Purchased a Puma

[kevino]

I purchased a 5000km 2022 demo in Brisbane on 1/12.
It is base model plus park pack.
Park pack is adaptive cruise control park assist automated parking and blind spot assist.
ACC and Blis are very very useful.
Automated parking I ll never use.
Park assist is the usual collection of sensors and beep beep messages -I live with it can be useful in terms of brain fade. It picks up high kerbs when coming into red lights and chirps away unnecessarily.

So -Positives

Motor and auto (7/dct but wet oil change at 90k) are nice adequate round town ditto motorway but being a three cylinder little bit lacking on hills.
Excellent seat particuarly back and shoulder support I have wide shoulders and lumbar support terrific combination.
ACC is smotth but does let itself gaing five km per hour down hills but then retards itself to wash off.
Handling comes alive on B grade roads the steering etc tighten up and it feels like a Focus.
Highway fuel consumption 5 litres per 100kms. Urban I m still working on its higher than I would like so its now on second tank of 98 and i need to reset tyre pressures a bit higher. So far the trip computer reads 6.7 but I had 7.7 fill to fill. Mind you its plus 30 most days air con on and short hops is hard.
The boot is bigger than expected more than enough for my requiremnts.

Minuses

It doesnt have a six speed manual ...be so much better with a manual. Just sad.
Brake noise reversing out of garage in morning. My LZ focus did this after a wash.
No engine cover-rep told me none of the Ford range have them.
Cloth trim on inside back half of door panel-would prefer vinyl plastic easier to clean.
When switching off beep beep comes up check rear seats for occupants.
The auto stop start (at idle stopped) switch off is a switch behind the gear stick would prefer on dash easier to see as I switch this off start of every trip.
Lane centreing and lane assist is switched off once and once only cant stand this feature.
Hatch is light and flimsy and tinny when closing probably number plate rattle.
Tyres are a tad noisy car itself is very hushed.
Ride is a bit harsh on teh 17 s but acceptable as the 17 s and raised suv height make it easier to enter exit for old units like myself.
And no left foot rest... bit annoying was the in an ST line rental I had.


So there you go. Nice engine/gearbox combination. Quiet. Easy to get in and out of. Lots of tech. Apple car play works great.
My needs were easy to get in and out of, turbo charged, lumbar support and active cruise control. I got all of those plus blind spot assist an extremely good seat ... its a great little car .... I m sure a six speed manual would fly.
and for 32 k drive away balance of 4.5 year warranty that worked okay too.

[kevino]

Footrest not in ST line as well. Thanks to Franco, barra240t and JPD80 for assiting me on this purchase much appreciated!

[hackney]

Originally Posted by kevino

I purchased a 5000km 2022 demo in Brisbane on 1/12.
It is base model plus park pack.
Park pack is adaptive cruise control park assist automated parking and blind spot assist.
ACC and Blis are very very useful.
Automated parking I ll never use.
Park assist is the usual collection of sensors and beep beep messages -I live with it can be useful in terms of brain fade. It picks up high kerbs when coming into red lights and chirps away unnecessarily.

So -Positives

Motor and auto (7/dct but wet oil change at 90k) are nice adequate round town ditto motorway but being a three cylinder little bit lacking on hills.
Excellent seat particuarly back and shoulder support I have wide shoulders and lumbar support terrific combination.
ACC is smotth but does let itself gaing five km per hour down hills but then retards itself to wash off.
Handling comes alive on B grade roads the steering etc tighten up and it feels like a Focus.
Highway fuel consumption 5 litres per 100kms. Urban I m still working on its higher than I would like so its now on second tank of 98 and i need to reset tyre pressures a bit higher. So far the trip computer reads 6.7 but I had 7.7 fill to fill. Mind you its plus 30 most days air con on and short hops is hard.
The boot is bigger than expected more than enough for my requiremnts.

Minuses

It doesnt have a six speed manual ...be so much better with a manual. Just sad.
Brake noise reversing out of garage in morning. My LZ focus did this after a wash.
No engine cover-rep told me none of the Ford range have them.
Cloth trim on inside back half of door panel-would prefer vinyl plastic easier to clean.
When switching off beep beep comes up check rear seats for occupants.
The auto stop start (at idle stopped) switch off is a switch behind the gear stick would prefer on dash easier to see as I switch this off start of every trip.
Lane centreing and lane assist is switched off once and once only cant stand this feature.
Hatch is light and flimsy and tinny when closing probably number plate rattle.
Tyres are a tad noisy car itself is very hushed.
Ride is a bit harsh on teh 17 s but acceptable as the 17 s and raised suv height make it easier to enter exit for old units like myself.
And no left foot rest... bit annoying was the in an ST line rental I had.


