Buying My New Ride: Ollie's Ford Puma

You've read how a hardcore spruce-up and quality advert had my Ka sold faster than Usain Bolt signs an endorsement contract. The flipside is: what to replace an utterly reliable, fun to drive, cheap to run little motor with? The answer?

Updated: 10 Oct 2024

I've done my penance. I've paid my dues, as Freddie Mercury once sang. Time after time, I drove an (albeit brilliant) shopping trolley because it was all I could afford to insure. I guess I was just lucky that the Ka was accidentally way, way better to drive than it ever needed to be. It's a 900kg B-road hero, and that's why I highly recommend one to you lot.

But having served my sentence, I needed to graduate to the next level, and intended to fully keep my promise to myself: my next car was going to be a proper driver's car - not just a newer three-door hatch. I considered RenaultSport Clios, Fiesta STs, Lupo GTis and MX-5s, eventually rejecting all mostly because for my budget, I'd have to settle for one that'd been to the moon and back and looked like it.

But why look elsewhere for a worthy Ka replacement? Why indeed, when there's one based on similar components, with similar rust issues, meaning the damn things are dirt cheap for what was always considered a fabulous driver's car. The 1997 Top Gear Car of the Year. Evo Magazine's 99th Best Driver's Car - Ever. Starting from five hundred quid? 'Course. That'll be a Ford Puma then.

Not one to do things by halves, I wanted the top-spec 1.7-litre motor, developed by Yahama to rev high, sound the tits and go like stink thanks to variable valve timing - a bloody big deal back in the Nineties when the Honda NSX made it cool. I wanted lush wheels too, which meant a Thunder Edition. Thunders were the last 1,000 Pumas ever built of which 830-ish survive. That means they're rare, low mileage, and like all run out special editions, have all the toys on board. Allow me to run you through my spec, and make a mental note of how much this little lot should cost.

Leather seats. Electric, heated door mirrors. Electric, heated front and rear windows. Air-con. Alloys. Upgraded brakes. 6CD autochanger. Metallic paint. And 125bhp. All wrapped up in a car which still looks stylish and turns heads today? Nope, you're freezing. Still cold. Getting warmer... I'll put you out of your misery. I paid £1,790 for a great example with full service history and loads of tax and MoT. I didn't even bother haggling, I was so taken with it.

What the Ford Puma is, and why it's so great, is that it's a bloody well-sorted package. Sports suspension and meaty brakes on a Fiesta chassis, with fatter tyres, a cracking engine, and short-ratio gearbox. It's fast - 0-60 in 8.6 seconds and 126mph - but also a great handler, with well-weighted steering, a gearbox that has you changing for fun, strong fade-resistant brakes and adjustable handing that loves a bit of lift-off oversteer in the wet. Rain has me seeking out quiet roundabouts...

And, as a proper post-purchase shakedown, I took my Puma down to see the Car Throttle crew as we shot the rowdy Honda CR-Z Mugen - make sure you click the link for a proper banterous video.

Don't forget, the kitty cat Puma is a featherweight by today's standards - just 1038kg and also safer than the Ka, despite the pace. Unlike the blue car, the Puma has traction control, ABS, and is simply more substantial by which I mean the door panels don't visibly flex when slammed shut.

Twice the power and twice the torque of a Ka from less than half the rpm and only 100kg heavier. I'll settle for that, wouldn't you? Insurance for me, as a 20-year-old with 2 years no claims, is around £750 a year at the moment.

Crappy, tatty Pumas start at £500. Decent rust-free examples are £1,000. Closer to £2,000 gets you a well-looked after special editon, and who cares if it's a hairdresser's car? Most hairdressers are female. Women don't thrash or mod their cars as much as men. It's a total win when you're buying.

Stay locked to Car Throttle for updates on how mine's running. I can't recommend it highly enough. After all, I've put my money where Car Throttle's mouth is. Alex hailed the Puma as one of the best small coupes you can buy, and he's right.

Looking for your first performance ride? You've just found it.