Ford Puma ST

Our crossover may be a little too compact to cut it as a family car

THERE ARE MOMENTS WHERE THE Puma ST is pretty good fun. Barrelling into a roundabout on the brakes you’ll feel the inside-rear wheel lift off the ground and the car carve cleanly around, the opposing front tyre digging in hard and the tail just floating a degree or two wide. Like a real hot hatch. Which is cool.

Yet, despite having convincing outright agility, this ST is a strange old thing to live with dayto-day. I borrowed it for a few weeks recently and never could really understand exactly what it wants to be. The crossover shape says it’s a practical car for small families and the ST badge and aesthetic says it’s a slightly lifted hot hatch. As it turns out, it falls wide of the mark on both counts.

The boring stuff first. The Puma is small inside and once fitted with thick Recaros, rear legroom is extremely tight. Fit a child seat in the back and the front passenger has to slide way forward with knees hard against the dash. It might be a shade better than a Fiesta but this is not a great family machine. And that’s before you start thinking about the ride quality.

In short, it doesn’t really have any. The ride is stiff and unsettled and in combination with heavy self-centring to the steering and a light, vague clutch that makes simple low-speed driving a lumpy series of lunges, the ST feels awkward and combative more often than fluid and precise. The effort required just to get down the road smoothly far outweighs the rewards, Luckily, Ford does make a fantastic hot hatch in the shape of the Fiesta ST and an amazingly practical fast family car called the Focus ST Estate.

Date acquired April 2022 Total mileage 11,611 Mileage this month 601 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 35.2