Olly

Been to have a look at 2 Ford Racing Puma's today. I have always liked the looks and spec on paper, but have never properly inspected one in the flesh. Having seen one, I have to say that it is the nicest looking modern car I have seen for a long while, and am pretty bowled over. I want one.

Seem to have taken a massive hit on depreciation though. If memory serves correct, list cost was an (outrageously overpriced) £23,000. With haggling, both cars I viewed today could have been bought for a figure beginning with 12. This for a 2 year old handbuilt version of a very succesful road car, of limited production run. Try finding a 5 year old Elise for under twelve grand. There are billions of standard Puma's on the road, yet residuals still hold strong, for a Ford anyway. What happened with the FRP?

Out of the two, one car should never have graced a forecourt: the front bumper and rear quarters were completely peppered with white stone chips and the whole car needed nothing more than a complete repaint (ex road test/demo/press car- been played with on gravel?). The other car, of similar age and mileage of around 12,000, was more like it, although not exactly concours (two dings for Dentmaster, 1 kerbed alloy, front tyres replaced with crap make I had never heard of).

Question is I can't work out whether they are cheap or expensive. Are they really worth around 4 grand more than the equivalent used standard Puma? Are these prices going rate? I already own an example of the most entertaining front drive car ever made, a 1.9 205GTi. Would I be disappointed with a FRP?

Big question mark is residuals. With only 2 exceptions, I have never kept ANY car longer than a year, and having always bought cars carefully have never lost serious money (ie over a grand) on any car I have owned. I aint about to do so. What are the chances of finding a nice FRP for nice money, keeping it for a year and 5000 miles, and selling the thing with not much loss? Has the big hit been swallowed? Opinions please?

LG John

I think you'd be dissapointed. On paper there is very little between the 1.9 GTI and the racing Puma and there probably wouldn't be anything between the two in the twisties or for enjoyment. Granted the puma does look the mutts danglies though - really is a car you have to see in the flesh to appreciate eh

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

I have the normal 1.7 puma and have to say its so much fun and very quick on the twistys The racing one looks even better too at that money you can't go wrong can you?

Darren Thompson

Ace car for the grin factor, dont know if they will drop much further.

Daz.

druddle

Having driven a Racing Puma and known a guy who has owned one for 2 years, i would say that at 12k, plus a bit off for the damage then its a steal. I have never driven something so quick through the corners. It is let down by its lack of grunt, but by jingo has is got some grip. I have seen this car making other more powerful cars (even an STi at Silverstone) look slow.

I think that Ford actually made a loss with the cars, it was calculated that they cost about 27k to make, and the fact that they are a specialised car and insurance is high has contributed to the loss in value. There are some things that you need to make sure of, though, like testing the brakes for vibrations. This is because unless the brake discs and pads are cleaned before they are chanhed you will get bad vibrations through them.

Have a look at RacingPuma.net for more details, or even mail Mark who wrote the site.

Dave

skiddusmarkus

Fantastic looking car and AP 4pots and 298mm discs to boot.I think it's one of the fastest stopping production cars ever.

sebastian

The 1.9 gti is just so good that literally ANY hyped up car dissappoints in my experience.

I've either owned or driven integrales, 22b's, tvr's etc and I still hark back to my 1.9 days. Perfect fun/performance envelope/handling combination, and incredibly comfy on long hauls from London to the Highlands.

A racing Puma would be very similar I suspect but much less annonymous, expensive on parts, and perhaps a bit too grippy.

nigel s

Ford Racing Puma,having looked at this car when new and second hand here are a few facts.
Only option from new was a limited slip diff @£500, most people didn't seam to bother with this.
Brakes are made by Alcon not AP with 295mm discs & 4 pot calipers.
performance, 0-60 = 7.9, top speed 126mph, power 155ps
Alloys 17" mim supplied through Prodrive. No spare wheel provided.
Standard car was taken from Ford to Tickford and panels were hand crafted. Because of this there seam to be some examples that have poor panel alignment and panel gap, this seams to be a common problem. Look for rusty front fog covers, this is also common.
Ride is very very firm on poor surfaces but on a smoth road is amazing.
A local ford tuner reckons this car is faster through the bends than an Escort Cosworth, and hes driven plenty. A £23,000 2 years ago.

Nigel.

sebastian

The racing Puma has a superb exhaust soundtrack, loads of crackles pops and bangs on the overrun.

Olly

Thanks Nigel, had no idea that an LSD was an option. And both cars I looked at had rusty fog lamp covers, although panel alignment seemed acceptable. Not sure about the paint quality though, seemed worse than an Impreza.

Had a scan through the Trader site last night, prices range from 18 grand (no chance) to £12995 (hmmm..), both similar cars at main Ford dealers.

