Ford Puma ST: Everything a performance Ford should be
Ford Puma ST: 'I really liked its poise and undeniable purpose,' writes our columnist.
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Ford Puma ST |
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Rating |
★★★★ |
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Price |
€ 41,813 - €44,441 as tested |
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Engine |
Three-cylinder 1.5-turbo petrol |
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The Spec |
Generally good, but the extras are worth it |
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Verdict |
A near classic |
Things might not look so glossy for Ford in Ireland right now, corporately speaking, as the company struggles to regain its mojo after the powers-that-be in Ford Europe decided the Irish operation no longer warranted the standalone status it had enjoyed for many decades.
Ford Ireland is now indeed but a sub-office of Ford of Britain. Amid a welter of frightening rumours about a tightening of the dealer network and other moves generally agreed to be unpalatable to the Irish Ford brotherhood, the operation here is now struggling on various fronts.
Talk of declining sales, a widespread view that the company has yet to successfully grasp the electrification nettle, and the pandemic have all contributed to a feeling that Ford here is undergoing a period of regression.
The facts rarely get in the way of a good story and the picture is not at all as unrosy as it might be painted.
With sales behemoths such as Fiesta and Focus still hugely popular and models such as Kuga and Puma selling well too, Ford is actually only one of two marques in the top five sellers here with an increase in numbers in the January-March period compared with 2020 — a 15.6% jump.
Those vehicles, despite some PHEV tweaks here and there, are resolutely of the internal combustion engine variety, despite top-level promises of much, much more electrification in the coming months and years. And they are largely very good too.
Furthermore, one or two of them dig deeply into the Blue Oval’s sporting history and are hugely impressive sporting entities. While the ‘RS’ insignia will inflame passions of Fordistas over a certain age, younger aficionados will bear greater allegiance to those cars with an ‘ST’ designation.
Although we heard the sad news recently that Ford will not be revisiting the Focus RS for serious hot chilli motoring, the Focus STs, in both petrol and diesel guises, are excellent middle-of-the-road sports performers, while the Fiesta ST definitely manages to get the adrenaline flowing — even just thinking about it.
When the company announced an ST version of the Puma, emotions were somewhat muted, given that the Puma (I still don’t get why they went for that name) is a crossover/SUV based on the Fiesta platform and fast versions of such cars are generally lukewarm at best.
Given that the Fiesta ST is one of the best small, hot hatchbacks ever made, the worry was that the whole ST programme could be seriously diluted if they made a mutt's nuts of it.
Well, having got my hands on one of the first into the country last week, I can confirm that this thing is everything a performance Ford should be: Ridiculously fast, grips like a suction mat, and take-the-eye-out-of-your-head looks.
Although still the small family crossover it was originally intended to be, the Puma ST bears comparison with some previous Ford greats, most notably the original Focus RS of 2001. Both offer some 200 bhp, a 0-100km/h time around the six-second mark, and a top speed in the region of 240km/h.
The look of the car might be a standout mainly because of the colours offered — vivid Mean Green in the case of the tester — but many people have expressed doubts about the bug-eyed front end, considering it to be ugly. Taking the car as a whole, though, I really liked its poise and undeniable purpose.
Stuff like the 19” alloys, rear diffuser, gloss-black grille, and air intakes set the Puma ST apart, as do the Recaro seats and the excellent digital instrumentation when you climb aboard.
But the real concern here is not really hot it looks, but how it acts. The three-cylinder 1.5-turbo petrol engine might appear to be on the weedy side, but it is definitely not. Although thrummy in the same way most three-pots are — in a genuinely nice aural way, it has to be said — this engine is packed with jizz and does not at all suffer from an inferiority complex when compared with larger units.
The 197bhp on offer matches that in the Fiesta ST, but to cope with the extra size and weight of the Puma, Ford tweaked the engine to give the driver much more mid-range torque (there’s 320 Nm on offer) and that allows it match its sibling for the 6.7-second 0-100km/h time and hit a top speed of 230km/h.
Allied to a six-speed‘ box, the engine has surprising depths and is only too willing to allow you plumb them.
Like most worthy beasts of this nature, however, it will allow you tootle around quietly and comfortably in full-on family mode, or willingly concede that’s not what it was made for and instantaneously knuckle down for some much more spirited endeavour.
Although only front-wheel drive, the tester was nevertheless fitted with the optional limited-slip diff and I would have to recommend that you pencil this in when ordering because not only does it generate peace of mind, but gives the car another dimension when you really want to see what it is capable of.
You’re not going to run afoul of much understeer or even torque steer with the LSD fitted, and, with a steering rack that’s also 25% quicker than the standard car, you can confidently point it where you want it to go and it will follow orders to the letter.
With rear beams that are 50% stiffer than normal and uprated roll bars, for a fairly tall car, it corners without undue lean or roll.
With brakes that are also bigger than standard, there is a lot more feel in this department and the stopping power itself is pretty inspiring. You also have a choice of various modes — comfort, sport track, for example — which will entertain the enterprising.
But you don’t have to be that enterprising to uncover the joys of this car, you just need a willingness to explore its potential and then revel in it.
So then, if it may be that Ford Ireland is no longer the independent and country-specific entity it was until recently and that will ultimately be a disappointment for dealers and customers alike. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that Ford is still capable of producing scintillating one-offs like this one.
