehardman07 said:

Turbobanana said:

I have a 16 year old who turns 17 in September. He's keen to learn to drive a "proper" car (read: manual) before everything goes all EV and self-drive. He probably won't undertake too many long journeys while at sixth form. This car is 25 miles from me. It's probably as safe, in the real world, as a more modern hatchback. It's easily fixed, has enough driver aids to feel modern(ish) and is stylish. Running costs will be sensible.

I wonder...

Come on, we're not your wife you're trying to convince here! Just tell us the truth and say you're fancying it for yourself and the added bonus is your son can potentially use it too!

Mrs Banana would love it, actually: she's been a Fiesta girl ever since I've known her and is currently on her fourth, so knowing this is Fiesta-based would make it an easy sell. I genuinely meant my comment about a first car for my son: this feels like it breaches the middle ground between a "proper" old-skool classic and more modern metal. The comment above re insurance is valid, and would need proper consideration because although we view it as an old car, insurance companies either don't or, if they do, will insure it only as a classic and therefore restrict its use.

I'm not sure why I like these because I'm normally more drawn to cars with straight edges and, let's face it, a Puma doesn't have any.

And yes, if I did buy it for Banana Jr., I'd make sure I was on the insurance as well. Just in case, you understand

I stand corrected! And my first 3 cars were Fiestas (last being a 1.25 zetec) and was intending to buy a Puma but the thought of staring at the same dash as the Fiesta put me off (moronic I know).

But I agree that this car (insurance notwithstanding) does offer a great deal for a young driver wanting something a bit more dialled in and special than the usual humdrum offerings. And being a FWD it'll be a safer bet than an mx-5 or the like.

And only putting your name on the insurance to lower the cost no?

[GeniusOfLove]

Turbobanana said:

A Cougar 2.0 was the best of the many cars I've bought by accident over the years.

My SAAB 9000 died and I spotted a Cougar advertised locally while I should have been looking for a sensible family hatchback. I went to view, made a cheeky offer (which was accepted) and picked it up a couple of days later. Notwithstanding the fact that a child seat was quite awkward to fit in the back, my son* loved it and it proved an extremely reliable, economical, practical and fun car to own. I have nothing but praise for it and question whether I'd ever bother with the additional expense of the V6 over the 2.0.


*The same son I'm now considering buying a Puma for. Time flies, eh?

Very much echoes his experience - reliable, robust, drove well, and he got reasonable economy from in (high 20s, mid 30s on a run). It was everything you could ask from a Ford coupe, and what he paid would have got him a knackered 320i coupe years older and with twice the miles.

Conversely though, I think with these cars which are really a bit ordinary under the styling a six cylinder engine gives them enough of a special feel to elevate them over the Mondeo coupe they really are. I'd have a V6 Cougar on the cheap to smoke around in but I probably wouldn't bother running a 2.0 if it was given to me.

[cerb4.5lee]

GeniusOfLove said:

Muzzman said:

My sister rolled one of these into a country lane ditch when she was 18, got another one and rolled that into the same ditch.

My mum went to pick her up after the second roll and a bloke took her to one side said ' She overtook me and I was doing 60!', therefore i think it was more to do with my sister's terrible driving than the car's propensity to end up in ditches

Your sister sounds cool

Although not all that great at driving to be fair!

[cerb4.5lee]

Turbobanana said:

GeniusOfLove said:

maxwellwd said:

Also, on this subject, when did you last see a Cougar on the road, it's bigger brother?

I see one in the Tesco staff car park quite regularly, a V6, and I'd say I probalby see a handful every year which is impressive given they didn't sell all that well. I always thought it looked a bit meek and apologetic, but a friend had one and it was a very good car. The Duratec V6 wasn't very punchy, none of these mid sized sixes ever were, but it was smooth and sounded great.

Edited by GeniusOfLove on Wednesday 26th June 10:42

A Cougar 2.0 was the best of the many cars I've bought by accident over the years.

My SAAB 9000 died and I spotted a Cougar advertised locally while I should have been looking for a sensible family hatchback. I went to view, made a cheeky offer (which was accepted) and picked it up a couple of days later. Notwithstanding the fact that a child seat was quite awkward to fit in the back, my son* loved it and it proved an extremely reliable, economical, practical and fun car to own. I have nothing but praise for it and question whether I'd ever bother with the additional expense of the V6 over the 2.0.


*The same son I'm now considering buying a Puma for. Time flies, eh?

I remember test driving a V6 Cougar and I really liked it. I had the Duratec V6 in a couple of Mondeos as well, and it was a lovely engine I thought at the time.

[Giantt]

Sparky137 said:

ferret50 said:

What does VED cost on this?

Took me less time to find it than it would have taken you to type the question!!

https://www.parkers.co.uk/ford/puma/coupe-1997/car...

Is it ulez free?















