What it's like living with a Ford Puma

Well in this series of blogs, we sit down and ask our experts who drive these Ford cars day-to-day to give a real insight in to what they are like to live with.

The key focus of this blog is the Ford Puma, but more specifically the Ford Puma ST-Line Mild-Hybrid 125PS 5dr manual. We’ve got the vehicle that is in the spotlight but what about the driver? The Ford Puma below belongs to Gulam Ambia our New Car Sales Executive at Hartwell Kidlington Ford.

I’ve had this particular Ford Puma for nearly a year now as my day-to-day car that I drive to and from work and is my car outside of work hours too.

The Puma is an anomaly within the Ford range, as I’m sure customers will know, as it sits in between a Fiesta and a Focus, as its Ford’s only small-SUV. For me, it is a fantastic car! It does everything you need from a day-to-day whilst looking fantastic and also having a good platform to have some fun whilst driving. Although I’ve got the 125 Horse Power version it still has some grunt with the 1-Litre EcoBoost that makes driving fun. Mine also has a Manual gearbox and being the ST-Line it has the ‘racey’ features such as a sporty gear shifter and a sports suspension so you always feel like you’re in a sports car which is nice.

This is the first Hybrid car I’ve had as a day-to-day driver and can tell you now it is by far the most economic and gives the most rewarding feeling when you’re driving. With this being the Mild-Hybrid version it works by having a small battery which is charged by the car under braking and overtime with the engine powering a generator. The small battery is then used alongside the 1-Litre engine to accelerate which uses less effort from the engine, thus saving you fuel. A Mild-Hybrid is slightly different to a ‘full’ hybrid, we’ll say, as the electric battery can never power the car alone like a Plug-In Hybrid can. With Fuel prices being so high currently, having a car that can do over 48.0mpg is fantastic. I normally get between 47.1-48.5mpg day-to-day but if I do a longer trip where I’m cruising then I can get close to 50.0mpg.

Although as I said earlier it is a small-SUV it is not that much bigger than a Fiesta and it offers you a lot more room but without the compromise of feeling too bulky. When I take it into town for example, it can easily fit in any parking space and with the wide-view reversing sensors too it’s super easy to park in tight spaces or parallel park. When you sit in any of the seats, the cabin feels nice and roomy, not too close or claustrophobic. I also regularly drive with friends in the car and they have commented multiple times how much leg-room there is in the back, even with my taller friends. The boot is a great size too and even comes with the MegaBox which is an extra compartment under the boot lining, which I use to store muddy shoes which is good as it means my boot stays clean.

Being in the Puma really feels like a safe experience no matter where I’m driving. As I said earlier it is a small-SUV but when driving and parking it seems small enough to get in to any space. With the rear parking sensors and folding wing mirrors when locking, it keeps a very compact stance in spaces. So even if a big SUV or van parks very close to me, I can still get in to the car easily enough. With it being a 21 plate and being seen as ‘modern’ the headlights are also fantastic. This one has LED Projector headlights which do what they need to and really light the road up ahead at night or in dim areas such as multi-storey car parks. To be honest though I normally just leave the wipers and lights on auto, which turns the lights on when it gets too dark or turns the wipers on automatically with detection of rain, this makes driving easier. When I do long trips the Cruise control is great as it has Speed Assist so it automatically slows down if a car moves into my line and luckily I’ve never needed it, it also has pre-collision assist which would stop an accident should I ever be in danger of one.