FORD PUMA 1.7 Millenium 3dr (1999)

Ford Puma - Nice and reliable

We've had our Ford Puma now for nearly ten years, having got it second hand from a slightly odd second hand dealer in Chiswick. We were only just confident about buying it but it was cheaper than we'd expected so we went for it, and we haven't been disappointed. There was a small issue with the steering column when we bought it, which eventually did need replacing, but apart from that we've had pretty trouble free motoring so far. The only thing has been a small issue with the heating system which was fairly cheap to fix, and our lovely local garage did it excellently. Apart from the other usuals like tyres and exhaust it's been just fine.

The Puma itself is great fun to drive, but also reasonably frugal. We weren't interested in a sports car or anything like that, but when our eldest moved out we thought we'd treat ourselves to something a bit more fun than the family type cars we'd had before. It has to be said, we did envisage only driving ourselves around in it so we weren't bothered about the tiny back seats, but that's something to bear in mind. The size of them is approaching a sort of token back seat you get in real sporty cars. I suppose because of the slightly sporty image, the insurance is a bit higher than we would have liked, but our good insurance history minimised that quite well.

The back seats might be small but the boot is a fine size, and again that was a priority for us, i.e. a fun and reasonably cheap car with a decent boot. We're sort of semi-retired now so we get to travel quite a bit, and the boot is always adequate for us. I say it's a sporty sort of car, but it isn't a racer by any means. We tend not to go above 70 anyway but I get the feeling if we did then the revs might get a little bit high and the petrol use would climb accordingly.

One other little thing that we've found awkward is that the Ford Puma is a little bit tricky to see out of the back properly, as the metalwork gets in the way a bit. You do get used to it, and it's a small enough car to park fairly easily, but it's a learning curve to begin with.

I think we may have to sell up in a few years as my knees aren't quite what they once were, and by that time I think I'd prefer a proper seating position. The Puma is quite low down and it sends the weight of my legs into my knees, so that will be too uncomfy in a few years time. Other than that it's been exactly what we wanted, a fun little car that doesn't cost too much to run and hasn't had too many problems along the way.