Yeah I know it isn't, shame or I would've fancied it

[Jonfylane]

I had a 1.7 Puma in the mid 2000's, bought off a colleague at work who really looked after it...ffsh and no expense spared ect. I think it was 6 years old when I bought it and rust was bubbling up all around the arches and sills, you knew that what you could see was only a fraction of the corrosion. Shame as it drove brilliant, superb steering and enough power in the real world to get a shift on. Taught me a lot about lifting off at inopportune times !
Shame they dissolve into a rusty pile so quickly and also have a reputation for water ingress into the front footwells. Mine leaked so bad you had to chip the ice from the floor in winter .
Turned out to be faulty seams on the front bulkhead, apparently this was known by Ford but wasn't acknowledged .
Could be an urban myth but I knew a few Ford techs who had seen the problem loads of times. They knew all the quick fixes wouldn't work, door seals,windscreen replacement and sealing bulkhead grommets. It was interior and dash out and repair where the seam sealer had failed.

Edited by Jonfylane on Wednesday 26th June 13:13

Edited by Jonfylane on Wednesday 26th June 13:19

[lifeboat22]

Giantt said:

Sparky137 said:

ferret50 said:

What does VED cost on this?

Took me less time to find it than it would have taken you to type the question!!

https://www.parkers.co.uk/ford/puma/coupe-1997/car...

Is it ulez free?















Yeah I know it isn't, shame or I would've fancied it

They are Ulez - you need to get a CoC but the NoX levels are low enough!

[maxwellwd]

GeniusOfLove said:

Turbobanana said:

A Cougar 2.0 was the best of the many cars I've bought by accident over the years.

My SAAB 9000 died and I spotted a Cougar advertised locally while I should have been looking for a sensible family hatchback. I went to view, made a cheeky offer (which was accepted) and picked it up a couple of days later. Notwithstanding the fact that a child seat was quite awkward to fit in the back, my son* loved it and it proved an extremely reliable, economical, practical and fun car to own. I have nothing but praise for it and question whether I'd ever bother with the additional expense of the V6 over the 2.0.


*The same son I'm now considering buying a Puma for. Time flies, eh?

Very much echoes his experience - reliable, robust, drove well, and he got reasonable economy from in (high 20s, mid 30s on a run). It was everything you could ask from a Ford coupe, and what he paid would have got him a knackered 320i coupe years older and with twice the miles.

Conversely though, I think with these cars which are really a bit ordinary under the styling a six cylinder engine gives them enough of a special feel to elevate them over the Mondeo coupe they really are. I'd have a V6 Cougar on the cheap to smoke around in but I probably wouldn't bother running a 2.0 if it was given to me.

I agree, the same with the v6 406 coupe. Very nice car, but I think they have risen in value already..?

Talking about Ford coupe's, I remember when the probe came out and I thought they looked amazing. I saw one recently up here in Scotland, not seen one for over ten years! They must be an appreciating Ford in v6 guise no?

[C5_Steve]

AlexGSi2000 said:

Is £2,995 considered cheap these days?
I was anticipating <£1k - doesn't feel so long ago when you could pick these up for £500.

I've personally never liked them, didn't look like a "blokes" car in my view - only thing I thought they were good for was for taking the engine and fitting into the MK5 Zetec-S - which I incidentally owned.

As far as I'm aware they were the same chassis?

Edited by AlexGSi2000 on Wednesday 26th June 11:32

Whilst I wouldn't say £3k is cheap for a Puma the days of picking these up for under £1k are long gone. You're right though, pre covid you could pick up a mint special edition one (Thunder etc) for not much over £1k and the rest were all £900ish for decent ones. The world has since caught on to what a brilliant little car they are.

My sister had one in blue and it was huge fun. Brilliant engine and gearshift. The seating positon was a tad high for me but easily fixed.

IMO they look a million times better than any Fiesta.

[rallycross]

prices for good rust free low mileage puma 1.7's have been going up for the past couple of years I sold one with 21k miles for £5k and and one with 60k miles for £4,000, both 2002 1.7's. Prices should continue to up for rust free examples as all the rusty ones disappear.

[BricktopST205]

Sparky137 said:

Insurance will probably cost more than the car, its a group 25 vehicle. For comparison a Cosa D 1.4 petrol is group 6.

I was looking at these cars for my daughter and they were coming up at £1700 for the year which wasn't too bad considering you can get a working car for a grand.

Now with the way insurance prices have gone it is 3k+ just a year later.

[cerb4.5lee]

maxwellwd said:

I agree, the same with the v6 406 coupe. Very nice car, but I think they have risen in value already..?

Talking about Ford coupe's, I remember when the probe came out and I thought they looked amazing. I saw one recently up here in Scotland, not seen one for over ten years! They must be an appreciating Ford in v6 guise no?

I've always felt a bit sad that the Probe never took off to be honest, and I always thought it was a good looking car.