So there you go. Nice engine/gearbox combination. Quiet. Easy to get in and out of. Lots of tech. Apple car play works great.
My needs were easy to get in and out of, turbo charged, lumbar support and active cruise control. I got all of those plus blind spot assist an extremely good seat ... its a great little car .... I m sure a six speed manual would fly.
and for 32 k drive away balance of 4.5 year warranty that worked okay too.

Really like these! Engine is a cracker! Same engine as my Fiesta ‘S’.6 speed manual is available in the UK, but alas not here. At least they now have a timing chain instead of the wet belt which was prone to failure.Enjoy!

[Dr Smith]

I mentioned awhile back I made the mistake of accepting one as a loan vehicle when our Terry was serviced and my wife still talks about it and she has no interest in anything remotely related to motor vehicles unless Chris Pine is driving it.....

[kevino]

Yes the ladies seem to like it. Wife daughter neighbours wife.
Ford of course as it’s not a Ranger/Everest don’t advertise Puma do it’s a bit of a secret.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by kevino

Yes the ladies seem to like it. Wife daughter neighbours wife.
Ford of course as it’s not a Ranger/Everest don’t advertise Puma do it’s a bit of a secret.

And that’s unfortunate because it’s a great little vehicle that feels nice and solid to drive.

I hope you have many pleasurable miles in your new purchase, safe motoring…

[Ken_AUXR8]

Bought my wife a Puma early this year when her Focus got soaked in the floods.

She absolutely loves it and it's a great jigger. No issues so far. Economy is amazing, she drives nearly an hour and back for work each day plus short trips all the time. Uses less than 30 litres a week.

My only gripe is the dual clutch, it's a bit doughy to engage off the line and not especially smooth. It's acceptable for most people. But it would drive me mad if it was my daily.

Sent from my Nokia 5.4 using Tapatalk

[In Focus]

The wife's 2020 Puma has a (very small) engine cover. Probably a cost cutting measure to remove it.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by kevino

Yes the ladies seem to like it. Wife daughter neighbours wife.
Ford of course as it’s not a Ranger/Everest don’t advertise Puma do it’s a bit of a secret.

They do though. They have had a few different tv and radio commercials advertising it. Recently ran a series of ads mentioning they have them for immediate delivery.

Might differ from area to area, state to state though.

[minheim]

Originally Posted by kevino

Yes the ladies seem to like it. Wife daughter neighbours wife.
.

Yes my daughter constantly talks about the puma. If she had the spare cash I'm sure she would have one parked in her apartment car space.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by In Focus

The wife's 2020 Puma has a (very small) engine cover. Probably a cost cutting measure to remove it.

I reckon the lack of engine cover is a good thing, one less thing you need to remove and replace when you work on it, I threw the engine cover away on my Focus

[hackney]

Originally Posted by In Focus

The wife's 2020 Puma has a (very small) engine cover. Probably a cost cutting measure to remove it.

What it does do though, is make the engine bay neater.Wish mine had one.

[cosworthfreak]

They look pretty good, would be a great city car.

Seems to have carried over a little of the front styling of the original Puma from the UK: https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/t...nal-ford-puma/

[xkxlxm]

At first I thought the Puma looked a bit weird, but it's growing on me.

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by kevino

I purchased a 5000km 2022 demo in Brisbane on 1/12.
It is base model plus park pack.
Park pack is adaptive cruise control park assist automated parking and blind spot assist.
ACC and Blis are very very useful.
Automated parking I ll never use.
Park assist is the usual collection of sensors and beep beep messages -I live with it can be useful in terms of brain fade. It picks up high kerbs when coming into red lights and chirps away unnecessarily.

So -Positives

Motor and auto (7/dct but wet oil change at 90k) are nice adequate round town ditto motorway but being a three cylinder little bit lacking on hills.
Excellent seat particuarly back and shoulder support I have wide shoulders and lumbar support terrific combination.
ACC is smotth but does let itself gaing five km per hour down hills but then retards itself to wash off.
Handling comes alive on B grade roads the steering etc tighten up and it feels like a Focus.
Highway fuel consumption 5 litres per 100kms. Urban I m still working on its higher than I would like so its now on second tank of 98 and i need to reset tyre pressures a bit higher. So far the trip computer reads 6.7 but I had 7.7 fill to fill. Mind you its plus 30 most days air con on and short hops is hard.
The boot is bigger than expected more than enough for my requiremnts.

