What's good?
– It’s looks
– The noise
– Great chassis
– Superb handling
What's bad?
– Standard Puma costs a lot less and still fun to drive
What's the score?
8/10
Ford Racing Puma Review
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Sam Worth
- One Comment
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One of the best handling front wheel-drive Ford's. It's bound to put a smile on your face.
Overview
If you wanted a sports car in late nineties that looked good and was noisy enough to turn heads, the Racing Puma would be right up your street. But if you wanted something that was also quick, then it would be towards the bottom of your list.
From factory, all Racing Puma’s were born as an ordinary Puma, with a 1.7-litre 16V engine. After 500 were transported from Germany to the UK, they were turned into a wider, louder, and slightly more powerful version. They were all finished in Imperial Blue, with a limited slip differential as an optional extra. After the conversion was complete, the next job was finding them a new home.
You’d think selling 500 Racing Puma’s would be easy, but it wasn’t. After the £7k conversion was chucked on top of a £16k standard Puma, the Racing Puma would cost £23k. You’d have to be a bit of a Ford nut to buy one of them. Either that or you’d buy one as an investment. And because of the asking price and a low power increase, less than half of them sold. Customers leaned towards the idea of buying a cheaper, more powerful Integra Type-R or Impreza STI.
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Drive
The naturally aspirated Zetec SE engine developed with Yamaha is revvy and will put a smile on your face, even if you’re not thrashing it everywhere. While there’s not a massive power increase over the standard engine, it doesn’t seem that important. No doubt the chassis could handle 180bhp+, but when you’re chucking it down some country roads, you’ll find yourself enjoying the handling, rather than planting the power down everywhere.
The steering is precise. Possibly the best handling front wheel drive car I’ve driven, ever. You feel properly connected to the car and it doesn’t take long before you get to know how well it grips. And it still feels great to drive, which is a real achievement for a 20-year-old car. The Puma was based on a Fiesta MK5, and you can feel the Fiesta platform underneath. But unlike the Fiesta, the driving position is lower, and it has stiffer, uprated suspension.
The plan was to give it 160bhp and call it the Puma ST160. But due to budget reasons, the power got cut to 153bhp. So, it got renamed as the Racing Puma – although it never actually did any racing. Power was sent through the front wheels via an IB5 manual gearbox. It’s the same gearbox found in a standard Puma, although the 1st and 2nd gears were strengthened slightly to cope with the power increase.
After the engine conversion was completed, it took 7.9 seconds to reach 0-60mph, with 119lb-ft, and it would top out at 126mph. You can see why Ford struggled to sell these, as a DC2 or Impreza STI would destroy it in a drag race and most likely on track.
Part of the mechanical side of the conversion was it getting a 4-2-1 exhaust manifold and a sports cat. In my opinion, it’s the best part of the whole car. Boy does it sound peppy. You get such a sweet, perky exhaust note across the entire rev range. It’s beautiful. And whenever you lift-off the throttle, a load of crackles and pops come out the back. I’m smiling as I’m writing this just thinking about that noise. Brilliant.
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Conversion
The car was developed by the Ford Rally team at Boreham, in Essex. The plan was to produce 1000, with the other 500 for the German market. But because Ford Germany didn’t think they’d sell them, only 500 were built for the UK. So, after 500 standard Puma’s were transported from Cologne in Germany, to Daventry in the UK, a company called Tickford converted an average of 20 standard Pumas into Racing Pumas a week.
The body was made wider by replacing the front wings with wider ones, which were made from aluminium. Wider rear quarter panels were welded on top of the standard ones. This meant the front and rear bumpers also had to be replaced with wider ones to match the fitment. A carbon fibre effect front splitter was attached to the front bumper. The track was also increased with longer driveshafts as well as altered wishbones, steering knuckles, and a few other steering components.
Wheels were increased to 17-inch multi-spoke wheels, with blue Alcon four-piston calipers at the front, and discs brakes at the rear, opposed to drums at the back on a standard Puma. The suspension also got a set of uprated shocks and springs from Eibach.
The engine had a 30bhp increase over the standard 123bhp engine, from higher lift cams, a unique inlet manifold that was individually numbered, a different exhaust system and a modified ECU which increased the rev limit.
The interior had blue Alcantara on the door trims, rear seats, steering wheel and the front Sparco bucket seats. The floor mats were changes slightly with blue piping to match the rest of the interior. Although there wasn’t a big difference over the standard Puma from the inside, it didn’t really matter. Yes, you could argue it looked vaguely like a bog-standard Puma. But when you’re sat snug in those bucket seats tackling some Britain’s B-roads, you sort of forget about how it looks.
Approximately 75 units were fitted with a limited slip differential costing £200. 20 sets of Richard Parry-Jones (RPJ) dampers were also made for customers who wanted a firmer ride, although only one left the factory with them fitted.
Verdict
As much as I love the Racing Puma, I can see why Ford struggled to sell them. A standard Puma alone is still a joy on the roads. Even though they’re not as fast, they’re not boringly slow either. So, asking for an extra £7k for a wider, slightly more powerful version is a bit cheeky really.
The thing is, when customers want a sports car, even in today’s world, they mainly want it to be fun and affordable, which the standard Puma ticked both boxes back in the day. Yes, it’s not as punchy as a Racing Puma, but who cares? It still feels nippy and low-down, which is the purpose of owning a sports coupe car. But with the Racing Puma, the price and power output compared to its rivals doesn’t add up. Buying a Racing Puma now would be the same as Ford asking an extra £8k for a quicker Fiesta ST. They’d barely make any sales. Don’t get me wrong, the Racing Puma is a joy to play with, it really is. But I don’t think the extra cost was worth it and I can see why Ford struggled to sell many.
So, to sum it up, apart from the price which most likely go up in value, as it will soon be classed as a classic Ford, it’s a stunning car, and the chassis is superb. And let’s not to forget about that noise. Simply perfect.
1 thought on “Ford Racing Puma Review”
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