Still can't decide whether a FRP will be any more fun than my dear old Pug. The ride quality of the FRP worries me. My route to work involves a 5 mile blast down a twisty but slightly rough bit of B road, where the 205 excels, but my MX5 (on optional Bilstein struts) gets a bit harsh and nervous. Maybe a standard Puma would be better? Think I need to drive both...

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

My standard puma handles the bumps and country lanes really well don't know how it differs to the racing puma. Where are you based Olly?

druddle

Defo agree with the firm ride statements. I thought the Integra R was hard, but the Puma is very stiff.

I think there was a rusting problem with the front grille (below number plate) aswell. And that pop/crackle on the overrun is awesome !!!

Dave

Brendan Hughes

Only two disadvantages my friend had livng with his standard Puma for 2 yrs were 1. fuel tank is poxy for longish trips, and 2. not much fun parking. And sort of 3. gear **** gets bliddy cold on winter mornings.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

in reply to brendan hughes

Fuel tank is small (40 litres) but you can get 250 miles to 300 miles from a tank on a run (£30 to fill), who cares about parking it when its so great to drive forwards??? just dont park in spaces that you have to reverse into if you don't like it I can park mine in the smallest spaces possible and can get it into a space thats about 8" longer than the car And yes gearknob gets cold in winter and hot in summer but thats easliy changed what car doesn't have little faults? go on test drive one down the lanes and you will love it

jonc

Topgear did a group test between FRP, ITR and Clio172. The FRP was quicker around the track than either of them and commented that it had excellent neutral handling massive grip through the corners. Even though it was down on power it still managed a laptime 2 seconds quicker. The Clio won on the normal day to day driving. So if you wanna a track/road car this could be the one.

Matt R

iTrader: (10)

Having sold my scooby to buy a Racing Puma that I still currently own, I have found the running costs to be a hell of a lot cheaper than a scooby.

Rusty fog lamp covers? They don't have front fogs or covers!!
Grills in bottom of bumper do go rusty but are now made of a different material.

Will outhandle and outbrake any standard scooby!

Stone chipping is horrendous on the rear 1/4s unless you get armourfend like me, because of the wide arch.

If you want any more info mail me offline.

Matt

druddle

I think that basically you need to drive this car before making your mind up about it. Yes is has a small fuel tank, yes it is a specialist model and could be expensive to maintain (bit like an STi ) but to get a true reflection of the awesome grip and braking power you need to drive it. Its amazing how many people can have such an opinion of the car without driving it.

Matt (above) will prob agree that it really is nothing like the standard Puma, and yes I have driven an FRP hard a few times. And yes given the chance I would have one.

Dave

Matt R

iTrader: (10)

They are not expensive to maintain, the service costs are the same as the standard puma, the only expensive thing is the brakes approx £500 for front discs and pads fitted.
I may part with mine if the right offer came along as I am looking at buying a porsche at the moment.

Matt

FRP

There are quite a few FRP's around at the moment because of all the ex-FMC cars going through the auctions, but these will soon dry up, and this may effect prices.

The FRP is one of the best handling cars you could buy and out brakes a 911 from 100mph.

Its a hard car to sum up, if you like the racy feel of firm suspension with the exhaust popping when you lift off, the steering turning faster than a go-cart and being able to flick the @rse out whenever you feel like it, then its the car for you.

If you like your cars a bit softer, comfy and lardy then you should be looking at a Scooby

Mark

P.S. If anyone's ever in the Reading area and wants a little example of how the car goes, drop me an e-mail.

Olly

Matt: I meant the grilles, not the "fog lamp covers" as I named them. My fault.

Warming to the idea. Just phoned Tesco for a quote: the difference between an standard 1.7 Puma and a FRP is £15. Both are cheaper than insuring a 1.9GTi (despite being 8 times more valuable) and neither need any security device fitted. Amazing.

Matt: Would you take 10 grand?

FRP

If you've got a fast enough connection, I've put a couple of MPG's on my site.

Make sure you turn up your speakers

http://www.fasterfords.com/kemble/

Mark

Matt R

iTrader: (10)

10k? as a deposit maybe!!!

Matt

druddle

LMAO @ Mark. Nice one son

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

FRP

Where in the area are you? Mail me please because you don't have your email address on your posts. I would love to see what a proper puma goes like because I drive a standard one

Olly

Matt: LOL

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

druddle

Thanks for that and if he drives fast even better I can't get enough speed and welcome a fast passenger ride anyday

druddle

Paul

I have been out with Mark quite a few times and you will certainly know when he is "pressing on". I will say, though, that he has done enough driving in the car to know it very well and i have always felt safe in his hands. Its just the mess on the seat he had to clean up after me

Dave

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

druddle

Cool I have just mailed him hope he says yes to taking me for a spin. thanks

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Spoke to a guy at the last rs meet in manchester (before yesterdays) and he use to own a scoob, moved onto Racing puma and it cost him 12k with low miles! that was from fords of windsford (car supermarket)

Tony