Minuses

It doesnt have a six speed manual ...be so much better with a manual. Just sad.
Brake noise reversing out of garage in morning. My LZ focus did this after a wash.
No engine cover-rep told me none of the Ford range have them.
Cloth trim on inside back half of door panel-would prefer vinyl plastic easier to clean.
When switching off beep beep comes up check rear seats for occupants.
The auto stop start (at idle stopped) switch off is a switch behind the gear stick would prefer on dash easier to see as I switch this off start of every trip.
Lane centreing and lane assist is switched off once and once only cant stand this feature.
Hatch is light and flimsy and tinny when closing probably number plate rattle.
Tyres are a tad noisy car itself is very hushed.
Ride is a bit harsh on teh 17 s but acceptable as the 17 s and raised suv height make it easier to enter exit for old units like myself.
And no left foot rest... bit annoying was the in an ST line rental I had.


So there you go. Nice engine/gearbox combination. Quiet. Easy to get in and out of. Lots of tech. Apple car play works great.
My needs were easy to get in and out of, turbo charged, lumbar support and active cruise control. I got all of those plus blind spot assist an extremely good seat ... its a great little car .... I m sure a six speed manual would fly.
and for 32 k drive away balance of 4.5 year warranty that worked okay too.

Well done Kevino,

We have one also, a ST-line V, the engine is a little ripper, very happy you like your purchase. I for one think it’s a great little car.

[kevino]

Yes I dragged off a 200 series v8 Landcruiser at two consecutive sets of lights today. He had to then roar past me 30 km/hr over the speed limit. We locals dont speed on this road. its a notorious, radar trap.

[Charliewool]

Earlier this year we returned from 5 odd years living overseas, and needed car(s)
First up bought the Mrs a demo Mazda3 Astina in that yummy soul red colour. (Zero new vehicles were available without a huge wait)
2 weeks later bought myself a demo ST Line AWD Escape as I’d read great reviews and liked the idea of 180 odd kw ecoboost.
Whilst at Brighton Ford picking up the Escape, Mrs spied a White ST V Puma with the black roof option, and had a drive…..
Ever since that day, she’s harped in ditchin the Astina for a Puma!
Astina only has 11,000 ks and I’m refusing to take a “hit” so soon to changeover!
Really wish she’d driven the Puma before committing to the Mazda!

[barra240t]

Interested to hear opinions on why Ford don't sell more. The car isn't the problem, I think we've worked that out..

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by barra240t

Interested to hear opinions on why Ford don't sell more. The car isn't the problem, I think we've worked that out..

I haven't seen any advertising from Ford on Instagram or Twitter about the Puma at all.

They got the Ranger on the block, Millennials don't watch TV and they don't listen to radio (Spotify) so they need to target other mediums to get it in front of a younger customer base that the Puma is attractive for.

Then take into account the oldest Gen Z who are starting to get themselves new cars, they watch even less 'traditional media' than Millennials.

They should be sponsoring high profile Instagram and Youtube influencers, getting drive cars out to them for paid promotions.

The conversations I've seen on social media around 'what car should I buy' ends up with other 30-something women always suggesting RAV4 Hybrid - its the 'in' vehicle for those demographics.

Yes I'm aware its a bigger car and its a hybrid but those could easily be Puma customers with the right marketing.

Ford Australia needs to do more so you get Gen Y/Z in your dealership.

Also create a way to buy cars online would be a good start too, I hate the traditional dealership model, as a customer its bull****.

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

The conversations I've seen on social media around 'what car should I buy' ends up with other 30-something women always suggesting RAV4 Hybrid - its the 'in' vehicle for those demographics.

Well Franco. I never realised you were a 30 something Woman....

[Citroënbender]

They’re entitled as the next person to identify as whatever they please. Even if end-of-the-night offers at the local club aren’t perhaps what they were hoping for.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by hayseed

Well Franco. I never realised you were a 30 something Woman....

Been hanging out with Costa.

[Charliewool]

Noticed heaps of Escape and Puma ads on main stream TV lately…
Agree though, the actual car isn’t the issue!
I had a 2013 RAV4 for 5 yrs in CR. Was faultless in that pretty demanding environment, but whilst slightly smaller, my new Escape runs rings around the old RAV in every respect!
An absolute rocket compared to the ancient 2.5litre Toyota!

[hackney]

Originally Posted by barra240t

Interested to hear opinions on why Ford don't sell more. The car isn't the problem, I think we've worked that out..

