My Puma

I purchased my Puma on the 15th June 2000 from Ford Garage Delta, Ooestend. Belgium. I imported the car from Belgium at a cost of £11,500 which saved me approximately £4,500 at the time.

At the same time a friend also purchased their Puma, unfortunately he sold his earlier this year.

The car has now covered approximately 115000 miles to date and is still a joy to drive.

The Puma as proved ultra reliable with only general maintenance required including:

New discs and pads
Cambelt change
New water pump.
Air con regas (air still not working properly though!)

Exterior

One of my favourite past times is Car Detailing which has helped to keep my Puma in great condition. Unfortunately this has not helped to stop the common Puma problem of rusty rear arches.

The drivers side has been repaired. This involved the body shop removing the rusted area and welding on new metal. Unfortunately the passenger side is currently bubbling and will need intervention from the bodyshop.

The drivers side cost £200 to be repaired.

Engine

The Puma runs as good as the day it arrived, even though it has now covered over 100,000 miles.

As you can see on the picture to the left, I did try and enhance the looks of the engine bay by fitting various stainless steel covers and a blue Samco induction hose. These parts have since been removed as they proved a challenge to keep clean on a car that is driven daily.

The only modification has been the replacement of the standard Ford air filter with a Piper panel filter.

I regularly clean the engine bay with Autoglym Engine Cleaner, a hose down and Autoglym Plastic and Bumper dresser which helps to give that as new appearance.

Interior

The interior has remained standard and is still in great condition. Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner is great for keeping all interior trim in great condition. The original steering wheel has been replaced for another standard item due to the steering wheel becoming extremely sticky. Fortunately I managed to find a great buy on Ebay.

Modifications

I have only undertaken minor modifications, these include:

17in alloy wheels with Toyo Proxe T1R tyres
Eibach lowering springs, these were an option from Ford.
Fiesta ST150 front brake calipers and discs

I have a carbon fibre FRP front splitter that I purchased a while back and have not yet fitted, hopefully it may actually be fitted in Summer 2012!

On my most recent MOT, June 2011, I had an advisory for the front and rear brake hoses. These will be replaced by either Goodridge or HEL braided hoses in time for the next MOT, they should help improve braking performance but also last longer than standard items.