Publics perception of the brand, & everyone in this country wants, Toyota’s, Korean vehicles etc… Ford generally in this country anyway is a fairly toxic brand when it comes to the rest of the line up(Ranger excluded).Reliability is another ‘perception’ issue. People seem not to forget the transmission issues as well.Puma in the UK is one of the top five sellers. Ford will never sell large amounts of their vehicles(again, Ranger excluded).Puts them in a precarious position if Ranger was not there.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by hayseed

Well Franco. I never realised you were a 30 something Woman....

I love boobs so much I grew my own pair

Seriously though the 'what car should I buy' question from 30-something women that crops up on social media platforms ends up chock full of other 30-something women answering something along the lines of (I'm paraphrasing one I saw recently) 'RAV4 hybrid babe, its big enough for adventures but small enough to be easy to live with'.

Female social media 'hive mind' is what you want to target for Puma, its a big demographic that consults with itself online for everything. They should be Ford sales, not Toyota ones.

Its all well and good flooding TV with ads but the potential customer hardly watches TV, unless they want to target the 'Love Island' and 'MAFS' segments for advertising as thats the only shows that bring that demographic to the TV and even then these only come on once a year.

[kevino]

Be interesting to research this further this lady preference issue.
Charliewool
Can you identify why your lady wants a Puma.
I m guessing it’s styling and colour.

I don’t get the whole Toyota thing.
1 you pay an extra few k Toyota tax
2 you pay an extra few k Hybrid tax.

So you do 15000 kms a year and the hybrid saves you three litres per 100kms over a straight petrol car. Let’s say petrol 2$ a litre to make the maths easy. That’s a fuel saving of $900 a year but whoops it cost you another 7 k to buy your hybrid/Toyota.
So payback is almost eight years let alone counting interest you could have earned in the bank on the seven k.

And in my case 32 k for a puma which is functionally ok for me versus how much for a Yaris Cross Hybrid which are a bloody good car but the styling makes me want to vomit.
I m sure the Hybrid Yaris with the same specs as my Puma is thousands more.

Another marketing thing Ford do is make Puma s available a workshop loan cars / people drive them like them buy them.
Europcar rentals bought 40 Puma s as sales were slow. I had one as an insurer loan car for a month/ drove it/ liked it / bought it with help on some aspects from Franco/ barra240t/jpd80.

So maybe also sell stock to rental car coys to improve Pumas visibility in the overall market.
As an option Puma is a secret.
Ford need to improve its visibility.

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by kevino

Be interesting to research this further this lady preference issue.
Charliewool
Can you identify why your lady wants a Puma.
I m guessing it’s styling and colour.

“Cute” was mentioned…
Colour (and the sunroof) actually sold her with the Astina… Soul Crystal Red IS a stunning colour!
After her driving the Puma, plus constantly driving my Escape, she loves the slightly extra height and easy ingress (we ain’t gettin any younger!) compared to the Mazda… Reckons Escape is much more fun to scoot around in also…
I think she’s clocked up under 1500ks in the Mazda in 6 months of ownership..

[stefcio007]

My brother and sister are Gen Z and neither of them are interested in the car. When you're buying your first car, myself included, you usually look at something used in the 5 year old range.

Sister bought a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee for under $20k very nice car, only thing I could really fault it was the infotainment system outdated and expected on a car like this, quite thirsty but she drives very short trips so not an issue really.
My brother is currently looking and has looked at a few BA Falcons as well as Honda Civic.

The Ford Puma starts at $36k (my postcode in VIC price checked 29/12/22) which is out of the price range of majority of Gen Z and I wouldn't even consider ever paying that much for my first car, maybe second car.

I'm not saying it's a bad car, driven it myself, but this is definitely not targeted at Gen Z, maybe Gen Y?
I will say it's nicer than a Mazda CX-3 and that's a good thing since that's its competition(?).

[barra240t]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

I love boobs so much I grew my own pair

Seriously though the 'what car should I buy' question from 30-something women that crops up on social media platforms ends up chock full of other 30-something women answering something along the lines of (I'm paraphrasing one I saw recently) 'RAV4 hybrid babe, its big enough for adventures but small enough to be easy to live with'.

Female social media 'hive mind' is what you want to target for Puma, its a big demographic that consults with itself online for everything. They should be Ford sales, not Toyota ones.

Its all well and good flooding TV with ads but the potential customer hardly watches TV, unless they want to target the 'Love Island' and 'MAFS' segments for advertising as thats the only shows that bring that demographic to the TV and even then these only come on once a year.

Thanks for the input and sorry for the late reply, been on holidays in Tassie for the past week, lovely place and wow, some fantastic "drivers" roads.

[barra240t]

We are finding they are selling to people in professional jobs in a lot of instances.